Internacional edged Corinthians 2-1 at the Beira-Rio stadium on Wednesday, handing the São Paulo side their seventh straight defeat in round 29 of the Brazilian Championship, as pitchside advertising boards across the country erupted in coordinated protests against the federal government's ban on online betting.
On the pitch, the Porto Alegre hosts exploited Corinthians' disorganized high defensive line just 43 seconds into the match, sending a direct ball over the top for Vitinho to score the fastest goal of the tournament. Yet every time play halted, the stadium LED boards seized attention with sharp slogans targeting the provisional measure signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which halted operations and advertising for fixed-odds betting platforms across Brazil.
The campaign spanned nine fixtures scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, coordinated by the Brazilian Responsible Gaming Institute (IBJR) and the National Gaming and Lottery Association (ANJL). Under the headline slogan "Prohibiting is not protecting", digital displays flashed messages including "You do not change rules in the middle of the match", "Who profits from illegal bets?" and "Demand does not disappear, it merely changes address".
The decree dealt an immediate blow to club balance sheets, forcing teams to scramble to preserve critical sponsorship revenue. Clubs such as São Paulo and Fluminense bypassed the restriction by displaying Superscore, a sports statistics service owned by betting giant Superbet, on their shirts. IBJR president Carlos Lima defended regulated operators in a released statement:
"The ban does not make demand for betting disappear. It merely pushes it toward illegal platforms, which lack the safety mechanisms and consumer protections of a regulated market."
Betting associations also launched a campaign website to argue that total prohibition strips gamblers of protections established under regulated frameworks. With the ban taking effect on Tuesday, Brazilian football enters its decisive final stretch caught between crucial points on the pitch and a high-stakes financial standoff off it.