Brazil Appeals Court Pulls Stake’s Reprieve From the Betting Ban After 31 Hours

Stake is back under Brazil’s betting ban. On Friday, October 9, about 31 hours after a São Paulo judge signed it, the president of the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region, known as TRF-3, suspended the injunction that had let Stake keep trading until October 25.

The order came at the request of the Attorney General’s Office (AGU), CNN Brasil reported, the same office that is suing the operators Brazil licensed. Stake’s lawyers had called the São Paulo ruling the first favorable decision for a fixed-odds operator in the fight over Provisional Measure 1,394, the ban signed on September 25.

A Win That Came With 12 Conditions

Judge Cristiane Farias Rodrigues dos Santos of the 9th Federal Civil Court of São Paulo signed the first ruling at 11:35 a.m. on Thursday, October 8, in a case that reached her court on October 5. She refused Stake’s main request, which was to keep operating until December 31, 2029, when its federal license was due to run out. She granted the fallback.

Her reasoning turned on the measure’s own calendar. It took sites offline after ten days but ends licenses after 30, on October 25. “The Administration cannot, without specific grounds and without respecting the coherence of the rules, bring the extinguishing effects forward in full to a date earlier than the time limit set in the measure itself,” she wrote.

The permission carried 12 conditions. Stake had to keep its identity, age and anti-money laundering checks running, refuse bets funded by welfare payments, launch no new promotions or sign-up bonuses, keep withdrawals open and hold enough money to cover player balances. The order covered Stake’s own stake.bet.br domain and apps, and no other brand or site.

What Stake Told the Court

The ruling records what Stake says it has put into Brazil. The company told the court it paid R$30 million for its license, put in R$87.8 million of share capital and spent about R$128.2 million on technology, payments, compliance, marketing and sponsorships. It listed 41 employees.

On September 23, two days before the ban, Stake had 508,084 player wallets in Brazil, and 224,566 of them held a balance. About R$3.7 million was available to withdraw.

One figure didn’t impress the judge. Stake valued its lawsuit at R$10,000, and she noted an “apparent mismatch” between that number and what the company stood to gain.

One Operator Was One Exception Too Many

Luis Antonio Johonsom Di Salvo, the federal appeals judge who presides over TRF-3, signed the suspension at 6:59 p.m. on Friday. A suspension request does not re-examine whether the lower court got the law right. It asks whether carrying out the order would do serious harm to public order, health, security or the economy.

Di Salvo found that it would. “The fact that only one company remains authorized to regularly carry on the economic activity, while the others submit to the restrictions set by the Public Authority, shows a regulatory asymmetry capable of affecting the execution of the public policy implemented,” he wrote.

He named a second risk, a “multiplier effect.” Leaving the injunction in place could encourage other operators hit by the measure to file the same request. With three challenges to the ban already before the Supreme Federal Court (STF), he added, it was undesirable “for the Judiciary to be the agent of instability.”

No Ruling on the Ban Itself

Neither decision says whether the ban is constitutional. Di Salvo’s suspension holds until the original case is finally decided or the court’s presidency rules again. Stake had filed its opposition before he ruled, and it hadn’t answered Poder360’s request for comment by Saturday.

Another operator got less. On October 8, Judge Francisco Valle Brum of the 21st Federal Civil Court of the Federal District threw out a similar action from Futuras Apostas, the company behind Brazino777, without reaching the merits. He found that kind of lawsuit couldn’t be used to attack the measure’s constitutionality.

Refunds Go Out While the Courts Argue

The wind-down didn’t wait for either court. Brazil’s banks, turned into betting enforcers in September, began returning R$1.325 billion to about 26.5 million bettors on Friday, the day Stake lost its injunction. They have until Wednesday, October 14. After that, state-owned Caixa Econômica Federal takes the cases the banks couldn’t complete.

Finance Minister Dario Durigan said about 40 accounts holding more than R$500,000 each are under investigation, with the Justice Ministry and the Federal Police checking for signs of money laundering. The money isn’t spread evenly. He said 1% of bettors, roughly 200,000 people, hold 80% of what is waiting to be returned.

Congress Has 58 Amendments on File

Congress’s page for the measure listed 58 amendments on Monday, October 12, and the window to file more closes on Tuesday, October 13. The measure moves to urgent status on November 9 and lapses unless lawmakers vote by November 23.

Stake’s fallback was to trade until October 25. That is the day the measure cancels its license, and the day Brazil votes in the presidential runoff.