Brazilian football takes gambling ban to the campaign
Matchday 29 of the Brazilian Championship was played with stadiums transformed into protest billboards. After the FIFA international break, Série A clubs coordinated messages on their stadium advertising panels against Provisional Measure 1.394/2026, and the dispute, which began as a sectoral claim, ended up entangled in the presidential campaign.
The phrases displayed on the billboards all pointed to the same argument. "Prohibiting is not protecting," "who benefits from the illegal market," "who benefits from prohibiting those who follow the rules," and "demand doesn't disappear, it just changes direction" were the slogans chosen. Flamengo went a step further and decided to wear the first of these on the front of their uniform to face Santos, thus turning their official jersey into a campaign support.
The sector's reasoning is that closing the formal market does not eliminate consumption. Entities argue that the mass of users shifts to clandestine offerings, which lack oversight, while the regulated segment operated with identity verified by CPF, age control, blocking for beneficiaries of social programs, and moderation tools.
Behind the claim is a concrete figure. Sponsorship from bookmakers represented about 34 percent of Série A's commercial revenue in 2025, and the prohibition forced the removal of main sponsors' logos from jerseys, leaving that revenue stream suspended overnight.
The solution found by some clubs lies in the wording of the regulation. São Paulo and Fluminense appeared with Superscore on their jerseys, a statistics platform belonging to the same business conglomerate as their original sponsor. Since the company being promoted is not a gambling operator, the clubs are not directly in breach. International companies in the sector, meanwhile, are maintaining economic agreements while awaiting institutional definitions, and at the same time, they began to preemptively close social interaction tools on their platforms to comply with the current regulation.
The collapse in revenue ended up pushing the conflict into the political arena. In the corridors of local football, leaders from various entities, including spokespeople from Corinthians and Flamengo, began discussing whether it was appropriate to take an explicit political stance for the second round. On the other side, opposition candidate Flávio Bolsonaro approached leaders and organized fan groups with the message that, if he becomes President, he will reinstate sponsorship and sports operations and will restrict only virtual casinos.
The Superscore maneuver is the most revealing data of the week, because it shows that the prohibition can be formally complied with while money continues to circulate through the same business group, which is exactly the argument with which amendments in Congress seek to separate sports betting from online casino. It is also worth clarifying the circulating figure, because 34 percent corresponds to Série A's commercial revenue and not to the clubs' total income, where the weight of betting sponsorship is considerably smaller. This is the second escalation by the clubs in two weeks, after threats to suspend the tournament, and unlike the first, this one is aimed at the voter and not the regulator.
Tags: Brazil betting ban, Série A, Flamengo, sports sponsorship