esports

PandaScore: Brazil’s esports betting potential

By William - 23 August 2022

The Brazilian esports market has been described as feeling like ‘the West in a Southeast Asia reality’ – a place with enormously passionate fans whose engagement is impacted by vastly differing economic experiences.

Brazil presents unique challenges and opportunities for betting operators seeking to harness this energy. While the move to properly regulate the Brazilian sports betting market has taken time since it was legalised, it’s going to take full effect in December.

Many operators have spent time building their sports betting presence since legalisation and with the potential to be a $140bn market, there’s a high ceiling for sports and esports betting.

ALREADY POPULAR

Esports is the third most popular category for sports betting in the country, sitting behind football and basketball. This makes a lot of sense when we take a look at viewership and betting activity.

Despite being considered a ‘minor region’, Brazil’s domestic League of Legends competition currently outperforms North America’s in terms of viewership. And at international Counter-Strike tournaments, matches featuring Brazilian teams generate a larger portion of total turnover compared to the total number of matches they feature in.

With bettors quite often betting on their home team or a national team at international events, there’s strong evidence that in Brazil, operators can find incredibly passionate fans and a mature betting culture that carries across domestic and international esports events.

However, income bracket and access are two key factors for esports fans and esports bettors in the country.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS

There is a notable difference in purchasing power across the Brazilian population, which has significant flow-on effects on how people from middle or lower classes engage with esports and betting.

One out of every five Brazilians still don’t have access to the internet – be it via smartphone or computer. Mobiles are the dominant means of accessing the internet, while those seeking computer access often do so through internet cafes.

In a similar fashion to South East Asia, having a home computer or gaming rig is much less common simply because it’s too expensive. It’s why smartphones are the preferred option (48.7 per cent) to play video games, followed by computers (23.3 per cent) and consoles (20 per cent).

Although mobile is the preferred option to game, when it comes to esports viewership many of the traditional PC-based titles still lead the way. League of Legends is immensely popular with a franchised league now in its second year, FURIA and MIBR are regulars at international CS:GO tournaments and Brazilian teams are regularly duking it out with Peruvians for Major slots in Dota 2.

It’s important for operators to take a ‘both and’ approach to offering esports betting in Brazil and working with a supplier that gives them flexibility. Offering quality markets and high live uptime on the big three is critical, but there are emerging game titles – many of them mobile – that are quickly picked up by players, fans and bettors alike.

EMERGING TITLES

Brazil is also a thriving space for new and emerging titles, be it Riot Games’ Valorant or mobile titles such as League of Legends: Wild Rift and Free Fire. Valorant has proven hugely popular among esports fans in Brazil, and it’s reflected in the betting activity too.

During the first major international tournament of the season in Reykjavík, Iceland, Brazilian squad LOUD played in four matches out of a total of 24 and bettors absolutely loved them. Matches that included LOUD accounted for 23 per cent of total turnover and 21.4 per cent of all bets across the whole tournament.

Launching markets on games such as Wild Rift is essential for suppliers wanting to support operators in this region. Many have speculated that 2022 is going to be a big year for betting on mobile esports titles, and Brazil is one of the key spaces where we’ll see this happen.