Brazil Classifies Betting Ban Documents for Five Years

Brazil’s Ministry of Justice has imposed a five-year confidentiality restriction on documents used to prepare Provisional Measure No. 1,394, which banned betting and online casinos, according to Poder360.

The classification order was signed on September 24, one day before President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued the measure. The government subsequently cited that order when rejecting a request for the preparatory documents under Brazil’s Access to Information Law. 

Ministry Cites Public Safety and Financial Risks

Victor Oliveira Fernandes, the ministry’s secretary for digital rights, justified the restriction by citing statutory grounds concerning risks to the population’s life, safety or health, alongside serious threats to the country’s financial, economic or monetary stability.

Those grounds appear in Article 23 of Brazil’s Access to Information Law. However, citing them does not itself explain which specific information in the betting-ban documents could create such risks.

Poder360 said it asked the ministry to explain the criteria behind the classification but had received no response by publication.

Five Years Is the Lowest Classification Tier

Brazilian law provides three levels of classified information. The lowest, known as reservada, allows access restrictions lasting up to five years. The higher categories, secreta and ultrassecreta, carry maximum periods of 15 and 25 years respectively. 

The restriction concerns the supporting documents used to develop the provisional measure. It limits public scrutiny of the material underlying the government’s decision while the ban remains subject to political and legal challenges.

According to Poder360’s November 4 report, the measure was due to remain valid until November 23, with the possibility of a further 60-day extension. Industry organisations and football clubs were also challenging its constitutionality before the Supreme Federal Court.