Betfair Partners Up with CONMEBOL Ahead of Brazil Prospects

• Betfair strikes partnership deal with CONMEBOL
• Brazil is the next main market Betfair is interested in
• CONMEBOL will help Betfair gain more traction in South America

While prospecting the Brazilian sports betting market, Betfair has signed an important partnership with the CONMEBOL in South America.

Betfair Enters South Africa with CONMEBOL Partnership

Betfair is now the official partner of South America’s soccer tournaments, thanks to a deal with the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL). Owned by Flutter Entertainment, Betfair is joining a string of endemic and non-endemic brands, including names such as Bridgestone, MasterCard, Qatar Airways, and others.

Moving forward, the brand’s logo will be displayed during the CONMEBOL Sudamericana and CONMEBOL Libertadores. The organization will leverage its channels of distribution to promote Betfair and help it gain a footprint in the region. This will include advertisement at stadiums as well as broadcast and social media channels of distribution.

Commenting on this development, Betfair Head of Brands, Stephen Mault had this to add:

We are delighted to be the official betting partner of the CONMEBOL Libertadores and CONMEBOL Sudamericana. These two prestigious tournaments have provided so many memorable moments in world football throughout the ages and we are very proud to be supporting the action for the next three years. We look forward to seeing how the rest of this year’s tournaments unfold.

Diving into the Grey Market of Brazil

Betfair has long had its cross-hair set on Brazil. As the market is only beginning to legalize sports betting operations, the brand wants to gain a foothold in it. Specifically, during the last annual report meeting, the brand’s management discussed Brazil as one of the most important gray markets in the world, that is a market that hasn’t legalized but still allows some form of sports betting.

Apart from signing up with the South American soccer governing body, Betfair is also keeping tabs on the public consultation about sports betting in Brazil. An unlimited number of licenses means a big windfall for Brazil, but it also means increased competition for operators. Meanwhile, the public consultation move by the government would largely contribute to the final framework in which sports betting would operate in the country.

In the meantime, CONMEBOL Commercial Director Juan Emilio Roa spoke about the partnership between Betfair and the soccer body, saying this:

“We are pleased to present Betfair as a partner of the CONMEBOL Libertadores and CONMEBOL Sudamericana. With this important partnership, we add another global brand to the international status of South American football.”

Meanwhile, Brazil is only day of concluding its consultation initiative, which will end on August 31and will give regulators and lawmakers enough data to go on to establish a framework for sports betting in Brazil.

With Betfair entering the South American market by targeting one of the most-watched sports, the brand is surely going to seek an immediate expansion in Brazil, and possibly Argentina. Yet, Argentina is now about to face some strong headwinds occasioned by a change in leadership.