Dino Returns RE 966177, Leaving Fachin to Schedule Brazil's Gambling Ban Judgment

Justice Flávio Dino returned RE 966177, the appeal testing Brazil's 1941 ban on games of chance, from review on Thursday 12 November 2026, clearing the Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF), Brazil's Supreme Court, to resume the case once president Edson Fachin sets a date.

The return is a procedural step, not a ruling. Dino had requested a review (vista) on 6 August, and the plenary has not voted since. No hearing date has been published, according to the Brazilian outlets that reported the return, including Metrópoles and CartaCapital.

What Dino's return changes

The case is back in the hands of Fachin, who controls the plenary calendar. Until he schedules it, nothing is decided. On 6 August the plenary agreed to hold the case until it could be concluded together with the challenges to the Bets Law, and Dino's return removes the procedural block to that plan.

According to BNLData, the return clears the last obstacle to the single judgment Dino proposed during the municipal lottery case, ADPF 1212. The same outlet says Rapporteur Luiz Fux handles RE 966177, the three direct actions of unconstitutionality (ADIs) against the Bets Law, and four actions against the provisional measure on betting.

Fux has said he needs more time to prepare a vote covering all of those points. That makes an immediate session less likely, though the court has not said so.

What RE 966177 decides

RE 966177 (Tema 924) asks whether the prohibition on exploiting games of chance is compatible with the 1988 Constitution. Under the Criminal Misdemeanours Law (Decree-Law 3.688/1941), running a game of chance in a public place is a misdemeanour punishable by simple imprisonment of three months to one year, plus a fine.

The appeal was filed by the Rio Grande do Sul public prosecutor's office (MPRS) against an acquittal for operating slot machines in a bar in São Leopoldo. Because it is a general-repercussion case, the thesis the STF adopts will bind lower courts. The STF says it will affect at least 2,728 suspended cases in all instances.

At the 6 August session Fux, the rapporteur, voted to keep the ban valid. He was the only justice to vote that day. Dino agreed the ban is valid but wanted the thesis to address online betting, and wanted the case concluded with the other betting actions. The plenary agreed by consensus to wait and conclude it with ADI 7721 and ADI 7723, which challenge the Bets Law (Law 14.790/2023).

How the cases line up

Provisional Measure (MP) 1.394 was issued on 25 September 2026. It prohibits the exploitation, offer, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting lotteries across the country and creates an inter-institutional enforcement committee. Its constitutionality is now part of the same cluster of cases. CartaCapital reports that the joint session should include the MP actions.

The road to a joint judgment

The joint-judgment idea predates Dino's return. On 4 November, when the plenary heard and suspended ADPF 1212, Fachin said the initial plan had been to judge the cases separately. Dino then said he was ready to return his vista and asked about a joint analysis, and Fachin signalled the cases might be heard in one session without naming a date. Gamingo covered that session in its report on the hearing where Fux set no ruling date.

Fux chaired the earlier public hearing on 3 November, which Gamingo previewed in its report on the 28 entities invited to the betting ban hearing. Fux said afterward that the ADI vote needs more preparation time.

What operators and affiliates should watch

The court has not yet fixed the scope of the thesis. Dino's position in August was that it should reach online betting, and that is the point most relevant to licensed operators, affiliates and payment processors. A joint judgment would put the criminal-law question, the Bets Law and the MP before the plenary together, so the outcomes would be linked.

Three items matter in the coming weeks:

• The calendar. Fachin's scheduling decision is the next trigger, and no date has been announced.
• Fux's vote. He is the rapporteur on the main cases and has said he needs more time.
• The thesis wording. Whether it mentions online betting will shape how the ruling applies beyond slot machines in physical venues.

The STF has handled gambling disputes before, including those over state lotteries. See Gamingo's coverage of the Loterj ruling restricting it to state borders and the earlier Loterj legal battle reaching the Supreme Court.

Status reviewed on 14 November 2026. Case details and figures come from Supreme Court and Senate records, supplemented by Brazilian press reports on the 12 November return. More regulation news and Latin America coverage.