iGaming in Brazil: Forecasts for 2024 [+ Insights from Experts]
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In two recent years, iGaming in Brazil has grown by 250%, which is remarkable. Brazilians are known to be really passionate about sports, especially – football, being one’s perfect audience for iGaming offers. Thus, cultural factors are not the only ones to determine the situation. Other deciding variables include the legal side, current advertising opportunities, social peculiarities, and more.
To take a glimpse into the future and help you arrange a successful iGaming campaign for Brazilian audiences, we have written this post. Based on extensive research and insights from our iGaming partners, it will definitely lead you in the right direction.
Social and cultural reasons for popularity of iGaming in Brazil
As Yogonet claims, almost half of the population in Brazil (46%) said they were involved in iGaming activity during the last year. It is worth mentioning that the population of Brazil makes 216 MLN people, so it’s not hard to count the size of the potential audience you can reach.
These remarkable numbers prove Brazil to be one of the largest iGaming markets around the world.
Maybe, the strongest aspect to mind here is that for Brazilians sports (and especially – football) are more than just a hobby, but rather a meaningful social activity that unites families and friends.
So, it’s not an exaggeration to say that in terms of audience, Brazil is perfect for iGaming advertising. What is more, Internet penetration grows, the same as a chance to test new types of sports-related offers on a wide and highly-engaged audience. The best thing – Brazilians are so fond of football that they watch not only local events, but international ones, as we have found out in our previous iGaming research.
So the iGaming market grows…
The predictions about the iGaming market in Brazil are promising, especially if you look at the graph created by Statista:
From 0.29 BLN euro in 2022, the global income is expected to reach 1.57 BLN in 2028, which is more than five times in six years. Also, according to the researchers from Statista, the growth will certainly be boosted by the long-awaited legalization law, which is yet to come.
At the same time, even though the tendency looks positive and the market profits will really continue growing, our Alex Shovkun, Sales Team Leader at PropellerAds, has some concerns:
“When the regulations come into power, the market will still be growing as a whole, but there is one nuance. We are expecting that the number of iGaming brands will be naturally reduced. Our prediction here is that only top brands, large companies that have been here for a while, will stay. Smaller brands will find it harder to compete with top ones.”
iGaming in Brazil: Legal side of the question and consequences
In 2018, the Brazilian government started working on a law that allows online and land-based iGaming companies around the country.
Basically, it takes time for the government to define all the regulations and conditions for iGaming services. The law has not been fully accepted yet, but it is expected to gain power in early 2024. Officially, the final decision is promised in the summer, but industry experts are expecting the result no earlier than in autumn. Why? Here is an insightful comment from Alex Shovkun:
“The iGaming advertising community is being a bit skeptical about the regulations yet to come. On the surface, this might seem like good news, but is that really so? And is it good news for all representatives of the industry? Not sure about that.
Currently, we don’t know how the new law will work in practice. For example, will users have to pay taxes? Will bonuses and freebies for new users be allowed? There is no info about that yet, but we are pretty sure that there will be some issues with bonuses and fees for sure, which will complicate the user engagement process.”
Are there more troubles to come and how to prepare? Luckily, Alex Shovkun has shared some more insights and we present them below.
Regulated iGaming in Brazil: be prepared for these key challenges
So, yes, the market will continue growing, and iGaming will stay a top vertical, especially in Brazil. However, where there is big money combined with governmental regulations, there are big challenges to mind. Let’s list them and help you get prepared:
User engagement techniques will change
As we discussed, some of the established techniques for user engagement are most likely to become past. The competition and severe fight for users will become even more serious, because bonuses and other pleasing rewards might be banned by the government.
It will be harder to convince people to get engaged and convert without freebies and special conditions. This will become even more difficult if users are obliged to pay taxes for their iGaming activities once a year (15% on net winnings).
Branding might be restricted
This point is connected with the previous one and implies restrictions for branding. iGaming companies might face a taboo for using and developing their brand’s identity, which can also cause issues with user engagement.
Small and dubious brands will be in the shadow
Regarding the issues described above, small and gray brands might be forced to leave the market due to complicated conditions hard to follow for small ones. Restricted branding, taxes, and problems with user engagement are hard to handle, so only the large and well-established companies could handle the new regulations and stay afloat.
The price for users will grow
All of these points will boost the price for every lead, which means that brands will receive less money than before. This way, affiliate marketers and media buyers might also experience smaller commissions (about 20% less, as Alex Shovkun forecasts).
Positive side of the issue
Don’t be frustrated by the challenges yet to come, because legalization also implies some positive points. Which ones?
- Regulated and safe payments: the government will take care of all the iGaming deals to be legal, so people would have more trust and participate more eagerly.
- Only licensed brands will have an opportunity to advertise, which means that cooperation with them would be fruitful, since, most likely, such brands won’t be banned by services, like Google and other search engines.
- Fantasy sports: working with fantasy sports won’t require prior authorization from the government.
- Illegal iGaming companies would be removed from the market, which means that affiliates and media buyers would have a chance to work with reliable partners, who are less likely to cheat.
What to do?
Basically, most iGaming companies and brands continue working as they did before, searching for new user engagement strategies and testing them before the regulations are implemented. Unfortunately, before they are implemented, it’s really hard to say how to safeguard yourself from the pitfalls in more detail. Think about:
- Appealing creatives that are less focused on brand identity, but rather offer-relevant and bright images (say, football players, flags, etc.). Try survey-like approaches, say “vote for your favorite team” or “guess, which team will win”.
- If you are an affiliate, try sticking to large and well-established brands to promote their offers.
- Rely on PropellerAds – we have tested partners, plenty of relevant traffic, and tools for better performance, like Demographic and interest targeting (iGaming audiences included).
Last, but not least, track the regulations to be informed. Since the law has not been implemented yet, edits and changes are possible. You should check the news from time to time not to get into trouble or lose money.
Everyone is waiting for the huge championship, Euro 2024, which is going to happen this summer. And so we’ll see what’s going to change. Don’t forget to launch your campaign for this match with PropellerAds!
Do you have ideas about the iGaming Brazilian trends to come? Welcome to our Telegram Chat!
