Brazil’s Regional Federal Court of the 3rd Region has suspended an injunction that briefly allowed Stake Brazil to resume online betting operations despite the federal prohibition. The Oct. 9 decision restored the effect of Provisional Measure No. 1,394/2026 on the operator, ending a reprieve that had been granted only the day before.
Judge Luis Antonio Johonsom Di Salvo, the court’s president, granted the federal government’s request to halt the lower-court order. The suspension remains in force until a final judgment in the underlying action or a further decision by the TRF-3 presidency.
São Paulo’s 9th Federal Civil Court had partially granted Stake’s injunction request on Oct. 8. Its order prevented authorities from treating the company’s authorisation as terminated until Oct. 25, blocking or redirecting stake.bet.br solely on that basis, or penalising operations within the ruling’s limits.
The lower court did not accept Stake’s wider request to preserve its authorisation through Dec. 31, 2029, its original expiry date. It found there was insufficient basis to guarantee continuity before hearing from the authorities, while recognising that Stake’s paid authorisation and investments gave it an individual legal position requiring consideration.
The temporary order imposed 12 conditions. Stake was required to maintain identification, age-verification, anti-money-laundering, responsible-gambling and self-exclusion controls; keep player withdrawals open and adequately funded; and stop new promotions, acquisition bonuses and other efforts to grow its user base.
The government argued that exempting one company from a nationwide policy would create regulatory inequality, undermine consistent enforcement and invite similar claims from other operators. Di Salvo accepted that maintaining Stake’s authorisation could compromise the coherence and effectiveness of administrative action, while individual exemptions would increase legal uncertainty as the Supreme Federal Court considers the measure’s constitutionality.
Stake’s website and app returned after the Oct. 8 ruling but became unavailable again on Oct. 10, according to a notice on its website. The appeals-court suspension did not decide the merits of Stake’s challenge or rule on whether the provisional measure is constitutional.
The dispute stems from the Sept. 25 provisional measure that barred the operation, offering, brokering and advertising of online betting and gaming platforms, as this publication reported at the time. The measure gave existing authorised operators a transition period and required betting websites and apps to go offline from Oct. 6.
Stake had reported 41 employees, about BRL 128 million in investments and 508,084 player wallets as of September. Its underlying writ continues before the 9th Federal Civil Court, where the Prize and Betting Secretariat, Anatel and the Central Bank must provide information before an opinion from the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office.
