Jeevan Jeyaratnam- Chief Betting Officer, Abelson Sports
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaching and the tournament set to be staged across the Americas, anticipation is already building across Latin America’s football-first markets. For sportsbooks, the World Cup represents the ultimate engagement driver, bringing spikes in activity and opportunities to introduce new digital formats. This Q&A explores how the industry is preparing for football’s biggest global stage and what it will mean for LatAm-focused growth strategies.
Q1. How does the build-up to a World Cup influence sportsbook engagement in Latin American markets compared to Europe, particularly in football-centric jurisdictions? 
Using Brazil as an example, with a betting mix that is approaching 90% football, the engagement isn’t a problem. The real challenge is capturing market share in a saturated marketplace. Well, that and hoping that the president doesn’t follow through with his threat to ban sports betting!
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has, this year, realigned the scheduling for Serie A so that it now runs from the end of January right through to the start of December. This means that while there will be a break in play for the World Cup, there will be wraparound coverage from the domestic league, which will really help with retaining customer interest pre and post World Cup.
In Europe, where the overall betting mix is less skewed, operators will want to maximise the football share so you can expect lots of offers, boosts and promotions to attract the casual punter. Engagement really won’t be an issue for an event of this magnitude, especially given the extended format, many of the major nations have qualified so interest will be piqued. Sadly, for Italian operators, this isn’t the case and they will perhaps need to do more to increase interest.
Q2. What are the defining characteristics of bettors in Latin America and how do their preferences differ from more mature markets?
Latin American businesses can be very tipster/influencer oriented. Affiliates play an important role in the ecosystem. Latin operators with generally lower volumes can see rather one-sided books with thousands of betslips mirroring the tipster’s selections. This means that the focus should be on solid pricing and a fast reaction to moving prices to try to balance the books.
Account abuse is commonplace and while this does also happen in mature markets, it is more damaging in less mature markets because operators are unlikely to have had the experience or time to associate certain individuals with each other, meaning that liabilities and bonusing can be exploited.
From a product point-of-view, both markets are led by the incredibly popular bet builder product and essential for a strong bet builder are player props. Asia aside, this is seemingly a constant across territories.
Q3. What opportunities does a World Cup hosted partly in the Americas create for suppliers in terms of localisation, product innovation and operator strategy?
At Abelson Sports, we have introduced some new markets specifically for the North American punter. We now have a selection of markets in which pre-match bets stand all the way through 90 mins and include any extra-time.
This localisation is particularly important in the USA, where football, or soccer, is far down the list of most popular sports; the USA is perhaps unique in that respect. So, in order to cater to customers who are familiar with different rule sets for the sports they engage with most, the product has to shift. Football is globally unique in that its popularity is such that the product, generally, does not have to bend to the consumer, but in the USA, soccer does have to innovate.
Q4. How might the World Cup accelerate long-term sportsbook growth across LatAm?
While the World Cup will undoubtedly bring sportsbook growth, perhaps the most important factor for longer term sportsbook growth in LatAm will be beyond their control. Recent news from Brazil suggests that sports betting may fall victim to the political machinations of the upcoming election. Incumbent, Lula, is, according to prediction markets, neck and neck with the disgraced former president, Jair Bolsonaro’s, son, Flavio. The election race looks to be a two-way affair and with it being so tight, it is hard to rule out any legislative changes- even ones as harmful as banning betting. This kind of political upheaval would be damaging to operators who have spent fortunes complying with regulations and setting up operations in Brazil. Black market operators would be huge beneficiaries and that does little to protect the consumer.
Brazil is a regional powerhouse and its template for regulation is likely to be followed by others in the region. Should the worst happen, could the wildfire spread to neighbouring countries?
