The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) has filed a collective writ of mandamus against Brazil’s Provisional Measure No. 1,394/2026, which prohibited fixed-odds betting. ANJL is now studying a second, broader action to protect operations.
ANJL is not asking for the authorities to allow betting until Congress finishes the review of the measure. However, it makes two requests: First, it asks not to consider authorizations expired as of 25th of October.
Secondly, it claims that the companies in the industry should keep their websites, accounts in social networks and applications that provide customer service without any betting and advertisements.
ANJL represents 32 companies holding 34 of the 85 licenses granted by the SPA. Each operator paid R$30 million for the license valid until December 31, 2029. In total, licenses brought R$2.55 billion of revenue to the government.
The group points out that the abandonment of licenses cannot be conducted by “general announcement” and it requires certain procedures to be enacted along with the right for defense. Moreover, it specifies that the obligation of the government to redirect users to the official website of the portal is too demanding since the customer service pages do not conduct betting.
On October 8, the prosecutor’s office applied for 5 days’ pause to decide upon the issue. The fact of licenses ceasing to exist comes straight from the measure and not from the administrative act.
ANJL’s second action could go further, seeking to bring websites, deposits and financial flows back. The measure is valid until March 4, 2027 and the sector’s fate now rests with Congress, the STF and the Brazil court.