Two Brazil refund bills that would make operators, and in one case banks, repay bettors’ net losses will lose their authors when the new Congress sits on 1 February 2027. Ricardo Abrão, who filed PL 5502/2026, and Jorge Goetten, who filed PL 5587/2026, both failed to win re-election on 4 October.
Abrão’s bill moved for the first time on 12 November, when the Chamber of Deputies’ governing board (Mesa Diretora) referred it to two committees. Goetten’s bill has not yet been referred. Neither text will be archived when the current mandates end on 31 January.
Where PL 5502 stands
Abrão (PSDB/RJ) filed PL 5502/2026 on 1 October, six days after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed Provisional Measure (MP) 1,394/2026, which banned fixed-odds betting. Its terms are set out in our 1 October report on the bill.
The 12 November dispatch sends it to the Consumer Defence Committee (CDC) and the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Committee (CCJC), according to the Chamber’s record for PL 5502/2026. The CCJC is listed under Article 54 of the Chamber’s internal rules, so it rules only on constitutionality and legal form, not on the merits.
The bill runs under “conclusive appreciation” (Article 24, II) and the ordinary procedure (Article 151, III). As of 14 November it had no rapporteur, no amendments, no committee opinion and no attached bills.
What PL 5502 would require
The text, which Abrão named the Law of Full Restitution and Reparation to the Bettor, obliges operators to refund each person’s net loss: deposits minus withdrawals and amounts recovered, calculated per taxpayer number (CPF), according to Congresso em Foco’s summary of the bill. Missing records cannot be used against the bettor.
The bill lists 10 situations that trigger a refund, from total net loss and unpaid prizes to cancelled bets, bets placed by self-excluded or blocked people and use of funds after a licence was revoked. Operators would pay within 10 business days, preferably to the original account, with no fees or discount, adjusted for inflation from the date the money was paid in. They would also have to give players a free, detailed statement of their activity within 10 business days.
Closure, bankruptcy, judicial recovery, merger, spin-off or a change of control would not cancel the bettor’s right. In the justification, Abrão cites the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) civil action against large operators, which asks for R$1bn in collective moral damages, and an estimate of R$1.7bn to be returned to more than 22 million bettors, attributed to the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank.
PL 5587 targets the payment chain
Goetten (Republicanos/SC) filed PL 5587/2026 on 15 October. It amends the Bets Law (Law 14,790/2023) to give bettors a right to recover net losses on fixed-odds bets placed with unauthorised operators, according to the Chamber’s procedural data.
The illegal operator stays primarily liable. Banks and payment institutions can share liability when they processed transactions in breach of their legal and regulatory prevention duties, Congresso em Foco reported. PL 5502 is aimed at the licensed operators the MP shut down; PL 5587 is aimed at the black market and the banks behind it.
The Chamber’s record shows a single entry, “awaiting authorisation of the dispatch”. The bill has no committees, no rapporteur and no attached bills.
Both authors leave on 31 January
Abrão is not among the 46 federal deputies elected for Rio de Janeiro on 4 October, according to Diário do Rio’s list of the winners. The PSDB/Cidadania federation won four Rio seats: Luciano Vieira, Juninho do Pneu, Marcelo Queiroz and Talita Galhardo.
Abrão sat in the Chamber as a substitute. He took 43,219 votes for União Brasil in 2022 and first entered the house in February 2023, when Daniela Carneiro became Tourism Minister. He returned in April 2025 after Chiquinho Brazão’s mandate was revoked, according to Congresso em Foco’s profile of the deputy.
A lawyer from Nilópolis and a two-term Rio state deputy, Abrão chaired the Beija-Flor samba school from 2017 to 2021. Congresso em Foco describes him as the nephew of Aniz Abraão David, known as Anísio, a jogo do bicho (illegal lottery) boss.
On 3 September the Federal Police searched his home in a vote-buying investigation tied to Nilópolis’s 2024 municipal election, under an order from Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Flávio Dino, Diário do Rio reported. Abrão denies wrongdoing and said he was not a candidate in 2024. He has not been charged.
Goetten fell from 159,339 votes in 2022 to 43,449 and finished as Republicanos’ third substitute in Santa Catarina, according to Jornal Razão’s tally of deputies who lost their seats. Current mandates end on 31 January 2027 and the deputies elected in October take office the next day.
Analysis: Brazil refund bills without an author
Both bills carry over into the 58th legislature and keep their place in the process. What they lose is a deputy to press the committee chair for a rapporteur, negotiate the text or ask for urgency.
Under conclusive appreciation, the CDC names a rapporteur, opens a five-session window for amendments and votes. The CCJC then checks constitutionality. If both committees approve, the bill goes to the Senate without a Chamber floor vote, unless the committees disagree or 52 deputies, a tenth of the house, appeal within five plenary sessions, according to the Chamber’s procedural guide. A Senate change sends the text back to the Chamber before it reaches the President.
Committees are reconstituted every year, so the CDC’s 2027 chair and members will decide whether PL 5502 gets a rapporteur at all. PL 5587 could be attached to PL 5502, with the older bill leading, but only if the Mesa decides it or a deputy asks before the CDC gives its opinion. The two texts are built differently: one is a standalone law, the other amends Law 14,790.
Refund ideas of this kind often return as new bills or as amendments to a larger vehicle. The likeliest vehicle is the MP 1,394 conversion bill, which already sets rules for returning account balances. The AGU action and consumer lawsuits are already in the courts.
Other bills that could change the ban
| Bill | What it does | Status on 14 November |
|---|---|---|
| MP 1,394/2026 (Executive) | Bans fixed-odds betting | Extended 60 days; 99 amendments; joint committee not installed |
| PL 5477/2026 (Executive) | Makes operating bets a crime, up to 6 years | Starting in the Chamber |
| PL 5153/2026 (Caroline de Toni, PL/SC) | Ends fixed-odds betting after 180 days | Introduced; author elected senator for SC |
| PL 2359/2025 (Kim Kataguiri, União/SP) | Makes banks liable for illegal betting transactions | Awaiting CCJC opinion since October 2025 |
| PL 5502/2026 (Ricardo Abrão) | Refunds by licensed operators | With CDC and CCJC, no rapporteur |
| PL 5587/2026 (Jorge Goetten) | Refunds from illegal operators and banks | Awaiting dispatch |
Source: Chamber of Deputies, Federal Senate and Congress records, November 2026.
The government’s PL 5477/2026 sets 4 to 6 years in prison for operating fixed-odds betting and 2 to 4 years for advertising bets, according to the Chamber’s page for PL 5477/2026. At the STF, Justice Luiz Fux is rapporteur for challenges to the MP and has suspended all lower-court cases on the ban until the court rules.
Next steps
Congress extended MP 1,394 by 60 days on 11 November. Parliamentary recess runs from 23 December to 1 February, and the MP must be voted on by 5 March 2027 or it loses effect, according to Painel Político. Unless Congress votes before the recess, the decision falls to the new Congress, where the PL party will hold the largest bench in both houses, with 121 deputies and 28 of 81 senators.
Lula, re-elected on 25 October, starts his fourth term on 5 January 2027. PL 5502 and PL 5587 need a new sponsor or a CDC rapporteur in the 2027 session to move again.
Source: Chamber of Deputies
