Sports betting and online gambling also continue to occupy minds in Brazil. In the South American country, further legalization has been on the political agenda for quite some time, but lawmakers have reached a dead end.
Brazilian soccer clubs are already getting ahead of themselves, however, and have indicated that they want a share of the revenue if online gambling does get legalized.
Data estimates Brazil’s sports betting market to be worth around R$25 billion (€ 4.56 billion) per year. As such, soccer clubs feel they should also receive a share, just as they do with TV rights.
Last week, 15 professional clubs met with the Chamber of Deputies about the update of the Pelé-Law, Brazil’s sports law. One of the areas of concern was the allocation of part of the revenue from online games to the teams.
Football clubs receive nothing
In addition, it wants an update of the current situation whereby a provider of sports betting can place the club name and logo of a team the its website without ceding royalty’s. Despite the fact that the provider has commercial interests in this, nothing is currently ceded to the soccer clubs.
A recent survey showed that 28% of the Brazilian population has made a sports bet at some point. Fans of Fluminense, Flamengo, Palmeiras, Grêmio and Corinthians spent the most.
