Notícias

By Ralaw

Publication date: August 7, 2026

Brazilian sports-betting companies are facing growing legal pressure from soccer players who challenge the use of their names and images in markets linked to individual performance. The dispute could affect one of the most commercially significant segments of the country’s regulated betting industry.

According to a report published by BNldata, players including Ricardo Bueno, Guilherme Marques, Gabriel Barros, and Gustavo Vilar have obtained preliminary injunctions against platforms such as Betano, Bet365, Verabet, and Cassino Bet. The orders reportedly restrict, in specific cases, the offering of betting markets connected to individual statistics, including goals, yellow cards, and fouls .

Source credit: This article is an original adaptation based on the BNldata report, “Betting companies fear a flood of lawsuits from players in Brazil.”

Why the betting industry is concerned

The operators’ main concern is that the preliminary rulings may develop into a broader judicial understanding and threaten the market for individualized bets. Unlike wagers on the winner or final score, these products allow customers to bet on events involving a specific player during a match.

Examples include predictions about whether an athlete will score, receive a yellow card, or commit a certain number of fouls. The players’ legal argument is that these markets use their names, images, and professional careers as part of a commercial product without specific authorization .

The legal theory cited by BNldata was developed by attorney Marcelo Robalinho. According to the report, Robalinho argues that identifying a particular athlete turns the player’s professional identity into a commercial element of the betting product. The lawsuits do not necessarily seek to prohibit sports betting as a whole. Instead, they challenge the individualized use of players’ identities without consent.

Image rights and personality rights

The dispute is connected to personality rights, which protect attributes such as a person’s name, image, voice, honor, and identity. For professional athletes, these attributes may also have significant economic, advertising, and contractual value.

Brazil’s Constitution protects image and private life, while the Civil Code provides legal remedies against unauthorized or improper commercial uses of a person’s image . The outcome of each case, however, depends on the relevant contracts, the way the image or name was used, and the interpretation adopted by the courts.

Brazil’s fixed-odds betting market is regulated by Law No. 14,790/2023. Betting companies and industry representatives argue that the regulatory framework covers the use of elements connected to sporting events and provides rules for compensation. The players maintain that the existence of a regulatory framework does not automatically authorize every individualized commercial use of their names and images .

Threats and pressure from bettors

The lawsuits also raise concerns that go beyond compensation and licensing. According to the BNldata report, the players’ legal team argues that individualized betting markets may expose athletes to pressure, harassment, and threats from bettors who lose money on a specific wager .

A player who misses a penalty, fails to score, or receives a card may become the target of hostile messages from people who believe the athlete caused their financial loss. The athletes’ position is that they should not be treated as the commercial product of a bet in which they did not voluntarily agree to participate.

This argument adds a safety and integrity dimension to the legal dispute. The debate is no longer limited to whether a company must pay for the use of an image; it also concerns whether certain commercial practices can create additional risks for athletes in their professional and personal lives.

Alleged non-compliance with court orders

BNldata also reported that some operators allegedly failed to remove the players’ names from their websites despite the injunctions. According to the source, the athletes’ legal team was considering requests for daily fines and, in certain circumstances, measures seeking to block access to the platforms in Brazil .

These allegations should be understood within the context of ongoing judicial proceedings. Whether a specific order was complied with, whether fines are applicable, and whether further measures will be granted depend on the records and decisions in each case. The reported injunctions are provisional and do not constitute final rulings on the legality of every individual betting market.

What could happen next?

The lawsuits may affect future agreements among athletes, clubs, sports federations, technology companies, media companies, and betting operators. If the players’ legal position gains broader acceptance, platforms may need to review their individualized markets, advertising campaigns, data policies, and image-authorization procedures.

Contracts could become more specific about which names, images, statistics, and professional attributes may be used, for how long, in which products, and under what compensation terms. Betting companies may also face pressure to develop clearer safeguards against harassment linked to individual wagers.

For the industry, the central challenge will be to balance the commercial use of sports data with the personal rights and safety of the athletes whose performances generate that data. The outcome may establish important parameters for the relationship between Brazil’s betting market and professional soccer.

Key points in the dispute

Editorial note

This is an original English-language adaptation for the Ralaw blog, based primarily on the report published by BNldata and on publicly available legal references. Information about the lawsuits, alleged non-compliance, and possible fines is attributed to the source and should not be understood as a final judicial finding. This article is not legal advice.

References

[1] BNldata — Betting companies fear a flood of lawsuits from players in Brazil

[2] Brazilian Constitution — Planalto

[3] Brazilian Civil Code — Planalto

[4] Brazilian Law No. 14,790/2023 — Planalto

Suggested CMS source credit: BNldata — Betting companies fear a flood of lawsuits from players in Brazil

Suggested slug: bnldata-brazilian-betting-companies-lawsuits-players-image-rights

Suggested meta description: BNldata reports that Brazilian betting companies face preliminary injunctions and possible lawsuits over the use of soccer players’ names and images in individual betting markets.

Keywords: BNldata, Brazilian betting companies, players’ image rights, sports betting, soccer, Marcelo Robalinho, preliminary injunctions, individual betting markets