Betano, Kaizen Gaming’s premium online betting and gaming brand, is turning to gaming culture to dramatize the emotional pull of football fandom in its latest international campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Created by Wieden+Kennedy São Paulo, the campaign follows a lonely video game NPC (Non-Playable Character) who escapes the artificial world of a football game to experience the intensity, unpredictability and collective emotion of a real World Cup. Set to a reimagined version of the song “Mr. Lonely,” the film positions football fandom as something too powerful to be simulated.

The work launches under the global platform “Believing Makes it Real” and will roll out across 14 countries in South America and Europe, supported by live activations and fan engagement initiatives tied to the tournament. The campaign will be 360° with dedicated adaptations per country and three main character adjustments tailored to the cultural idiosyncrasies of different regions.

“The FIFA World Cup is the ultimate anchor in global sports, and for a campaign spanning so many different markets, we wanted to match that ambition. Our brief was to articulate the raw, collective emotion of being a fan, a feeling so intense it transcends even the most advanced digital simulation. This film captures that powerful truth, reinforcing our global platform, ‘Believing Makes it Real,’ and positioning Betano at the heart of the sport’s most genuine and unpredictable moments,” said Pablo Puertas, Kaizen Gaming – Betano, Marketing Director.

“Our challenge was finding a fresh, globally resonant way to talk about the World Cup. The campaign starts in a cold, automated universe and follows the journey of an NPC discovering what happens when an entire world truly believes. It’s a contrast that turns football emotion into something impossible to program,” said Felipe Paiva and José Ferraz, Group Creative Directors at Wieden+Kennedy SP.

The campaign also reinforces Betano’s growing relationship with FIFA. The brand was recently named an Official Tournament Supporter of the FIFA World Cup 2026 for Europe and South America, following previous partnerships around the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.

The 2026 edition — hosted across the US, Mexico and Canada — will be the largest in FIFA history, featuring 48 national teams for the first time.

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The B2B iGaming platform provider adds an award-winning sportsbook solution to its technology ecosystem, giving operators more flexibility ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Atlaslive announces the integration of Altenar’s fully managed sportsbook into its platform ecosystem. The partnership brings one of the industry’s most established sportsbook providers into Atlaslive’s technology stack, expanding the range of sportsbook configurations available to operators across the LATAM region.

Altenar is an award-winning sportsbook provider operating across more than 50 regulated jurisdictions, with licences from the UKGC, MGA, AGCO, and other major regulators. Most recently, the company was named Best Online Sportsbook Provider at the SiGMA South America Awards 2026 in São Paulo—building on its Sportsbook Supplier of the Year recognition at the SBC Awards Latinoamérica 2024.

The integration gives Atlaslive powered operators the option to deploy Altenar’s sportsbook technology alongside Atlaslive’s existing platform infrastructure. Operators can select the sportsbook configuration that best matches their market positioning, regulatory requirements, and player acquisition strategy, rather than being limited to a single-stack approach.

The timing is deliberate. With the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaching, demand for high-performance, scalable sportsbook solutions is set to peak. For operators, the tournament window is one of the highest-traffic periods in the sports betting cycle, and the ability to choose a battle-tested sportsbook within a familiar platform environment reduces both technical risk and time to market.

“Giving operators real choice in how they build their sportsbook is a competitive advantage—for them and for us. Altenar’s track record across regulated markets and their depth in risk management and trading make them the right partner to start with,” said Volodymyr Taftai, Country Director for Brazil, Atlaslive. “We’re expanding our platform into a multi-sportsbook ecosystem because that’s what operators in today’s market need: flexibility without compromise on quality.”

Frederico Caputi, Senior Sales Manager  at Altenar, added: “We are pleased to partner with Atlaslive to bring our sportsbook technology to their operator network. This integration allows us to reach new markets through a platform built for scale, while giving operators access to our fully managed sportsbook product, including live betting, risk management, and a deep sports content offering.”

Atlaslive provides a proprietary iGaming platform built to optimize the operations of sportsbook and casino businesses. The company is built around long-term operator partnerships, product-led growth, and full-stack platform delivery.

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