Brazil: Judge Fux asks for an extraordinary session to vote on the precautionary measure on gambling

If the suggestion is accepted, a virtual plenary session should be opened for the magistrates to express their opinion on whether to uphold or annul the injunction. Extraordinary sessions of the Supreme Court usually last 24 hours.

A public hearing was held on 11 and 12 November 2024 to hear testimony from members of the public and civil society on technical and legal expertise on the issues.

The magistrate noted that a public hearing was held to hear testimony from academics, foreign experts, government bodies, representatives of the Executive Branch, the Federal Senate, the Attorney General's Office, the Public Defender's Office, the Brazilian Bar Association, football clubs and civil society in general, who contributed to the analysis of the numerous technical issues related to the listed topics.

In a monocratic decision published on Wednesday morning (13), in ADIs 7721 (National Confederation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism - CNC) and ADI 7. 723 (Solidarity Party), Justice Luiz Fuz ruled for the immediate application of advertising and publicity measures for sports betting aimed at children and adolescents, and for the immediate implementation of special protection measures to prevent participation in fixed-odds betting with funds from social and welfare programmes such as Bolsa Família, the Continuous Cash Benefit and the like, until the conclusion of the trial on the merits of these Direct Unconstitutionality Actions.

The minister's decision is a preliminary injunction and will be submitted to the Full Bench of the Supreme Court, regardless of its immediate effectiveness.

Fux notes that the actions requested the suspension of the effectiveness of Law 14.790/23 on the need to mitigate the effects of increased levels of indebtedness, as well as the impacts on the mental health of gamblers and their families.

Control measures on online gambling

- The actions of inspection and control of compliance with the provisions of Ordinance SPA/MF 1.231/, will have immediate application with regard to the prohibition of advertising and publicity measures for these activities that target children and adolescents. Although the regulation came into force in July, the rules for inspection, control and sanctions for non-compliance would apply from 1 January 2025.

- Measures to prevent social benefits such as Bolsa Família and the Continuous Income Benefit (BPC ) from being used for online gambling. In September, the Central Bank published a study showing that Bolsa Família beneficiaries spent USD 517,530M on gambling through Pix in August this year alone.