Interviews
Exclusive Q&A with Munly Leong, Co-founder of Balance Gaming Network
Let’s begin with your own story. What is the story of Balance Gaming? How was the company founded?
The company was founded when Munly Leong (CEO) and Goodrich Johnson were approached by an esports organization that had floundered for several years and despite their history and money raises and hadn’t so much as put on one event or even had a casual community. This led Munly to look into the current state of esports which he had never been interested in and saw the waste and poor execution that had a common root cause i.e. the people that had access to or ability to raise funding for esports often had nothing to do with gaming and were clueless about it. Super League Gaming was a particularly egregious example where the only reason that raise even happened was that CEO had worked on Sand Hill Rd prior and game from an Oil & Gas background, what the hell is she doing in esports? They recently lost $14m on $1m revenue. We founded Balance at least to take a stab at an organization that would be led and run with gamers at the core with Munly being in a unique position of both having relationships with and an understanding of external capital unlike the average gamer or even game developer. The name Balance comes from us struggling to come up with a name for the niche we had chosen which was to cater for the other 90% of the market and gaming revenue in reality that ISN’T esports from not having enough time for it and Munly referenced an one man indie developer’s name Imba Games (common Russian/CIS region term relating to game imbalance) that he had briefly known at one point, lamenting that it was a great name wasted on something that didn’t have the potential for it and Godric suggested “What about Balance?” with the potential to allude to LAN’s as well if we ever started doing those and there really hasn’t been a name that fit since.
How does it work?
Essentially a bit unique, we started off validating the concept and bringing in early revenue via just a discord and preselling the concept along with an early partnership with Skyworth (largest TV manufacturer in China) who were also launching a VR headset at to both prove we could build and grow a grassroots gaming community first and also monetize it and validate charging for the concept. Most of this happened even by month two. We’ve now taken what was a small community fighting game event intended “for teh lulz” and are building it up with sponsors, streaming support with an invitational that is intended to potentially be small scale, interactive version of EVO that was recently cancelled. More on this later
We’re working backwards actually. We’re game developers at heart and are really NOT an esports company. This is being done as a fundraiser primarily as a backup plan / substitute for angel investment post Covid. Essentially our business is to start backwards compared to a typical game developer being community first, community is really at the core. From there we start with merch sales, selling events and sponsorships and are about to offer our own game / bundle deals in the near term along with a new category we still plan on pioneering called Gamer Travel (Covid was great timing huh
Our readers would like to know more about Balance Gaming. Could you elaborate the concept since it is quite unique?
Yeah. It is quite unique where even for gamers. Essentially the concept starts from both a base and the specific type of gamer we are targeting. Specifically gamers who have been able to grow up and are now struggling from a time management standpoint of not having enough time to play, or not getting enough out of their playtime when they do have it rather than spending too much time to play from the standpoint of gaming addiction which is a common assumption with us. We start from a base that gaming is geneeerrraaaaaaally
Many look down even on themselves as gamers because of long time history and stigma of the activity when we were kids or younger. Even people with great businesses or solid tech backgrounds themselves often cannot make the immediate mental jump that there may be others who fit the bill and if we just reframe our thinking and rid ourselves of these starting assumptions, we may find that the peer groups we have around gaming are more valuable than many of us are assuming
Recently we’ve launched a public alpha of our members site and even some of our more interesting / useful members have only gone so far as to fill out just gamer profiles while not sharing their skills, businesses etc yet and it’s not all a privacy concern either but many either underrate themselves or don’t currently live a life where being known for particular things brings in opportunities for them. I’ll list some examples here where it has happened, but these are folks that are already active in terms of networking ,professional groups and are already pre-disposed to it. I’ll share some examples below and the last being myself.
https://network.balancegaming.network/members/hexrays/
https://network.balancegaming.network/members/mono/
https://network.balancegaming.network/members/fathamburger/
What are the ways an individual gamer will benefit from joining your platform?
Aside from the networking opportunities once we scale further (or even now), we’ll have things like courses, partnerships and hell even gigs down the line in addition to more typical gaming giveaways, discounts and bundles. Instead of only selling this stuff, we’ll tie it to gaming and perhaps networking activity too with the overall theme that the gaming people would do naturally anyway would pay off in real life in ways other than money. At the very base level, we hope that this will be the most “productive” place for anyone to spend their gaming time as getting to know many of us may also open doors outside of gaming for you or at least give you a resource to tap in a lot of things outside of gaming, an analogy to things like country clubs, cigar clubs where you’re more like to meet either independently wealthy or at least time free and lifestyle designer types that one can meet through aviation we hope we end up being a similar space like that but on a broader larger scale too. It’ll be the only place in the world maybe where you can play video games where we also encourage you to ask for intros or open them yourself
For “Pros vs Joes” we’re currently offering FREE ENTRY for Members, Financial Services industry (e.g. fintech, crypto, real estate, traders, brokers) , startup founders and game developers and the same/similar benefits package that players get are also available for event viewers that meet this criteria. Startup founders and game developers are just love for us
We also have something that both your better/casino audience as well as crypto guys would want to look at. One of our partners / sponsors is Gold Rush Token / Clean Mining. We’ll be offering a chance to buy CLEAN gold (more on this later) at a double digit discount exclusive to Balance, direct from some of the oldest and historically proven mines in Western Australia. That’s nothing terribly new and there are other tokens that have done it. Those coming from a financial services background will be familiar with the concept of due diligence, things like KYC (Know your Customer) and be a bit better equipped to both perform it for an opportunity like this and ultimately potentially buy-in as well.
However, another layer that we’ll offer FREEBIES at a later date on is a world-first tokenization of actual gold ORE. Essentially this will be gold prospecting in a separate video game/digital form and can dramatically lower the cost of entry into the gold market. For those who don’t know, gold actually comes from gold ore which has to be processed and refined which ultimately means that only a fraction of gold can come from overall gold ore. The percent amount can between 10 to 95% before processing and so yes, someone could get very lucky but understandably many others outside of your readership here may not like to gamble. Gamblers or not however, we can offer some of these ore tokens essentially for free as both participants and viewers of our upcoming “Pros vs Joes” fighting game event that was recently postponed until both we and our partners got things more ready. We can now say that we’ll start things off officially by Sep 12th at the latest with official entry deadline by Sep 5th at the latest with trial runs starting as early as this week of the 26th. Depending on how things go and speed of re-registration we may go even earlier but this is so we don’t have to postpone again.
I should mention that not only is the ore special but the gold as well. Those that take advantage of the gold discount will also be pioneers in helping to establish a new category of gold in the global market that isn’t processed/purified via the traditional method of cyanide and mercury leaving no environmental impact that may take decades if not longer to biodegrade, hence CLEAN gold. While the mines themselves old and proven with deeper reserves still left to unlock, the process itself is new and was created by the Australian CSIRO, something like a more generally academic version of NASA that among other things, helped invent Wi-Fi. Regardless of whether anyone in our community pays anything more than an entry fee or not, through gaming, our players will have a chance in both playing a small role in the transformation of gold mining from something that is expensive and hazardous into something that is sustainable and environmentally friendly.
More info on CSIRO and Clean Mining
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-08-30/csiro-pours-first-australian-green-gold/10180014
https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/MRF/Areas/Resourceful-magazine/Issue-13/Golden-alternative
How has been the customer response so far? Could you offer some year on year statistics?
What’s really interesting is that when we started out within the first month or two we had more paid members than free ones on concept alone. 46% conversion rate. By paid members meaning we asked people to pay $10 as a one off to validate that this is something we would pay for once we both had a system to offer digital codes in an automated or at least reliable fashion and enough value lined up where we felt we were ready to start charging monthly. Since when we’ve realized that we needed to make this tier optional as a network only has as much value as it’s members and we are still far from having an interesting enough critical mass yet. We’re not even one year old yet but in the last 2-3 months our Discord community has grown from 100 to 150 ish members now that we have someone who can spend time on it, Oliver/Sundeath who was formerly director level at Razer Europe. A big downside that hampers our growth is that we’re not something that people normally think to search for so doing media, offers and other things that can help get us exposure but we haven’t figured out or own organic traffic yet so growth only happens when we can work on it.
Has the recent lock down had any effect on Balance Gaming’s growth? Could your offer details?
Yeah actually our first major growth drive that I headed up brought in many of our first 100 users, lol. That happened a month into the pandemic around Epic’s free release of WWZ. Unfortunately it was both a pretty short game content wise and people really focused on doing nothing but gaming that initial month of lockdowns. No one wanted to hear about “Balancing” and once they were done, many moved on. We did have an interesting story even ahead of time back then where when I was able to play, I encouraged two regulars at the time to talk about their lives and our mutual ASEAN region and those two ended up both doing client projects together and playing other free games together as well. One was a graphic designer and another was a music producer/student. At the time we didn’t have enough of us engaging people so eventually they left since they were largely only playing with each other by that point. Lesson learned not just for Balance and in life for me that I just need to ride waves while they are around instead of what I actually during that period which was working on some contract gamedev work at the time or building the Balance business while everyone else was gaming and would have preferred if I’d either led things or at least joined them for it.
What are the more popular games and tournaments on your platform? Could you describe the games a bit?
Our most popular is Rainbow 6 Siege and that’s a game that should be well known to you guys since it’s gone from underdog cult game to having one of t he better prize pools in eSports with strong Ubisoft support in recent years. Rainbow 6 is a series that is based on terrorist/counterterrorism originally that prided itself on realism being the first “one shot and you get killed usually” game on the market. I can still remember the LAN party where I played the original game in the series for the first time, it was quite refreshing and hilarious compared to the run and gun shooters like Doom and Quake of the day. These days the game is more similar to LoL or DOTA that is based around Heroes having different powers and abilities, some of which are deliberately designed to be counterpicks. They are perpetually “training”/fighting each other given the multiplayer only PVP context and there are generic terrorists only as AI NPC’s to beat on in generic It used to be World War Z as I mentioned which is a co-op class based zombie killing gaming that’s spiritual sequel to Left 4 Dead 2 that I actually like a lot more than it’s original inspiration and in addition to that we have some fighting game players i.e. Street Fighter, Tekken etc but that’s almost a niche within itself in gaming these days that doesnt play other stuff or interact with the broader gaming community. We’re a bit sad about this and even within fighting games themselves, the competitive level has gotten to the point where people not only just focus on one game, but even just on training one particular character and mastering all the various matchups instead. This means that they dont even play the rest of the genre or even necessarily the rest of the characters in the game! This overcompetitiveness isnt necessarily good for the fighting game industry if they focus purely on tournament type players. Happy Medicine (our resident fighting game pro, former CPT/Capcom cup, world class Bison main) and I talk about this separately in this video here – g66FBCzv_mg . We’re still done with World War Z btw, despite how the whole game can be beat in less than 4-5 hours currently and a bit more if you are doing horde mode as well, if you’re deliberately going to slow-play it and make it last, please come and join us! We’re the place for that lol.
Tell us more about the platform and gaming partners of Balance?
For our “platform”, we have a few key pillars. The first is the always free Discord community where people can only just join as regular gamer and that’s fine. The next level is the membership site which is intended for people to try and look up / surface people that should try to get to know on Discord for either gaming or things outside of gaming. Maybe find out that someone you’ve been gaming with all along can also be a collaborator of some kind in real life too. We also haev an ecom store for all kinds of stuff i.e. offering our own game codes and digital goodies for sale , physical products like geek toys including “gamereats” where we’ll start with snacks and more. Lastly we want to offer “gamer travel” again as soon as we can, starting out with introducing the concept of geo-arbitrage to gamers that’s already well known to location independent and digital nomad types but is probably brand new to gamers. Essentially this means save money on gaming time (plus get more time) in a cheap locale but we can expand this to travel to places that are significant to gaming history as well given a lot of us have deep knowledge and connections with the industry. This is all going somewhere and your next question will naturally segue into that
One of our gaming partners BRK / Gen2 Technologies where you picked this up from
Finally, how do you see the future developing? Are there going to be any immediate developments in Balance Gaming in the near future?
Yeah we have some angel money hopefully finally coming in within the month and from that we can actually offer some more benefits that hopefully help pull in more users as well and pay for the help in community building
Ultimately in the LONG TERM future, despite how all this is already quite the going concern business-wise, the whole goal is to use this cashflow to then fund game development. Both internal and external third party to us. Game development is the unique DNA that I bring to Balance personally and I’m sure you guys know especially looking at companies like Tencent how valuable things can be when you have your own IP to sell and we’ve already learned the hard way that frankly its much easier to build up communities around having your own game vs using others’ games in this new Discord age.
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Fana Colette Senior Social Media Manager at GameOn
Defining the Future of B2B Social in iGaming – Q&A with Fana Colette, Senior Social Media Manager at GameOn
Congratulations on becoming GameOn’s Senior Social Media Manager. What attracted you to this role in particular, and why now?
The first thing was the breadth and depth of GameOn’s client roster. The range of brands the team works with means you’re solving genuinely different problems week to week, which keeps the work sharp and exciting. The second was GameOn’s reputation within the industry. It’s a company that’s clearly built strong relationships and real credibility over a long period of time.
As for the timing, spending time consulting independently taught me a huge amount, particularly about the commercial side of running a business. I reached a point where I wanted to combine that entrepreneurial experience with the scale, support, and collaborative environment of a larger team. Joining GameOn gives me the opportunity to apply everything I’ve learned alongside people with deep industry expertise and the infrastructure to deliver at a high level.
You’ve grown social pages to tens of thousands of followers. What was the approach that made that possible, and what will you bring from that experience to GameOn?
My approach to growth has always been rooted in two things: a deep understanding of the audience and a clear commercial focus.
First, you have to keep the customer at the centre of everything. You need to be relentless about understanding who they are, what they care about, what frustrates them, what makes them engage, and ultimately what drives action. A lot of brands think they understand their audience, but very few truly do.
Secondly, you need to stay commercially minded at every stage. Running my own business sharpened that mindset significantly. Growth should always tie back to business outcomes. Engagement for the sake of engagement is a vanity metric. The real goal is building trust, brand affinity, and visibility that contributes to revenue and long-term growth.
That’s the mentality I’ll be bringing to GameOn: social strategies that are creative and engaging, but always aligned with measurable commercial impact.
Social media in iGaming has evolved significantly over the years. What trends are you seeing right now? Where do the biggest opportunities lie for B2B brands in particular?
Social media has changed faster in the last two or three years than it did in the decade before. In 2023, the idea of brands being represented by AI-generated influencers would have sounded ridiculous. Now it’s a genuine consideration for some businesses. The pace of change is something brands need to fully accept. What worked six months ago may already feel outdated.
What I’m seeing now is a clear shift away from generic, overly polished content towards more distinctive, personality-led communication. The brands performing best are the ones willing to stand out and develop a recognisable voice. Audiences are increasingly exposed to homogenous content, so if your competitor could post exactly the same thing as you, it’s probably time to rethink your strategy.
For B2B brands specifically, founder-led thought leadership on LinkedIn remains a huge opportunity. People still buy from people, and a credible founder voice often builds more trust than branded content alone ever can.
The second opportunity is understanding how younger audiences consume content. Gen Z professionals are now entering junior commercial and decision-influencing roles across iGaming, and their expectations around content are very different. If your B2B social presence feels outdated, overly corporate, or disconnected from modern platform behaviour, it simply won’t resonate.
A lot of iGaming companies struggle to make social work. What are the common mistakes you most often see, and how do you approach them differently?
One of the biggest mistakes is that brands play it too safe. Compliance is obviously critical in iGaming, but there’s often far more creative flexibility available than companies assume.
Another common issue is that social media gets treated as a secondary marketing channel rather than a core part of the wider commercial strategy. When that happens, content becomes inconsistent, reactive, and lacking in direction.
My approach is to treat social as a genuine driver of engagement, visibility, and business outcomes. That means being more intentional with content, more consistent in execution, and more willing to test, learn, and iterate.
I always start with a simple question: what is this content actually supposed to achieve, and how will we measure success? Once you answer that properly, the strategy becomes much clearer.
As you settle into the new role, what are you hoping to tackle first, and what does success look like for GameOn’s social offering over the next 12 months?
My first priority is understanding what we already have. That means conducting a proper audit across the client roster to identify what’s working, what isn’t, where the opportunities are, and where we can create quick wins.
Over the next 12 months, success for me would mean seeing social become a more central part of our clients’ growth strategies. I want to see stronger performance metrics, more distinctive brand voices, and clearer evidence of how social contributes to wider business objectives.
Ultimately, I’d love GameOn to become the first name people in iGaming think of when they’re serious about social media. Not just because we deliver strong results for existing clients, but because we’ve built the proof points, case studies, and standout work that naturally attracts the next wave of business.
There’s a real opportunity right now to define what great B2B social looks like in iGaming, and that’s the standard I want us to set.
The post Defining the Future of B2B Social in iGaming – Q&A with Fana Colette, Senior Social Media Manager at GameOn appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Andréa Curral
“No iGaming, marcas sólidas dependem de consistência, experiência e relacionamento de longo prazo”
Com uma trajetória construída em grandes grupos globais de mídia, entretenimento e varejo digital, Andréa Curral chega ao Grupo Esportes Gaming Brasil para ocupar o cargo de Diretora de Marketing em um momento estratégico para o mercado brasileiro de apostas regulamentadas.
Após passagens por empresas como Privalia, Discovery e Warner Bros., a executiva assume o desafio de fortalecer o posicionamento institucional e a estratégia de marca das operações Esportes da Sorte, Onabet e Lottu em um cenário cada vez mais competitivo, regulado e orientado por experiência do consumidor.
Em meio ao amadurecimento do setor de iGaming no Brasil, temas como branding, jogo responsável, aquisição eficiente, reputação e conexão cultural ganham relevância crescente para operadoras que buscam crescimento sustentável e diferenciação de longo prazo.
Nesta entrevista exclusiva ao Gaming Americas, Andréa Curral fala sobre como sua experiência em mercados tradicionais contribui para a construção de marcas mais sólidas no iGaming, o papel do marketing na promoção do jogo responsável, os desafios de equilibrar branding e performance em um ambiente altamente dinâmico e as estratégias do Grupo EGB para ampliar presença durante grandes eventos esportivos e manifestações culturais no país.
Andréa, você construiu uma trajetória sólida em gigantes globais de mercados tradicionais como Privalia, Discovery e Warner Bros.
Como essa experiência em branding e experiência do consumidor contribui hoje para sua atuação no iGaming com o Grupo EGB?
Andréa Curral – O principal aprendizado que trago de empresas de mídia, entretenimento e varejo digital é que marcas sólidas não se sustentam apenas em grandes campanhas, mas em consistência, experiência e construção de relacionamento no longo prazo. No iGaming, isso é ainda mais relevante, porque a relação com o usuário passa diretamente por confiança, clareza e segurança.
No Grupo EGB, buscamos aplicar uma visão integrada entre branding, performance e experiência do consumidor.
Isso significa tratar conteúdo como um ativo estratégico, trabalhar comunicação com lógica editorial e segmentação inteligente, além de utilizar métricas e tecnologia para melhorar continuamente a jornada do usuário.
Minha experiência em ambientes altamente competitivos também contribui para equilibrar crescimento, posicionamento institucional e eficiência operacional em um momento de amadurecimento importante para o mercado brasileiro.
Diante do atual momento de consolidação do mercado regulado no Brasil, quais são os principais focos e diretrizes da sua diretoria para o posicionamento institucional das marcas do grupo, Esportes da Sorte, Onabet e Lottu, dentro desse novo cenário?
O cenário atual exige marcas mais claras, operações mais eficientes e uma relação mais consistente com o público. Nossa estratégia está estruturada em três pilares principais: diferenciação de portfólio, experiência do usuário e construção de reputação.
Esportes da Sorte, Onabet e Lottu possuem posicionamentos distintos dentro do grupo, isso reduz a sobreposição e fortalece a identidade de cada operação. Mas um pilar comum a toda nossa empresa é o jogo responsável. É nossa responsabilidade garantir um ambiente controlado e saudável para a diversão.
Somos uma empresa com DNA brasileiro e nossos contratos de patrocínio vão além da exposição de mídia. Incentivamos a cultura nacional, gerando experiências relevantes, que conectam as marcas a territórios de grande relevância popular, como esporte, entretenimento e cultura.
Ao mesmo tempo, o aumento do custo de aquisição torna essencial uma operação integrada entre marketing, produto, atendimento e retenção, sempre alinhada às diretrizes de jogo responsável e à regulamentação vigente.
O Grupo EGB enfatiza o compromisso com o “jogo responsável”.
Como o marketing pode atuar de forma prática na educação do apostador e na promoção de bem-estar, transformando essa diretriz em comunicação efetiva para o público?
Para nós, jogo responsável não pode ser tratado apenas como uma obrigação regulatória ou uma mensagem complementar de comunicação. Ele precisa fazer parte da experiência do usuário, da operação e da construção de reputação da companhia.
O marketing tem um papel importante nesse processo ao comunicar com clareza, evitar promessas irreais e contribuir para uma relação mais consciente do usuário com o entretenimento.
Isso envolve reforçar mensagens sobre limites, autocontrole, pausas e transparência nas regras.
Também acreditamos que comunicação responsável ajuda a fortalecer um ambiente mais seguro e sustentável para todo o ecossistema. No longo prazo, confiança e reputação são ativos fundamentais para qualquer marca que queira crescer de forma consistente no setor.
Em termos de estratégia de crescimento, como você equilibra construção de marca de longo prazo (branding) com performance de curto prazo em um setor altamente dinâmico e competitivo como o iGaming?
Hoje Branding e performance trabalham em conjunto, de forma absolutamente integrada, para que os resultados de crescimento sustentável não dependam apenas de aquisição. Por isso, trabalhamos uma operação orientada por métricas, dados e otimização contínua, sem perder a visão estratégica de longo prazo.
A construção de marca passa por coerência, qualidade da experiência, clareza de comunicação e consistência na entrega. Esse mecanismo de relacionamento cria comunidade e reforça a confiança do usuário na marca.
A Copa do Mundo é um dos momentos mais disputados pela atenção do público.
Como o Esportes da Sorte está estruturando sua estratégia de mídia, conteúdo e transmissões oficiais para garantir presença forte e multiplataforma durante o torneio?
A Copa representa um dos maiores momentos de mobilização do entretenimento esportivo, então estruturamos uma estratégia multiplataforma que combina mídia, conteúdo e experiências presenciais.
O Esportes da Sorte fechou o patrocínio oficial das transmissões da Copa no SBT e na N Sports, garantindo presença em TV aberta, streaming, canais digitais e propriedades online das emissoras. Essa entrega amplia frequência e alcance de marca ao longo do torneio.
Mas entendemos que presença de mídia sozinha não é suficiente. Por isso, trabalhamos campanhas institucionais que conectam entretenimento, cultura popular e engajamento emocional.
“Torça como um Corinthiano”, por exemplo, usa a relação histórica da torcida do Corinthians com o clube para resgatar a conexão do brasileiro com a Seleção. Já “Convoque” aposta em humor, fantasia e linguagem digital para ampliar diálogo com diferentes públicos.
Tudo isso é desenvolvido mantendo o compromisso com comunicação responsável e alinhada às diretrizes do setor.
Dentro desse ecossistema de marca e entretenimento, quais serão os principais desdobramentos das ações de rua e patrocínios locais durante os períodos de grande consumo esportivo, como a Copa do Mundo?
Para os grandes eventos esportivos, nossa estratégia combina presença multiplataforma com experiências de proximidade junto ao público.
O objetivo é fazer com que as marcas do grupo estejam inseridas de forma orgânica na rotina e nos espaços de convivência dos torcedores, conectando entretenimento, conteúdo e experiência de marca.
Além da presença em mídia e transmissões oficiais, vamos trabalhar ativações proprietárias e ações presenciais em diferentes regiões do país, sempre buscando fortalecer relacionamento, engajamento e conexão cultural com o público.
Essa atuação também conversa diretamente com a visão do Grupo EGB de transformar patrocínios em plataformas contínuas de experiência e conteúdo, indo além da exposição tradicional e construindo relevância de longo prazo para as marcas.
Além do futebol, o Grupo EGB também investe em grandes manifestações culturais e eventos populares, como Carnaval e festivais regionais.
Como essas ativações se conectam à estratégia global de marca e à construção de presença no território brasileiro?
Nossa estratégia de marca está muito conectada à cultura popular e aos grandes territórios de mobilização do público brasileiro. O esporte é um pilar importante, mas não é o único.
Hoje o grupo apoia iniciativas de grande relevância nacional, como o Galo da Madrugada, o Festival de Parintins e o Carnaval em diferentes capitais brasileiras.
Essas propriedades ajudam a ampliar a presença nacional, fortalecer relacionamento com diferentes comunidades e criar conexões mais orgânicas com o público.
Mais do que exposição, buscamos desenvolver projetos de longo prazo que integrem conteúdo, experiência e ativação local. Isso permite que os patrocínios deixem de funcionar apenas como mídia tradicional e passem a operar como plataformas de relacionamento e construção institucional das marcas.
The post “No iGaming, marcas sólidas dependem de consistência, experiência e relacionamento de longo prazo” appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
2026 sports betting
For Sportradar, the 2026 World Cup is set to reshape acquisition and engagement in sports betting
With expectations of generating approximately US$ 50 billion in bets worldwide, the 2026 World Cup is already seen by the industry as the largest commercial event in the recent history of sports betting.
In an expanded tournament with 48 teams, 104 matches and a duration of 39 days across three different countries, Latin American operators are preparing to compete for attention, retention and conversion in an increasingly competitive environment driven by real-time data.
More than media volume or massive campaigns, experts point out that the competitive differentiator in the next World Cup will be the ability for personalization, automation and dynamic activation during the micro moments of the match.
Technologies based on artificial intelligence, live data and micro betting are already transforming the way operators approach acquisition and engagement in major international tournaments.
At the same time, regulatory advancement in Latin America and the maturation of bettor behavior are increasing pressure for more efficient, contextual campaigns aligned with local compliance requirements.
In this interview, Sportradar, represented by Rodrigo Cambiaghi, Senior Digital Advertising Sales Executive for Latin America, analyzes how operators can prepare for the 2026 World Cup, which strategies performed best in the Euro Cup and Copa América, the impact of real-time personalization and the challenges of executing regional campaigns in a fragmented regulatory landscape.
The estimated global betting volume for the 2026 World Cup is US$ 50 billion. What does this number represent in terms of real opportunity for Latin American operators, and what are the main risks for those who do not prepare?
Sportradar – The estimated US$ 50 billion betting volume during the 2026 World Cup shows the scale of the opportunity the tournament represents for Latin American operators.
We are talking about the largest attention and engagement event in the industry, in an edition that will feature 48 teams and 104 matches, creating more moments of connection with fans and more acquisition opportunities over 39 days of competition.
But the competitive differentiator will not lie solely in the size of media investment. The most prepared operators will be those capable of using data, technology and personalization to activate real-time campaigns aligned with the emotional context of the match.
Today, consumers expect more relevant experiences connected to what is happening on the field at that exact moment, whether it is a goal, a comeback or an outstanding individual performance.
At the same time, there is a significant risk for those who fail to prepare properly. Generic campaigns, relying only on bonuses or media volume, tend to lose efficiency in an extremely competitive environment.
Without robust real-time data infrastructure and continuous optimization capabilities, it becomes much more difficult to capture moments of highest betting intent and transform increased tournament traffic into sustainable long-term growth.
In the end, the 2026 World Cup should consolidate an important shift in the industry, where scale remains relevant, but technology, personalization and real-time execution become the true competitive differentiators.
You mention a “generalized sameness” in the market. What did the most successful operators at Euro 2024 and Copa América do differently in terms of advertising technology?
What we saw in Euro 2024 and Copa América was an important shift in approach.
The most successful operators moved away from broad and generic campaigns to adopt strategies much more driven by data, context and real-time fan behavior.
Instead of treating every minute of a match the same way, they began activating campaigns at moments of highest emotion and betting intent.
Advertising technology played a central role in this. Campaigns started using live data, automation and artificial intelligence to adjust messages, offers and creatives according to what was happening on the field.
A goal, a period of attacking pressure, an outstanding individual performance or even changes in match dynamics became triggers for dynamic campaign activation across multiple channels, including social, video, audio and programmatic.
The result was much more relevant and efficient communication. During Euro 2024 and Copa América, operators that combined branding, performance and moment-driven campaigns saw significant growth in deposits and a reduction in CPA, even in a highly competitive environment.
How do dynamic creative ads triggered by match moments actually work in practice — a goal, a corner, a shift in pace? Can you give a concrete example of a campaign?
Today, dynamic creative ads operate in a way that is closely connected to the logic of micro betting, which is precisely betting on fast and specific events within the match.
Instead of waiting for the final result of the game, fans interact with micro moments in real time, such as the next corner, the next shot on goal or whether a specific player will hit the target in the next play.
In practice, the technology monitors live match data and identifies moments of increased intensity or betting intent.
If a team starts applying heavy pressure, for example, the system can automatically activate campaigns related to the next corner, next shot on goal or other relevant offensive actions.
All of this happens within seconds, with personalized creatives being distributed across digital channels while the emotion of the play is still unfolding.
This model makes the experience much more contextual and relevant for the user. Instead of generic campaigns, fans receive messages aligned with the exact moment of the game and their own consumer behavior. It is precisely this combination of real-time data, automation and micro betting that is reshaping how operators approach acquisition and engagement during major sporting events.
The concept of “always on” is central to your approach. How do operators maintain relevance in the minutes between goals, when betting intent still exists but the peak moment has passed?
The “always on” concept is based on the understanding that fan engagement does not disappear between major match events.
Even when the game enters a period without goals, attention still exists in live statistics, anticipation of the next play, individual player performance and social media conversations. It is precisely in this interval that the most prepared operators are able to maintain relevance using real-time data and personalization.
In practice, this means activating campaigns and betting suggestions aligned with the current context of the game. If a team is applying more pressure, for example, users may receive offers related to the next corner, next shot on goal or other micro betting markets.
The focus shifts away from only the major event, such as a goal, and expands to include the entire dynamics of the match.
The key difference lies in the ability to transform live data into more relevant and continuous experiences. With automation, AI and behavior-driven campaigns, operators are able to keep users engaged throughout the entire match journey, not only during peak emotional moments.
The 2026 World Cup lasts 39 days and takes place across three countries. How should an operator structure its marketing budget to be agile enough to capitalize on unexpected outcomes without losing brand consistency?
In a tournament like the 2026 World Cup, flexibility becomes just as important as budget size. The most efficient operators do not work with a rigid plan from start to finish.
They structure campaigns capable of redistributing investment in real time, based on performance, audience behavior and narratives that emerge throughout the tournament.
This is especially important in a World Cup with 104 matches, multiple time zones and different markets involved.
Unexpected stories always emerge, such as surprise teams, viral players or matches that generate much higher-than-expected spikes. Prepared operators are able to react quickly to these moments, increasing presence in channels and campaigns that are performing best in that specific context.
At the same time, brand consistency remains fundamental. A common mistake is concentrating almost all investment solely on acquisition and immediate performance.
The strongest brands are able to balance awareness, acquisition and retention throughout the 39 days of competition, maintaining a clear identity while adjusting messaging, formats and campaign intensity as fan behavior evolves during the tournament.
What are the main differences between Latin American markets in terms of bettor behavior during major tournaments, and how does this affect campaign strategy?
Although football is a shared cultural element across Latin America, the region’s markets present very different levels of maturity, regulation and digital behavior.
In more mature markets, users already hold multiple accounts and have greater familiarity with live betting, making personalization, retention and user experience key factors. In newer markets, there is still a very strong focus on acquisition and awareness building.
We also see important differences in emotional fan behavior. During major tournaments, engagement tends to grow strongly as local teams progress in the competition.
This makes highly localized campaigns much more impactful than generic regional strategies. User behavior changes rapidly according to narrative, team performance and social media momentum at that moment.
For this reason, campaign strategy must be flexible and driven by real-time data. There is no single approach for the entire region.
The most efficient operators are able to adapt creatives, messaging, channels and even investment intensity based on the specific behavior of each market, maintaining cultural relevance and higher acquisition and retention efficiency.
The regulatory landscape in Latin America is fragmented. How can operators working across multiple markets run efficient campaigns without compromising local compliance?
Regulatory fragmentation is one of the main challenges in the industry today in Latin America, especially for operators working across multiple markets at the same time.
Each country has different rules regarding advertising, targeting, permitted channels and responsible communication, which requires campaigns to be much more adaptable and compliance-driven from the very beginning of planning.
In this scenario, technology and automation play a fundamental role. The most prepared operators work with platforms capable of applying market-specific restrictions in real time, adjusting targeting, formats, frequency and messaging according to local regulation. This allows operational efficiency without compromising compliance or regulatory safety.
At the same time, it is important to find a balance between standardization and local relevance. Regional strategy can be centralized in terms of brand, technology and data intelligence, but activation must respect the cultural and regulatory context of each country.
The most efficient campaigns today are precisely those that manage to combine regional scale with highly localized execution.
The post For Sportradar, the 2026 World Cup is set to reshape acquisition and engagement in sports betting appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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