Brazil's Supreme Court hears arguments on municipal lotteries, then suspends ADPF 1212 judgment

Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) on November 4, 2026, heard oral arguments on whether municipalities may create and run their own lotteries, including sports betting, and then suspended the judgment without setting a new date.

The case, Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental (ADPF) 1212, was filed by the Solidariedade party against municipal laws and decrees on lotteries. After the parties and five amici curiae spoke, Chief Justice Edson Fachin suspended the judgment, which the court said will resume "em data oportuna" (at an appropriate date), according to the STF's official account of the session.

The injunction stays in place

The rapporteur, Justice Nunes Marques, granted an injunction on December 3, 2025 suspending all municipal laws and decrees that create, authorise or regulate lotteries and sports betting, ordering operating services to stop and halting accreditation procedures. It set a daily fine of R$500,000 for municipalities and companies that keep offering the service and R$50,000 for mayors and heads of accredited companies. The injunction has not yet been submitted to the plenary for confirmation.

Who argued what

For Solidariedade, lawyer Ivan Cândido de Franco said municipalities were invading the federal government's power to legislate on lotteries and allowing companies to operate without federal oversight. He cited Bodó, in Rio Grande do Norte, where 38 companies received municipal accreditation without authorisation from the Finance Ministry.

São Paulo city attorney Simone Andréa Barcelos Coutinho said the city had only passed a law authorising the service and had not set it up, and that technology could restrict bets to the city's territory. For the Federal Attorney General's Office (AGU), Isadora Maria Belém Rocha Cartaxo de Arruda said the Constitution allows the federal government, states and the Federal District to run lotteries, but not municipalities.

Among the amici curiae, the Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias (ANJL), the State of São Paulo and the state bank Caixa Econômica Federal backed limiting the activity to authorised entities. The Associação Nacional pela Segurança Jurídica dos Jogos e Apostas (Anseja) and the Brazilian Association of State Capital Finance Secretariats (Abrasf) defended municipal lotteries within federal rules.

Other gambling cases at the court

The session came a day after Justice Luiz Fux held a public hearing on the federal betting ban, MP 1.394, in separate cases he is handling. No date has been set for those rulings either. AskSpinner's MP 1.394 topic page follows the ban's court and congressional deadlines.

Photo: Senado Federal / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped)

If you hold rights to images used in this article and have concerns, please contact us at support@askspinner.com.