SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Tommy Molloy, Chief Sportsbook Officer at Sportingtech, shares the sportsbook provider’s results across its Bet Builder on Brazil’s Serie A 2023 – most notably reporting a 1,300% boom in betting volume compared to the 2022 season.
Football continues to dominate Brazil’s sports consumption; Brazilian bettors are fiercely loyal to both their nation and their clubs, unafraid to put their money where their mouth is. In the summer, Sportingtech added a number of markets to its Bet Builder line-up, with its new Brazilian Serie A football offering triggering 10,000 bets placed using the feature during each match.
Pre-play vs. In-play
Being aware of the nuances across different markets is key to what we do at Sportingtech, tailoring our offering and targeting products at varying demographics of bettors. Pre-match betting is still more popular in Brazil than in-play, in contrast to more mature and regulated markets such as the UK and Europe. Brazilians like to bet as early as possible, with around 75% of bets on Serie A football placed before the game starts. This equates to more than 102 million bets placed in total.
The most popular markets amongst bettors wagering on the Brazil Serie A are 1X2, making up 71% of the bet share. This pattern is deemed to be driven by the rise in popularity of Sportingtech features such as Share-a-Bet that allows players to use social media to connect with friends and take their sports betting discussions online.
Sports betting operators shouldn’t be frightened to integrate new ways of thinking and utilise them effectively as we all strive to create differentiation that benefits the industry. Ultimately, we all want to provide the best experiences for our partners and the end-users. No audience segment should be forgotten when a brand is trying to maximise engagement within their solution.
Since launching our Bet Builder offering on Brazil Serie A, bettors have enjoyed our player-based stats markets including shots, assists, cards and goals. We will look to increase our offering further this year and expand our coverage by adding more markets to both basketball and tennis.
These numbers are significant considering this came during a time when there was a high-profile investigation into match fixing in Brazilian football. These are issues that could have had a negative impact on the perception of Brazilian football and associated betting activity.
Despite such a concerning incident, at such an important time in the legislative process, there should be positives taken from the swift and strong action taken against those involved in the recent match fixing scandals, which highlights severe punishments will be given for any such activity. Brazilian lawmakers have looked to take a proactive approach toward responsible gambling to ensure player safety and ensure they have trust in operators and suppliers which, in turn, will maximise engagement.
New Year’s Regulations
With sports betting regulation signed off by President Lula in December, the government looks set to benefit from 1.65 billion reais (EUR309.4m) this year. With six months to wait while a regulatory framework is created, operators are now all vying for market share and preparing for huge changes in 2024. Sportingtech has worked diligently for a number of years to build a platform that caters to the Latin American market and its varied player demographics. We will continue to position ourselves as a go-to provider in the regulated Brazilian space when it is finalised.
We will continue to deliver the best products and develop our client-centric approach as we build localised offerings tailored to the markets we enter. Looking ahead over the next 12 months, the Latin American market as a whole looks set to change beyond comparison, and operators and providers willing to evolve will reap significant rewards.
