Less than two years after it opened a regulated online betting market, Brazil has closed it. Provisional Measure 1,394/2026, published on 25 September 2026, bans the operation, offering, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting across the country, online and on premises. It covers sports betting and online casino games, and it reaches foreign operators serving people in Brazil, whatever licence they hold elsewhere.

The measure took effect on publication, but it is not yet permanent law. Congress has to convert it, and the Supreme Federal Court has been asked to suspend it. This article describes the position on 7 October 2026 and will date quickly.

The timetable

DateWhat happens
25 SeptemberThe measure is published. New deposits are prohibited at once.
5 OctoberLast day for players to withdraw their own balances.
6 OctoberBetting sites and apps go offline. Advertising and sponsorship had the same ten-day limit.
7–8 OctoberOperators give financial institutions a list of the balances left, identified by each player's CPF tax number.
9–14 OctoberInstitutions return the money, preferably to the account it came from. What cannot be returned passes to Caixa Econômica Federal.
25 OctoberFederal and state authorisations lapse, with no compensation and no refund of licence fees.
23 NovemberThe measure expires unless Congress converts it or its validity is extended once, by a further 60 days.

Press estimates of the balances to be returned range from about 1.3 billion BRL to 1.7 billion BRL. A federal authorisation had cost 30 million BRL for a five-year term.

What changed for payments

The ban is enforced through the payment system as much as at the operator.

  • No processing. Banks, payment institutions, the operators of payment arrangements and their participants may not process, settle or enable a transaction intended for fixed-odds betting. The one exception is what is needed to wind the market down: refunds, balances and prizes already owed.
  • Pix. The central bank, in a resolution reported as BCB 590/2026, told participants in the instant payment system to reject a transfer to an operator's account before the money is credited, instead of accepting it and reversing it later.
  • Cards. The duties are reported to fall on every tier of a card arrangement: schemes, issuers, acquirers, sub-acquirers and payment facilitators. Each is expected to update its rules, to identify the real beneficiary behind any intermediary, and to exclude participants that do not comply.
  • Intermediaries are in scope. SPA/MF Ordinance 2,750/2026, issued eleven days before the ban, already required institutions to look for betting money routed through third parties. The signs it lists are frequent small or medium transfers, sudden jumps in volume, activity that does not fit the declared business, and descriptions that mention bets, bonuses, credits or top-ups. An institution has 45 days to analyse what it finds, reports to the regulator on the next business day, and has 24 hours to block an account once notified.
  • Penalties. An operator that does not comply faces a fine of 200,000 BRL a day. Internet platforms face up to 10% of their Brazilian turnover, capped at 50 million BRL for each infringement. A separate bill, reported as PL 5,477/2026, would make operating a betting business a crime carrying four to six years, and facilitating it financially one carrying two to four. That bill has not been passed.

A decree, 13,128/2026, set up a committee that joins the betting regulator, the central bank, the tax authority, the financial intelligence unit, the federal police and the telecoms regulator to coordinate the blocking of sites and payment flows.

What is still undecided

  • Congress. A joint committee is reviewing the measure. The deadline for amendments is 13 October, and 48 had been filed by 7 October. Congress can approve the measure, change it or reject it.
  • The Supreme Court. Three industry associations have asked the court to suspend the ban, arguing that operators were entitled to rely on five-year authorisations. Justice Luiz Fux is the rapporteur. The government asked him on 5 October to keep the ban in force. We are not aware of any suspension at the time of writing.
  • The edges of the definition. The measure leaves other lottery products authorised by law alone. Where the line falls for products close to betting is a question for Brazilian counsel.

If you are a payment provider or an ISO

This is our reading of what the change means in practice. It is not legal advice.

  1. Look for Brazilian exposure, not only Brazilian merchants. An operator licensed offshore that takes Brazilian players is inside the ban. The country a merchant is incorporated in will not tell you that; its traffic, its payment methods and its settlement currencies will.
  2. Leave the wind-down flows alone. Refunds and prize payments are expressly permitted, and blocking them harms the players the measure sets out to protect.
  3. Expect displaced volume. When a large legal market closes in ten days, part of its demand looks for another route: unlicensed sites, merchants described as something else, and wallet or top-up businesses. The signs listed in Ordinance 2,750 are a reasonable checklist for onboarding and for monitoring.
  4. Write the stance down, and keep it easy to reverse. The rule may be amended or lapse within weeks. A dated position in your acceptance criteria is easier to revisit than an unwritten habit on the underwriting desk.

If you are a merchant

  1. Operators. Betting revenue from Brazil can no longer be processed lawfully through Brazilian banks, Pix or cards. A provider assessing the rest of your business will ask how Brazil is excluded, so be ready to show the geo-blocking and where the remaining volume comes from.
  2. Suppliers, affiliates and adjacent businesses. The ban covers intermediation and advertising as well as operation. If part of your revenue came from Brazilian betting, say so in an application, and say what has replaced it.
  3. Describe the business as it is. A misdescribed business is exactly what the new monitoring is built to find, and being found costs far more than a declined application.

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