Stake’s Brazil betting ban reprieve overturned within a day

Stake.com’s court-won reprieve from Brazil’s fixed-odds betting ban lasted less than a day, with a federal appeals court suspending the injunction that had let the operator reopen its Brazilian platform.

On October 8, Stake Brazil received a partial injunction from Federal Judge Cristiane Farias Rodrigues dos Santos of the 9th Federal Civil Court of São Paulo, permitting it to operate until October 25. Betting sites and apps had been ordered offline on October 6.

The judge rejected Stake’s requests to suspend the measure outright and to keep operating until its licence expired on December 31, 2029. She found that “if the authorisation were legally nonexistent from the publication of the provisional measure, there would be no reason for the rule to establish a specific later date for its termination”.

However, on Friday, the Attorney-General’s Office appealed. Luis Antonio Johonsom di Salvo, president of the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region, suspended the injunction until final judgment or a further ruling.

He wrote that one company remaining authorised while others faced restrictions “demonstrates regulatory asymmetry capable of affecting implementation of the public policy”. The decision did not rule on the merits of Stake’s case or the ban’s constitutionality.

The National Association of Games and Lotteries and the Brazilian Institute for Responsible Gaming have separate challenges before the Supreme Federal Court.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued the measure on September 25. It targets fixed-odds betting and does not expressly abolish horse-race wagering’s separate regime under Brazil’s 1984 law.