a missed opportunity

The tournament in Australia and New Zealand broke all records around sponsorships, as with nine global and 14 tournament-specific sponsors the FIFA competition became the “biggest standalone women’s event in history”.

While we all saw branding for corporate giants like Coca-Cola, Visa and Adidas around the stadiums, there is a sector that clearly missed the opportunity to go into the history books: sports betting.

Despite being inextricably tied to sports, and in many cases considered the engine of teams’ finances, bookmakers - and specifically Latin American ones - missed the chance to increase their reach within an audience segment that has been hardly explored.

It was only in June 2023 that the Women’s World Cup gained its first betting partner, New Zealand operator TAB. Regional deals followed but, in South America, only EstrelaBet took advantage of the opportunity when it sponsored the tournament in Brazil.

The small number of Latin American operators that decided to invest in the global event is striking, particularly when you consider that viewing figures continue to rise sharply for each edition of the Women’s World Cup, with women accounting for a significant percentage of the audience.

So why do Latin American bookmakers not focus on reaching this underserved sector?

Is there a better opportunity to attract women than the Women’s World Cup? It’s a simple answer - no.

There is no greater women’s sporting event than the Women’s World Cup. The Olympics may enjoy a comparably high status, but women have to compete with male athletes for coverage and, sadly, that remains a struggle.

Where were the ads?

While EstrelaBet doubled down on its deal with FIFA by sponsoring broadcasts on the Brazilian channel CazéTV, few other sportsbook operators in the region did much to engage with the women’s football audience during the tournament.

Beyond a handful of brand ambassador agreements, mainly in Brazil with players from the national team, there was a lack of massive advertising campaigns by operators - despite the fact that seven of the 32 teams competing were from LatAm and two of them progressed to the knockout stages.

And in Brazil, the region could boast one of the most-watched teams. In 2019, they featured in the second, fourth, seventh and eighth most-viewed matches in the tournament. Brazilian involvement was less prominent this time round though, as the team was surprisingly eliminated at the group stage.

Local results aside, there are no doubts about the interest of the Latin America public around sports. In fact, we could argue with certainty that it’s the most engaged public in sports.

So, how do bookmakers convert that interest into registered users and bets? Well, it’s simple. The first step would be to promote the tournament on their platforms, with digital and traditional advertising, bonuses or promotions.

The host for the next edition of the Women’s World Cup is expected to be announced in mid-2024, and there are currently four bids, including Mexico (in a joint effort with the United States) and Brazil.

From the date that Australia and New Zealand were chosen as hosts to the date of the tournament, the exposure of the Cup, its partners and sponsors increased exponentially.

Due to the interest of the Latin American public in sports and betting, and taking into account that Brazil is on its way to having a regulated industry, there is hope around potential agreements between Latin American operators and women’s football.

Still, regardless of the host, the bar after the 2023 tournament is low for operators to join this growing sport. So it’s only a matter of time before we find out if they’re prepared to take the leap or if they will let the opportunity pass again.