The Supreme Federal Court of Brazil has postponed the judgment on deciding whether land-based gambling must be criminalized and prohibited in the country after the latest hearing held on August 6, 2026.
The case revolves around Extraordinary Appeal 966177, which aims to determine the legality of gambling activities like casinos and bingo in Brazil. The court proceedings cover Article 50 of the country’s Criminal Contraventions Law, which classifies games of chance as a criminal misdemeanor.
At the same time, the court is in the process of assessing whether Article 50 is compatible with the Federal Constitution of 1988. For this purpose, Justice Flávio Dino requested additional time to further review the case to also consider online fixed-odds betting.
Dino explained:
“If gambling is a misdemeanor, is betting also a misdemeanor? We need to explain this. Are we talking about gambling, but not betting? Why? This is important for understanding. I do not see how to separate them, because a bet is a game of chance. That is the point.”
Initially, the case was brought up by Rio Grande do Sul’s Public Prosecutor’s Office after the Special Criminal Courts denied the criminalization of gambling and noted that the law went against constitutional rules.
Currently, the proceedings have been suspended for up to 90 days, but if the majority of the authorities decide that the law isn’t compatible with the Constitution, then the criminalization of land-based gambling could be removed.
