SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Jai Maw, Co-Founder and President, of sports betting plauer community Betting Hero believes that lessons learnt in Europe and US can be transferred to Brazil’s newly regulated Bets market. Yet, as the SBC Summit Rio approaches on 25-27 February, Maw underlines the need for a UX first approach to engage local audiences.
When legal sports betting opened up across the United States, it did so with growth and innovation fuelled by ideas and insights gained from the established industries in the United Kingdom and continental Europe.
Now, an expanded and evolved US market can, in turn, pass on a similar pattern of insights for the nascent Brazil Bets market which officially launched on 1 January 2025. Specifically, many lessons have been learned with regard to engaging and forging robust relationships with customers.
Extensive data collected by Betting Hero Research has revealed somewhat of a disconnect between operator assumptions and user reality. This underlines the need for a user-centric approach in Brazil’s burgeoning sports betting market, where a seamless user experience will be key to attracting and retaining players.
Having interacted with millions of players since 2018, we’ve observed that nearly half of potential customers fail in their first attempt to complete the basic journey from registration to placing their first bet. This isn’t just a minor inconvenience but a fundamental challenge to the industry’s growth and accessibility.
The challenge becomes even more apparent when examining user behaviour patterns. The average US sports bettor maintains more than four registered accounts while actively using almost two.
This isn’t necessarily a reflection of brand loyalty or product quality but rather a pragmatic response to the varying strengths and weaknesses of different platforms. By maintaining multiple accounts, users essentially create their own solutions to the industry’s shortcomings that they experience.
These findings raise important questions about the industry’s approach to user experience. While operators invest heavily in marketing and promotions, basic functionality issues continue to create problems. Through our network of 10,000 active sports bettors and iCasino testers, we regularly see challenges with fundamental processes like identity verification, payment processing, and bet placement—issues, while less prevalent, still exist.
As Brazil’s sports betting industry stands on the precipice of growth at scale, the lessons learned from the US market provide a valuable roadmap for success. Addressing user experience challenges can transform these early challenges into opportunities for long-term growth. By prioritizing a seamless, intuitive customer journey, operators in Brazil can establish trust and loyalty among bettors, setting a new standard for engagement.
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Secure your spot at the upcoming SBC Summit Rio with the ‘Early Bird Special’, granting access to all three core days of the event, including the exhibition floor, conference content, and evening networking parties, all for the discounted price of just R$2000.
Additionally, operators and affiliates can apply for free passes to the event. If you are an operator, you can apply for a free pass here, if you are an affiliate, you can apply for a free pass here.
