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After Timemania, Rio residents create a scratch card

Flamengo, the leading team in sales, accounts for 39% of this revenue.

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REDACTION \ From the Sports Machine, in São Paulo\

Timemania, a lottery created by the federal government to try to alleviate the financial crisis and soccer clubs' debts to the federal government, didn't work. However, Rio de Janeiro teams haven't given up on investing in this field. The new venture, to use a pun, is a scratch card created in partnership with Loterj and Hebara. The scratch cards feature versions of Rio de Janeiro's major soccer teams (Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, and Vasco). Fans choose a team's logo, and the institutions' winnings are proportional to the number of tickets sold. Since its inception on July 10th, the scratch card has raised approximately R$10 million—Flamengo, the top-selling team, accounts for 39% of this revenue. Of the total amount, 5% is distributed to the clubs. "This product was also important to demonstrate the loyalty of our fans. It ends up replacing Timemania, which brought in much less than everyone expected. Our plan was to raise ten times more," said Roberto Dinamite, president of Vasco, to "Folha de S.Paulo." Clubs' revenue from scratch cards is already more significant than Timemania. The problem is that most of the federal lottery proceeds go directly to a fund intended to pay off teams' debts to the IRS. Therefore, little actually reaches the coffers.