The Prizes and Betting Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance prohibited betting or sponsorship on the São Paulo Junior Football Cup games, the Copinha. The traditional base tournament starts on January 2, 2025.
A technical note signed by the prizes and betting secretary last Monday (23), after a meeting with the National Advertising Self-Regulation Council (Conar), decided on the ban. The decision prohibits the following items:
- Betting offer on all games of the São Paulo Junior Football Cup – 2025 edition;
- Sponsorship of betting operators in the uniform of associations competing in the São Paulo Junior Football Cup – 2025 edition.
- Advertising and publicity in stadiums where the São Paulo Junior Football Cup matches will be held – 2025 edition; and
- Advertising by betting operators during the broadcast of the match on television, radio and the internet.
The document reinforces an article that is already in the law that regulated fixed odds bets (or, popularly, bets) in Brazil. The text highlights that “sporting events that involve youth categories or events that exclusively involve underage athletes in any modality” cannot be subject to betting.
According to the law, betting operating companies also cannot broadcast commercials that “promote marketing at schools and universities or promote sports betting aimed at minors”.
Copinha is the main youth category event in Brazil, where some of the biggest stars of our football have passed through in their emerging years. Names like Kaká, Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Neymar, Vinícius Júnior, Endrick and Estevão were on the field in the tournament.
The Prizes and Betting Secretariat states that it is both an event played by minors and that it also has younger people as an audience. “The increase in popularity of betting games presents challenges, especially in relation to advertising aimed at young people”, says the note.
Continues after advertising
“Youth is a phase of cognitive and emotional development, in which young people are more susceptible to external influences”, continues the text. “The Copinha sporting event cannot propose to associate young athletes with the betting market through sponsorships printed on the uniforms, but rather be a space to encourage young people to bet, even indirectly, under penalty of encouraging the development of gambling behaviors. risk, dependence and even debt.”
By October 2024, Conar had opened almost 50 advertising-related cases against companies in the betting sector. The sector is already the main sponsor of the first one.
