It was a surprise

It fueled dreams of overflowing coffers for the clubs. Today, in decline, it yields a few "pennies" that barely cover the most modest expenses of a big team.
The sports lottery, once a national favorite in the 70s when it didn't pass on a single cent to the clubs, is now struggling, as mandated by the Pelé Law, 10% of its gross revenue is allocated to the teams and national teams that lend their names to the game administered by CEF (Caixa Econômica Federal).
If current legislation had been in effect 30 years ago, each team that had one of its matches included in a sports competition could take home up to US$30.
In 2002, when Caixa made some changes to the product, which became known as Loteca, the maximum a test yielded for a team was US$1.800.
While the US dollar, due to the complexity of the Brazilian exchange rate in recent decades, may not be the perfect benchmark for comparisons, the number of tickets that the revenue earned by clubs could buy today compared to 1972 makes it clearer how much the sports lottery has lost.
Thirty years ago, again under the current rules, a club included in the contest that immortalized the upset could buy 18,000 tickets for a first division match in the city of São Paulo. In 2002, the record-breaking contest would have been enough for a team to buy a meager 600 tickets.
One of the clubs with the most appearances on Loteca cards in 2002, Corinthians earned less than R$ 100 throughout the entire season from the exploitation of its name by Caixa.
“The competition is enormous. Many lotteries have been created in recent years. In addition, we have illegal gambling, such as slot machines, which are all over the country,” says Marco Antonio Lopes, national superintendent of lotteries and games at CEF.
But for both Caixa Econômica Federal (the Brazilian bank managing the lottery) and the clubs, it wasn't just competition that prevented the sports lottery from becoming the golden goose that Brazilian football once envisioned.
“We missed the opportunity with the lottery,” admits Mauro Roberto Holzmann, executive director and head of marketing for Clube dos 13. To make up for lost time, he is now working on a project that will attempt to revitalize the lottery.
Like Caixa, Holzmann believes that the scandals experienced by the sports betting company in recent years have affected the credibility of the game. "This [the scandals] is a hindrance, of course," says the executive.
According to Lopes, revenue is no longer the same due to changes that have occurred in the country. "The sports lottery was all the rage back when there were 90 million in stakes, during the 1970 World Cup victory, and at the start of live football broadcasts," says Lopes.
Despite its long period of decline, Caixa has no plans to end one of its most traditional lotteries. "The sports lottery doesn't bring in as much money as other bets, but it continues to be profitable," says the superintendent.
Therefore, if nothing changes, the sports lottery will not make a single bettor a millionaire, much less put large sums of money into the coffers of the country's clubs.
Unattractive to young people and women, the lottery needs to be redesigned.
Aging and male-dominated lottery debates regulations.
The Brazilian Federal Savings Bank (Caixa Econômica Federal) and the Club of 13 agree that the sports lottery needs renewal. However, the two entities disagree on one of the steps to pull the game out of its current slump.
According to research conducted by Caixa, the profile of a sports bettor is quite different from that recorded in other lotteries.
Unlike Mega Sena, the most popular gambling game in the country today, which divides its bettors across all age groups and between men and women, the sports betting game has a restricted audience.
Over 60% of those trying their luck with this product are men and are over 35 years old.
“In the Mega-Sena lottery, an 80-year-old woman who has never watched TV can bet without worry. In sports betting, only those who closely follow football usually try their luck,” says Marco Antonio Lopes, national superintendent of lotteries and games at CEF (Caixa Econômica Federal). The numbers support Lopes's statement. Last week, the sports betting prize didn't reach R$ 500, less than 5% of a good Mega-Sena draw. Thus, with smaller prizes, sports betting tends to always be a worse option.
"We need a boost in sports betting, attracting a large audience to it," agrees Mauro Roberto Holzmann, from Clube dos 13.
If Caixa's diagnosis is the same as the clubs', one of the solutions to overcome the crisis is not a common point.
For the "Club of 13," the new format of the Brazilian Championship, with a round-robin system and home and away matches, could be the beginning of a new phase for sports betting.
“With the change in the calendar, we will have games from the big clubs throughout the year,” says Holzmann, who points to the inclusion of many insignificant teams or teams from outside the country as one of the causes of the lack of interest in the traditional game of chance.
Indeed, bettors seem more motivated during major events. In 2002, the highest-grossing contest was contest number 16, which only featured World Cup matches.
In contrast, contest 25, which only featured games from the Ceará State Championship and the lower divisions of the São Paulo State Championship, hit a record low in revenue. In this contest, each club that lent its name earned R$ 1.700.
CEF agrees that the big clubs are missed, but criticizes the end of the knockout stage in the Brazilian Championship.
"From a marketing perspective, the points-based system is not good. If the title race is restricted to just a few clubs, sports betting could lose its appeal," says Lopes.
For the big teams, the new calendar should yield more lottery revenue. These teams are expected to play on virtually every Sunday of the year.
Therefore, they will be included in almost all competitions this season. Last year, Flamengo, eliminated early from almost every tournament it competed in, only participated in 23 tests.
Caixa and Clube dos 13 also agree that a possible new reversal of the decision to rescue Palmeiras and Botafogo could be another fatal blow.
“As a marketing professional, I prefer not to even consider that possibility,” Holzmann fears. “That [a reversal of the decision] would be especially bad for the attempt to attract young people,” says Lopes.
The attempt to revitalize the lottery will not happen solely through new regulations.
The Club of 13 is currently working on a project to shake the sport out of its current stagnation.
According to Holzmann, this work should be completed this semester. Once finished, it will be taken to the Ministry of Sport. "The minister [Agnelo Queiroz] will be our channel of communication," says the director.
Despite only administering the game, which has its rules defined by law, Caixa would welcome changes that increase its revenue and that of the clubs.
The game's credibility has been damaged by scandals.
Two major scandals have shaken the credibility of the Brazilian sports lottery.
The first, revealed by the magazine "Placar" in 1982, showed that a "mafia," involving players, coaches, and managers, manipulated results to benefit certain bettors.
Then, at the beginning of the last decade, the budget scandal in Congress spilled over into the sports lottery. To justify his enrichment, federal deputy João Alves, from Bahia, claimed to have won more than 200 times in the game.
"The sports lottery is the only Caixa lottery that isn't fraud-proof, but fraud is only possible outside of here," says Marco Antonio Lopes, superintendent for the sector at the state-owned bank.
Whether it's Maranguape or Milan, CEF pays.
After the Pelé Law came into effect at the end of the last decade, Caixa Econômica Federal (a Brazilian bank) had to pay for the use of the names of all clubs involved in the sports lottery. Thus, small clubs from the Northeast, like Maranguape from Ceará, have the same rights as European giants like Milan and Real Madrid.
After each draw, CEF sends a payment order to the Central Bank, averaging just over US$1, to the major European companies, which earn millions in their respective countries for lending their names to lotteries.
While Loteca money may not be very helpful for major Brazilian and international clubs, it can mean a lot to smaller teams. In a good contest, a small team from a minor state championship can raise enough money to cover a significant portion of its payroll.