Flamengo hits out at the government again amid sports betting ban | OneFootball

Club released a critical statement hours before the announcement of the ban on sports betting

Flamengo once again criticized the Federal Government over the threat of ending betting. The ban on sports betting companies in Brazil is expected to be announced this Friday (25). As a result, the club issued a statement with data and questions on the matter, which threatens to weaken Brazilian football.

What does Flamengo’s statement say about the rule changes?

Why does the club talk about legal certainty?

In any case, for Flamengo, the issue does not concern only betting companies. According to the statement, anyone, company, or institution that invests and makes long-term plans in the country depends on the same guarantee. However, the text stresses that no regulation is untouchable.

What do the data cited by Flamengo show about the illegal market?

So, the club cites a survey by Instituto Locomotiva, conducted in May 2026 with 2,291 bettors across the country. Therefore, the figures reinforce the club’s concern about the growth of the illegal market.

According to a study by LCA Consultores based on that survey, between 38% and 44% of the amount wagered online in Brazil currently takes place on clandestine platforms. In fact, that percentage fell after regulation: the range was 41% to 51% in 2025.

Does Flamengo support keeping the rules as they are today?

No. The statement acknowledges that Brazil needs to fight illegal gambling and protect the population. However, the club argues that the country also needs to preserve legal certainty, investment capacity, and the sustainability of sports institutions.

Is this Flamengo’s first position on the issue?

No. The club had already signed, alongside other Brasileirão teams, the manifesto “End of Football” against the Government’s proposal. After all, Betano, Flamengo’s main sponsor, has already informally told the club about the possibility of terminating the contract.

Thus, the agreement provides for R$ 268 million per season through 2028, an amount at risk in the event of a ban. In this way, Rubro-Negro is evaluating alternatives, such as Lubrax, for the space on the shirt. Meanwhile, clubs from Série A and B are negotiating credit with BNDES to reduce the financial impact.

See Flamengo’s full statement:

Brazil spent years discussing how to regulate sports betting. Congress approved it, the government regulated it, companies paid to operate legally in the country, made investments, and began complying with oversight, taxation, and consumer protection rules.

You cannot create a rule, lead companies and institutions to make commitments based on it, and then, overnight, change the entire regulatory framework.

No regulation is untouchable. If there are problems, the rules need to be improved. If they need to be stricter, so be it. Those who break the law must be punished. But there is a fundamental difference between improving a regulation and simply dismantling it.

This is a matter of legal certainty.

And legal certainty does not matter only to betting companies. It matters to any person, company, or institution that invests, hires, and makes long-term plans in Brazil trusting the rules established by the State itself.

The change hits Brazilian sports hard.

A decision of this magnitude affects professional football, youth academies, women’s football, Olympic sports, and competitions.

Brazilian sports cannot be analyzed only from the financial reality of the clubs with the highest revenues. And it is not only clubs that are affected; it is an entire chain that feels an immediate impact: direct and indirect jobs, media, marketing and technology companies, suppliers, arenas, service providers, and a whole economic chain.

It also affects public revenue. The regulated market generates resources through taxes and the allocations provided for by law, which reach public coffers and are directed to areas of interest to society.

Weakening the legal market may produce an especially bad combination: fewer resources for sports and less revenue for the country.

And will Brazilians be more protected? This may be one of the central questions in this discussion.

Banning companies that operate legally does not mean ending betting. Gambling does not disappear, and the clandestine market, which represents a significant share of the activity, will grow and occupy this space.

A survey by Instituto Locomotiva, carried out in May 2026 across the country with 2,291 bettors, points to a significant presence of practices associated with the illegal market. A study by LCA Consultores, based on this survey, estimates that between 38% and 44% of the amount wagered online in Brazil currently occurs on clandestine platforms.

There is one particularly important figure: the estimated share of the illegal market fell after regulation, moving from that 41% to 51% range in 2025 to 38% to 44% in the first half of 2026.

Gambling will not end with the stroke of a pen. What ends is the part that Brazil is able to regulate, oversee, tax, and hold accountable.

And the result may be less security for those who invest, fewer resources for sports and for the country, and less ability to oversee the activity.

Brazil needs to fight illegal gambling.

It needs to protect its population.

But it also needs to preserve legal certainty, investment capacity, and the sustainability of its sports institutions.

Brazilian sports cannot be weakened by a decision that does not eliminate gambling, does not eliminate the illegal market, and still puts at risk the investments, jobs, and commitments built under the very rules established by the country itself.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.