Brazil ad ban would end R$268m Flamengo shirt deal

Brazil’s Senate is advancing a bill that would remove betting brands from Série A shirts, including the R$268 million a year deal between Betano and Flamengo, the largest master sponsorship in Brazilian football.

The Senate Committee on Science, Technology, Innovation and Informatics (CCT) approved a substitute text to PL 2.470/2026 on 2 September. Senator Damares Alves (Republicanos-DF) filed the bill with six co-authors, and Senator Alessandro Vieira (MDB-SE) wrote the report the committee adopted. The committee also approved an urgency request, sending the text to the Senate floor rather than through further committee stages.

What the sponsorship clause covers

Operators could not sponsor sports clubs, athletes, competitions, cultural events, political campaigns or public figures. Existing contracts would have 24 months to wind down. The product classification rules in the same text, which would prohibit categories judged to carry excessive risk, carry no transition period.

The bill amends Law 14.790/2023, which regulates fixed-odds betting in Brazil.

“This is a cross-party initiative. It stems from the understanding that society today has of the scale of the damage caused by so-called bets,” Vieira said.

What betting money is worth to Série A

Twelve of the 20 Série A clubs opened the 2026 season with a betting company as master sponsor, according to Poder360. The figure in 2025 was 18.

Flamengo’s agreement with Betano is worth R$268 million a year and runs to 2028. Palmeiras has R$100 million a year from Sportingbet, rising to as much as R$170 million with bonuses, on a contract worth R$300 million through 2027. Atlético Mineiro has R$60 million a year from H2Bet, with performance clauses that could take the deal to R$200 million. Botafogo has R$55 million a year from Vbet on a three-year contract worth R$165 million. The values are reported by Mantos do Futebol.

Master shirt contracts across the division rose 125% between 2023 and 2025, from R$496 million to R$1.1 billion, over the same period in which betting brands went from 12 clubs to 18.

Renewals carry the exposure, not terminations

The largest current contracts expire inside or before a 24-month wind-down. Flamengo’s Betano deal runs to 2028 and the Palmeiras agreement with Sportingbet to 2027. If the bill clears both chambers during 2027, the transition period would cover the remaining term of both rather than cut them short.

The pressure falls on renewal. Clubs negotiating 2027 and 2028 shirt deals would be doing so with the category that pays the most for those slots barred from bidding.

Betting money fell before the bill

The drop from 18 clubs to 12 happened without any change in the law. FootHub attributes it to the effects of betting regulation reducing the money operators have available, and reports six Série A clubs with no master sponsor, among them Grêmio, Internacional and Bahia. Red Bull Bragantino’s R$31 million a year deal is with Red Bull, the company that owns the club.

What happens next

The bill needs a Senate floor vote, which the urgency request allows to be scheduled without further committee review. If the Senate passes it, the text goes to the Chamber of Deputies. No date has been set for either stage.

Other restrictive proposals are moving in parallel, including an August bill that would end online betting in Brazil within 180 days. A total ban on online gambling advertising is also before the Philippine House of Representatives.

Sponsorship budgets for the 2027 season are being set now. Any operator committing to a multi-year shirt deal in Brazil is doing so against a text that has cleared its first Senate committee and has a floor vote pending.

Source: Brazilian Senate