Brazil’s Serie A loses 33% of betting sponsorships in 2026 as regulation tightens

Brazilian top-flight football is starting 2026 with fewer sports-betting brands on shirts: 12 of the 20 Serie A clubs opened the season with a betting company as their main sponsor, down from 18 a year earlier. For PSPs and acquiring teams watching high-risk spend, the message is straightforward: the market is still there, but budgets are getting tighter and contracts are getting less forgiving.

1. According to an analysis by Marcel Rizzo published in Estadão on Saturday (4/7), the number of Serie A clubs carrying a bet as master sponsor fell from 18 in 2025 to 12 in 2026. That is a 33% drop in shirt sponsorship presence in one season.
2. The decline tracks an adjustment in the sector. In 2025, sports-betting companies invested more than R$ 1 billion in Brazilian football clubs, but higher taxation and regulatory requirements started to slow fresh spending.
3. The report says a 13% tax rate on betting revenue, together with the rules required for companies to regularize their operations, pushed several brands to cut the number of clubs they sponsor. Smaller companies left the market, while those that remained started operating with tighter budgets.
4. The picture is not fully fixed yet. Before league matches resume after the World Cup break, expected at the end of July, the number of clubs with a bet as master sponsor could still rise. Vasco, for example, is still looking for a partner in this segment.
5. Porto Alegre shows the commercial risk behind these deals. At the end of 2025, Grêmio and Internacional split with the same company that had been on their shirts after payment delays; Internacional’s case went to court. Six months later, neither club has found a replacement, and the offers they have received are below the values in the previous contract.

The betting presence in Brazilian football is broader than shirt space. The sector also pays for stadium advertising boards, competition naming rights, digital activations, fan-loyalty programs, and broadcasts. For mid-sized and smaller clubs, bets were for a while the only buyers willing to pay prices other industries would not.