R$ 2 billion in 20 days: what CazéTV teaches us about the power of iGaming at the 2026 World Cup

Casimiro Miguel is not a TV broadcaster. No public concession, no antenna, no decades of history in the advertising market. He has a YouTube channel, professional cameras, journalists, reporters and sports-obsessed influencers, and a way of talking about football that connects with an entire generation that grew up on the internet.

And in 2026, this channel sold R$ 2 billion in sponsorship to broadcast the World Cup. The same figure as Globo, which has held the World Cup rights since 1970.

Who is footing the bill

Among the 11 confirmed sponsors are Ambev, Coca-Cola, Itaú, iFood, Mercado Livre, Vivo, GM, Decolar — and three are betting houses: Bet365, Betnacional and KTO.

These are not secondary sponsors. They are master tiers, at R$ 185 million each.

That means iGaming alone funded a significant slice of the most innovative sports-media project in Brazil in decades. And it did so naturally, with no controversy, bundled into the same package as Itaú and Coca-Cola.

This is a snapshot of what has happened to the betting market in Brazil in recent years. It is no longer a novelty. It is no longer controversial. It is part of the commercial fabric of sports entertainment.

Why CazéTV works for the bets

The answer is simple: a qualified, engaged audience.

CazéTV does not broadcast football to just anyone. It broadcasts to people who chose to be there, phone in hand, following in real time, commenting in the chat, reacting to every play. It is an audience already with a finger on the trigger — literally, inside the betting app.

During Brazil vs. Morocco in the World Cup opener, Betnacional was the first brand to activate on the broadcast: it announced an odds "boost" during the hydration break. Not a passive banner. A real-time action, for a real-time audience.

What the market numbers confirm

CazéTV did not invent this phenomenon. It just reached the top first.

The 2026 World Cup is expected to move around US$ 50 billion in bets worldwide, with 60% of bettors using mobile apps during the games. In Brazil, transaction peaks on the platforms grow more than 1,200% during match hours — especially between 5pm and 9pm.

That means that while the game plays out on CazéTV’s screen, another game runs in parallel: the game of bets, deposits and live odds. Both screens are open at the same time. Often, in the same hand.

The bets that sponsored CazéTV know this. They are not buying brand visibility in the traditional sense. They are buying presence at the exact moment the user is already primed to act.

What this reveals about iGaming in 2026

Three years ago, a betting house sponsoring the biggest sporting event in the world would have been deeply controversial news.

The formal regulation of the Brazilian market, with SPA oversight and the end of illegal platforms, created the environment the sector needed to grow with credibility. Bet365, Betnacional and KTO stand beside Itaú and Coca-Cola in the biggest digital sports-media project in the country’s history — and no one found it strange.

That is market maturity.

The question that remains for operators

If the most sophisticated iGaming brands are investing R$ 185 million per sponsorship tier to capture qualified traffic, the question every operator should ask is:

Capturing a user during a World Cup match is the easy part. The challenge is converting, retaining and growing with integrity — without losing commission to poorly managed affiliates, without accumulating unmonitored operational risk, without leaving money on the table for lack of data visibility.

The acquisition investment is being made. The infrastructure to capitalize on it has to keep up.

Rakero builds infrastructure for iGaming operators that need to grow with control. Meet Rakero Commissions and Rakero Anomalies.