Brazilian sports betting market to be worth $1.6bn annually

The sports betting sector in Brazil looks set to explode over the coming five years with Morgan Stanley suggesting it could be worth $1.6bn annually ahead of the introduction of laws to legalise sports betting for its 210 million residents.

Brazil’s evident sporting legacy and culture lends itself naturally to the sports betting market, despite the fact it has been largely illegal over the past decade.

The structure of regulating the sports betting market in Brazil will be considered over the next two years as it proceeds through a consultation period.

Regulated offerings in Brazil are currently confined to the lottery and a small selection of horse races, but an ‘open license’ approach will cause a significant boost for the entire South American housing sector.

Online gaming will also be considered after the roll-out and potential success of the sports betting market, with a KPMG report in 2017 suggesting that a combined online betting and gaming market would be worth up to $2.1bn annually.

Aside from sports betting, the Brazilian poker market has been one of the most rapidly emerging sectors over the past few years.

According to data from Statista, the number of online poker players from Brazil has risen from 100,000 in 2006 to more than four million in 2020.

Brazilian players also rank highly on Hendon Mob’s all-time cashes for live events, with 16 of them landing more than $1 million since data was collected.

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