Fantasy Sports in Brazil After MP 1.394: What Art. 49 of Law 14.790 Still Says

MP 1.394/2026 revokes most of Law 14.790/2023, but not Article 49. As of 11 October 2026, Art. 49 still states that the development or provision of services related to fantasy sport is not a lottery modality, a commercial promotion or a fixed-odds bet, and needs no public authorisation. That protection covers only products that match the definition in the article’s sole paragraph, and Congress can still change the law when it votes on the MP. This guide quotes the text, maps its four conditions to platform features and lists the questions to settle with counsel before building.

Last legally reviewed: 11 October 2026. MP 1.394/2026 is in force and pending conversion by Congress; constitutional challenges are pending at the STF; PL 5477/2026 is a bill, not law.

This article describes the legal framework for engineering planning. It is not legal advice; confirm how it applies to your product with qualified Brazilian counsel.

In this article, paid fantasy means contests in which users pay an entry fee, build virtual teams of real athletes and win prizes based on those athletes’ statistics in real competitions. Free fantasy means the same mechanics with no entry fee.

Where the rules stand on 11 October 2026

Primary sources: MP 1.394/2026 (Planalto), Law 14.790/2023 (Planalto), MPV 1394/2026 (Congresso Nacional), ADI 8024/8027 (STF news), PL 5477/2026 (Congresso Nacional).

For the shutdown of an existing betting operation, see our operator exit guide. For how fantasy compares with skill games, free-to-play and prize contests, see our overview of formats and markets after the ban.

What Art. 49 says, quoted

The caput of Art. 49 of Law 14.790/2023 reads: “Não configura exploração de modalidade lotérica, promoção comercial ou aposta de quota fixa, estando dispensada de autorização do poder público, a atividade de desenvolvimento ou prestação de serviços relacionados ao fantasy sport” (the development or provision of services related to fantasy sport does not constitute the exploration of a lottery modality, commercial promotion or fixed-odds betting, and is exempt from public authorisation).

Its sole paragraph defines the term: “considera-se fantasy sport o esporte eletrônico em que ocorrem disputas em ambiente virtual, a partir do desempenho de pessoas reais, nas quais” (fantasy sport is the electronic sport in which contests take place in a virtual environment, based on the performance of real people, in which):

• I. “as equipes virtuais sejam formadas de, no mínimo, 2 (duas) pessoas reais, e o desempenho dessas equipes dependa eminentemente de conhecimento, análise estatística, estratégia e habilidades dos jogadores do fantasy sport” (virtual teams are formed of at least two real people, and the teams’ performance depends eminently on the knowledge, statistical analysis, strategy and skills of the fantasy players);
• II. “as regras sejam preestabelecidas” (the rules are set in advance);
• III. “o valor garantido da premiação independa da quantidade de participantes ou do volume arrecadado com a cobrança das taxas de inscrição” (the guaranteed prize value does not depend on the number of participants or on the amount collected through entry fees);
• IV. “os resultados não decorram do resultado ou da atividade isolada de uma única pessoa em competição real” (results do not derive from the result or isolated activity of a single person in a real competition).

The four items are part of the definition, so a product carries the Art. 49 status only to the extent its contests match all of them. The law gives no further detail on how each item is measured. Those questions belong to counsel, and the checklist below is a design aid for that conversation.

What MP 1.394/2026 changed around Art. 49

Art. 29 of the MP lists the provisions of Law 14.790/2023 it revokes: “os art. 1º a art. 21”, “os art. 22 a art. 24”, “os art. 25 a art. 40”, “os art. 43 a art. 48” and “o art. 54”. Art. 49 falls outside every range. The MP text does not mention fantasy sport.

Three points follow from the text, without interpretation:

• The boundary is the definition. The MP prohibits fixed-odds bets on real sports-themed events, and its Art. 3 describes a fixed-odds bet as placing a value at risk for a prize set by a multiplication factor. Art. 49 states that fantasy sport, as defined, is not a fixed-odds bet. That is why single-athlete outcomes and multiplied payouts appear as risk flags in the checklist below.
• Authorisation. Art. 4 of the MP extinguishes authorisations to operate fixed-odds betting. Art. 49 states that fantasy sport is exempt from public authorisation. Its text covers services related to fantasy sport and says nothing about other features offered in the same app.
• Tax. Art. 31 §4, “O disposto neste artigo aplicar-se-á ao fantasy sport”, is marked on Planalto as revoked by the MP. The tax treatment of fantasy prizes and entry fees after the MP is outside the scope of this article; confirm it with Brazilian tax advisers.

Our status line for paid fantasy is therefore: no prohibition identified under MP 1.394/2026 as of 11 October 2026 for fantasy sport as defined in Art. 49; paid fantasy remains subject to that definition, consumer law (CDC), the LGPD, the Digital Statute of Children and Adolescents (Law 15.211/2025, ECA Digital), app-store and payment-partner rules, and any change Congress makes on conversion; confirm with Brazilian counsel.

Art. 49 product-design checklist (engineering guidance, not a legal test)

Each row takes one element of the sole paragraph and shows which parts of a fantasy platform it touches. The risk flags are product-risk signals for discussion with counsel, not findings that a contest does or does not meet Art. 49.

Three adjacent rules sit outside Art. 49 but shape the same features:

On payments: we do not recommend choosing a merchant category to avoid blocking. Describe the product accurately and let each acquirer or payment institution classify it.

Contest formats: which elements they touch and what to ask counsel

The table shows where each common format meets the Art. 49 elements. It contains no verdicts.

Distribution: what the app stores require

Store approval is a separate gate from the law. Apple’s App Store Review Guideline 5.3.4 states that apps offering real-money gaming “must have necessary licensing and permissions in the locations where the app is used, must be geo-restricted to those locations, and must be free on the App Store”, and 5.3.3 states that apps “may not use in-app purchase to purchase credit or currency for use in conjunction with real money gaming of any kind”. Google Play’s real-money gambling, games and contests policy allows daily fantasy sports apps only if they are distributed solely in the United States or meet its gambling-app requirements for other countries, which include a separate application and a valid operating licence for the product type in each country. Art. 49 exempts fantasy sport from public authorisation, so ask each store, before building, how it treats a Brazil-facing paid fantasy app (policies checked 11 October 2026).

Platform architecture for an Art. 49-aware fantasy product

Most of the checklist is enforced in the backend, not the interface. These are the components we would expect and the job each one does.

OmiSoft builds these layers through fantasy sports app development: custom contest formats, real-time scoring engines, sports-data integrations, leaderboards, admin panels, and KYC and age-verification flows. High-load event streaming and server-side services draw on our backend game development work.

What carries over from a betting stack

Two rules apply here as on every other path. Brazilian player data, balances and CRM lists from the betting product stay in its compliance archive and are not moved into the new product, which acquires users on its own legal basis. And the build should run in stages that can stop cleanly if Congress amends Law 14.790 on conversion or counsel’s view changes. If the betting stack is worth more in another regulated market, the iGaming software development route covers redeployment, and our guide to skill games and PvP duels in Brazil covers the escrow-based alternative.

Questions to settle before engineering starts

1. Does every contest type in the catalogue meet all four items of the Art. 49 sole paragraph?
2. How is the guaranteed prize funded and recorded so that it does not depend on entrants or entry fees (inciso III)?
3. Which formats, such as head-to-head, pooled or single-athlete contests, should be disabled for Brazil?
4. Does any part of the product still look like a stake for a multiplied prize under MP Art. 3?
5. How are minors excluded before paid entry? (ECA Digital)
6. How will Apple, Google and each payment partner classify the product, and on what descriptors?
7. What is the tax treatment of prizes and entry fees now that Art. 31 §4 is revoked?
8. What changes if Congress amends Law 14.790 on conversion, or PL 5477/2026 is enacted?

By Yevhen Sakara

CBDO & Co-founder

10 mins read | Oct 11, 2026

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