House Committee Advances Bill to Allocate Lottery Funds for Athlete Support

The Sports Committee of Brazil’s Chamber of Representatives has taken a significant step toward strengthening financial support for athletes by approving a proposal that establishes a continuous funding stream for the sector through the redistribution of lottery revenues.

The initiative ensures that a portion of government income generated from lottery operations will be directed to organizations that represent and assist professional athletes. This allocation is intended to reinforce support systems for sports professionals, particularly by creating a financial safety net for individuals who dedicate their careers to the country’s sporting landscape.

Under the terms of the approved text, specific mathematical criteria have been set to govern how these funds will be distributed. The National Federation of Professional Football Athletes (Fenapaf) and the Federation of Professional Athletes’ Associations (Faap) are positioned as the primary beneficiaries of the new arrangement. Each organization will receive a fixed share of 0.01% of the total revenue collected from lottery games categorized as numerical prediction.

To implement the redistribution responsibly and avoid disrupting public finances, the proposal includes a technical adjustment to the current allocation framework. Specifically, the percentage of lottery proceeds designated for the Ministry of Sports of Brazil will be slightly reduced, decreasing from 2.45% to 2.44%. Lawmakers involved in the decision emphasized that this adjustment would have only a minimal effect on the government budget and would not jeopardize existing public policies managed by the ministry.

The version of the proposal approved by the committee is a substitute text introduced by Julio Cesar Ribeiro of Republicanos-DF, who serves as the rapporteur. His revisions modify the original Bill (PL 5213/2025), authored by Caio Vianna of PSD-RJ. A central element of Ribeiro’s changes is the expansion of the proposal’s scope.

Where the original bill focused primarily on football players, the revised version broadens eligibility to include athletes from a wider range of sports disciplines. In explaining the rationale behind the changes, the rapporteur underscored the importance of enhancing the social protection framework available to these workers. According to him, integrating these federations into the funding structure is intended to promote the development of training initiatives, support career reintegration into the labor market, and ensure access to social assistance—measures designed to provide dignity to those who contribute to shaping the nation’s sporting identity.

The bill has a conclusive status and will next undergo mandatory review by the Finance and Taxation Committee, as well as the Constitution and Justice and Citizenship Committee. For the proposal to become law, it must still secure approval from the full chamber and pass a vote in the Senate.

By fLEXI tEAM