The allocation of resources from lotteries to sports in the country began in 2001, and Brazil went from 53rd position to the current 13th place in the ranking of medals for the Summer Olympic Games.
For two years in a row, this account rose and reached a historic record of R$ 879 million (US$ 168m) in 2019, driven by an unprecedented number of athletes registered for the Bolsa Atleta and also with the explosion of funds under the Agnelo/Piva Law, the transfer of lotteries.
The lottery promotion efforts made by Caixa Econômica Federal in conjunction with the Brazilian Olympic Committee and the Brazilian Paralympic Committee have yielded results: lotteries raised R$ 17.1 billion (US$ 33.25b) in 2020, a growth of 1.6% compared to 2019.
In an interview with Folha, the president of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee, Mizael Conrado, stated that the entity lost resources after Rio-2016. Thanks to the money from this law, he was able not only to compensate for the loss, but also to pay for the modernization of the entity’s training center.
"We had some loss of resources and our costs increased [...] But, fortunately, the lotteries had an increase in revenue and this balanced our accounts," he said.
Questioned by Folha, the Ministry of Citizenship stated that the federal government is "the biggest sponsor of Olympic and Paralympic sport in the country", which "has taken the necessary measures to maintain investment in high-performance sport" and social inclusion, and which invests more than R$750 million (US$ 143m) in sport annually.
“In 2020 alone, R$455 million (US$ 87m) were transferred by lotteries to the Brazilian Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee for direct application in the promotion and preparation programs of athletes in general. There is a direct source in which we are involved,” commented the National Secretary for High Performance Sports, Bruno Souza.
For the Tokyo cycle, according to the folder, R$439.6 million (US$ 84m) were spent on Bolsa Atleta, R$4.5 billion (US$ 857m) on lotteries and another R$2.5 billion (US$ 476m) on other programs.
Source: O Globo/ Folha de S. Paulo
