BetWinner Signs 4-Month Brand Exposure Deal with ESPN Brazil’s SportsCenter

Online sports betting operator BetWinner will expand its footprint in Brazil via a deal with ESPN Brazil’s SportsCenter program.

BetWinner Expands in the Latam Market

BetWinner, one of the top online sportsbook operators on the sector, has reached the Brazilian market through a 4-month deal with ESPN Brazil’s SportsCenter program to develop its brand exposure.

The sports betting company has entered into a partnership with ESPN’s flagship program SportsCenter, a daily national and international sporting events highlights show, to increase its footprint in Brazil. BetWinner’s QR code and branding will appear during the show’s programs. ESPN also covers and broadcasts Europe’s top Football leagues and live sports games.

Prior to closing the deal, BetWinner had already started engaging its audience in the Latin American market by creating official profiles in Portuguese and Spanish on social networks, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

More Partnerships To Be Expected

Gustavo Hiroshi, BetWinner’s country manager for Brazil, said that the operator’s focus on Brazil will create jobs in the country. “This will also be reflected in future hiring in the area of ​​human resources to operate in the country,” Mr. Hiroshi stated.

BetWinner is looking forward to partnering with more sports-related companies in the future, according to João Vaz, Director of Public Relations.

“Our desire is to bring entertainment to people through sport and this partnership represents Betwinner very well, as the SportsCenter dialogues with lovers of various sports,” Mr. Vaz declared. “It is only the beginning of several initiatives and partnerships that we are planning for the Brazilian market.”

BetWinner’s sports betting platform covers more than 1,000 events per day, including all popular sports, such as football, basketball, tennis and boxing, with about 400,000 online players.

Sports Betting Not Yet Regulated in Brazil

For the past two years, Brazil has been developing a framework for sports betting, which is not regulated in the country. In 2018, former President Michel Temer approved legislation, preparing the Brazilian National Congress to develop regulations.

A first consultation on the matter was launched 30 July, 2019 and ran until the end of August, attracting 1,849 comments. A second sports betting consultation ran until 27 September of last year and received 2,644 submissions. The third was launched in February 2020, asking the public’s opinion on the potential shift to a concession model, where a limited number of licenses is up for tender.

The Brazilian government plans to have a fixed–odds betting regulatory framework ready by mid–2021, with a full sports betting regulation to be finalized in June 2021.

The launch of regulated sports wagering was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which pushed the Brazilian government to also include the activity in its recovery plan to raise BRL37.03 billion.

In August, President Jair Bolsonaro ratified a decree adding wagering to Brazil’s Investment Partnership Program (PPI) portfolio and National Privatization Program (PND). Managers were appointed to the sportsbook licensing process.