Betano to sponsor 2026 World Cup in Europe and Latin America
Sports betting platform Betano will sponsor the upcoming 2026 World Cup in LatAm and European markets, following an extension of its existing deal with FIFA.
Betano, which is operated by Kaizen Gaming, became the World Cup’s first betting sponsor during the 2022 tournament in Qatar, when FIFA approved a Europe-only arrangement with the company.
According to FIFA, this year’s tournament is a significantly expanded version, with 104 matches, which is projected to generate US$11 billion in revenue.
“Since we first partnered with Betano four years ago, we have seen a genuine commitment to sporting integrity, bringing fans closer to our game and finding new, engaging ways to entertain them,” FIFA Chief Business Officer Romy Gai told the Associated Press.
Betano isn’t the only gambling operator that FIFA has so far partnered with for the 2026 World Cup.
In January, FIFA also reached a deal with sports data company Stats Perform, allowing some betting operators to livestream World Cup matches online.
Last month, prediction market ADI Predictstreet was announced as a World Cup partner. Norwegian publication Josimar reported the deal was worth around US$150 million. At the same time, Fanatics also teamed up with FIFA for its upcoming sports festival, Fanatics Fest.
Verticals:
Sectors:
Topics:
Dig Deeper
Related stories
The Backstory
Momentum behind FIFA’s commercial pivot
FIFA’s decision to welcome a betting sponsor at the men’s World Cup in 2022 marked a shift in how global soccer’s governing body courts commercial partners. That Europe-only arrangement foreshadowed a broader embrace of gambling-adjacent businesses ahead of the expanded 2026 tournament. The event will stretch to 104 matches and is expected to drive record revenue, creating ample inventory for brands vying for visibility across North America, Europe and Latin America. Around the tournament, FIFA has also stitched together tie-ins that blend media, data and fan experiences, including a festival partnership with Fanatics meant to extend the World Cup’s reach beyond the pitch. The through line is clear: maximize touchpoints where fans watch, bet, buy and engage.
Those touchpoints are multiplying. Fanatics is bringing the World Cup’s crescendo into the Javits Center in New York with Fanatics Fest during Finals weekend, featuring streaming access to the last matches and a cross-sport competition with US$2 million in prizes. That kind of off-venue activation underscores the tournament’s position as a cultural property as much as a sports contest, and it gives FIFA a platform to package sponsors, merchandise, celebrities and creators in one place while games play out a few miles away. For betting brands hungry for mainstream legitimacy and casual-fan reach, the World Cup’s expanded footprint creates more ways to get in front of audiences who may be placing a wager for the first time.
Latin America emerges as the growth engine
The most aggressive bets on soccer sponsorship are landing in Latin America, where audience scale, club affinity and digital adoption are resetting pricing. Brazil’s Flamengo set a new benchmark this year, replacing Pixbet with Betano in what the club called the largest partnership agreement in Brazilian soccer. Reports put the deal as high as BRL268.5 million annually, more than double Flamengo’s prior shirt contract and above São Paulo’s progressive pact with Superbet. The tie-up puts Betano front and center on Flamengo’s men’s and women’s kits and extends the brand to basketball, volleyball, Olympic sports and the club’s DTC channel, showing how top clubs are bundling properties to lift total value.
For Betano, scale across South America is part of a deliberate build. The operator already attached its name to Brazil’s Serie A and Argentina’s top division, and it partnered with Buenos Aires powerhouse River Plate. Regionally, these deals create a runway to acquire and retain users around a quadrennial tentpole like the World Cup. Internationally, the brand’s run includes being the first betting partner of UEFA’s European Championship in 2024, a signal that its sponsorship strategy spans both hemispheres and multiple governing bodies.
Content, games and data to keep bettors engaged
Inventory is only as valuable as the content that fills it, and operators are turning to third-party studios and data providers to round out their offerings. In Brazil, online developer 7777 Gaming deepened its footprint by bringing a slate of titles to Betano Brasil, from Devil’s Deal: Soul for Sale to Mayan Gold and Candy Anyways. The premise is straightforward: while soccer drives acquisition, a broader casino catalog can sustain engagement between matches and cushion seasonality. Partnerships like this are increasingly common as sportsbooks position themselves as entertainment hubs rather than single-vertical betting shops.
The market backdrop supports that shift. Analysts at Grand View Research project Brazil’s online gambling revenue to grow at a compound annual rate of 12.3% to reach US$3 billion by 2030, up from an estimated US$1.5 billion in 2024. The wider region is forecast to hit US$10.4 billion by decade’s end, with an 11.9% CAGR. Those forecasts, detailed in Grand View Research’s outlooks for Brazil and Latin America, underpin why suppliers and operators are racing to lock distribution, bolster content libraries and secure brand presence before regulatory frameworks mature and marketing windows tighten.
A marketing arms race ahead of kickoff
The sprint to activate LatAm fans is also reshaping the affiliate and adtech landscape. Digital acquisition specialist Media Troopers has expanded into Latin America ahead of the July tournament window, layering Spanish- and Portuguese-language features onto its proprietary platform and promising geo-targeted campaigns across Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Chile. With World Cup matches in compatible time zones and a host nation in Mexico, operators see a near-term chance to convert tepid interest into logged-in behavior. Media Troopers’ bet is that localized creative, distribution and measurement will lift conversion rates when attention peaks.
At the same time, the lines between content, commerce and wagering are blurring. FIFA’s New York festival taps into that fusion with athlete and creator programming. Data deals and streaming rights for select operators further tighten the loop between watching and betting, enabling in-play markets that reward immediacy. The confluence gives marketers more levers but also heightens execution risk: oversaturation and compliance missteps can dull impact if campaigns are not tuned to local norms and rules.
Competitors plant flags while rules evolve
Betano is not alone in using soccer to anchor customer growth. Codere Online, despite a recent Nasdaq delisting, continues to deploy sponsorships as a front door in Mexico. The company became main sponsor of Rayadas, the women’s team of Club de Futbol Monterrey, putting its logo on the front of the jersey for Liga MX Femenil and the Campeón de Campeonas match in San Antonio on July 16. The commitment follows Codere’s renewal with the club’s men’s side and aligns with a broader push to elevate the women’s game, which offers brands a relatively uncluttered field and strong community ties.
Regulatory currents are a constant undertone. In Mexico, operators have called for a modernization of gambling laws, signaling potential changes to licensing, marketing and taxation. Brazil’s ongoing moves to formalize online betting and gaming have similarly drawn operator investment and caution in equal measure. Against that backdrop, high-profile World Cup sponsorships and club deals function as hedges: they buy distribution and mindshare that should hold value across regulatory scenarios, even if ad rules tighten.
Why the stakes are higher this cycle
The 2026 World Cup comes with more matches, more markets and more ways to watch. For FIFA, partners like Fanatics bring in-person festivals and creator economies into the tent, as outlined in the Fanatics Fest collaboration. For operators and suppliers, the prize is durable brand equity and a larger, more engaged user base in Latin America’s fastest-growing markets. Deals like Flamengo’s record shirt sponsorship and Betano’s content expansion with 7777 Gaming show how the ecosystem is knitting together sponsorship, media and product to capture lifetime value, not just a four-week spike.
Success will hinge on execution across multiple fronts: delivering compliant, localized marketing at scale; offering compelling in-play and casino experiences when matches pause; and sustaining relevance when the tournament ends. With Latin America’s online gambling market expected to more than double by 2030, per Grand View Research, this World Cup is less a finish line than an accelerant. The brands that convert momentary attention into lasting habits could set the competitive order for years after the final whistle.
