Fux Delays Lula Betting-Ban Review as Industry Challenges Mount

Fux Delays Lula Betting-Ban Review as Industry Challenges Mount
Supreme Federal Court Justice Luiz Fux has given the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) 72 hours to comment on President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s provisional measure banning fixed-odds betting in Brazil. The timetable means the court’s substantive review will come after the first round of elections, scheduled for Sunday.

The immediate challengers, the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) and the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR), argue that the measure should be suspended pending a decision by Congress or the Supreme Court. Their petitions place the focus on the abrupt legal change for betting operators and ask Fux to stop the ban from taking effect while the case is assessed.

Fux’s review is not limited to the groups’ request. As rapporteur, he is expected to consider whether the government met the legal requirement of urgency for issuing a provisional measure. The AGU itself had previously sought the 72-hour period to respond, according to reporting on the court order.

The dispute also reaches beyond betting companies. The Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (Abert) has separately appealed to Fux, saying the prohibition affects media outlets that hold commercial contracts with the sector. That argument contrasts with the broader policy questions already before the court, including consumer protection, mental-health effects, the use of social benefits in gambling and advertising aimed at children and teenagers.

The provisional measure reverses much of the framework created by the 2023 law regulating fixed-odds betting and also covers betting operations authorised by states and the Federal District. Under the new rule, local concessions and authorisations would be extinguished within the stipulated period.

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