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Brazil – Fortaleza Esporte Clube signs shirt deal with NetBet
By Phil - 11 February 2019
Brazilian football club Fortaleza Esporte Clube (Fortaleza) has signed a shirt sponsorship deal with leading European operator NetBet.
The new deal is the first of its kind since the government sanctioned a bill last December to allow for sports betting on the internet and for land based sports betting as well.
The deal establishes a one year partnership of with NetBet making the company front of shirt sponsors for the club. The deal was publicised in a video posted via social media last week. In a video the company highlighted players the club had taken a chance on and who had ultimately worked out well at the club. The new shirt debuted during a match in the Copa do Nordeste (Northeast Cup) tournament. A number of other promotional activities surrounding the new sponsorship are expected in the coming weeks.
Online operators openly offer their services to locals via billboards in Brazil, but sports sponsorship is much more limited. While offshore sites are making their presence felt via the sponsorship of local tournaments The National Council of Advertisement Self-Regulation CONAR has ruled against online operators on a number of occasions as they have attempted to promote their services locally.
Both the Brazilian Senate and the Chamber of Deputies passed sports betting legislation in November. In December then President of Brazil, Michel Temer, sanctioned it into law. Law 846/18, deals mainly with how lottery funds are distributed giving more priority to National Security. A much larger proportion of resources operated by Brazil’s largest state owned bank and lottery operator –the Caixa Econômica Federal (CAIXA) will be earmarked for public security while the bill seeks to raise additional income for the government by green lighting sports betting and gives the Ministry of Finance initially just two years to get sports betting up and running.
NetBet was established in 2001 and has held a European license from Malta since 2006, and runs both an online sportsbook and casino. NetBet has a tradition of sponsoring sports teams as their official betting partners, including Scottish football club Hamilton Academical, Premier League club West Bromwich Albion and French football club St Etienne.
