Try to guess the sector:
It moves billions worldwide.
Some people see it as easy money.
It's everywhere! On your phone, on your feed, in some conversations you probably didn't ask to have. And in some conversations you definitely want to have.
If you thought of influencers, you're right.
If you thought of betting companies, you're also right.
And that overlap is exactly where things get extremely interesting.
What happens when the creator economy and the betting sector collide?
The early days: visibility first, questions later
When Brazil officially opened the doors to regulated betting, the market moved incredibly fast... maybe too fast.
Operators were suddenly legal, competing for visibility and desperate to establish brand recognition in a crowded digital landscape.
Influencers became the obvious shortcut, especially considering how big the creator economy market is in Brazil, with about 10 million creators in the country and 75% of the young population that dream about becoming an influencer, according to a research made by Youtube Brazil.
The creator economy is an ecosystem where creators build audiences, produce content and partner with brands, operating within interconnected networks similar to actor-network dynamics. Nationally, that is huge: it moves around $30bn per year.
The betting sector is not too far behind: about 19% of online Brazilians have placed a bet in 2025.
Still, compared to influencers, the sector grossed about $5bn between January and September.
At first, few people truly understood how to handle this new relationship.
Clear advertising rules were still forming, enforcement was limited and the lines between entertainment, promotion and persuasion were blurred.
In some cases, platforms partnered with influencers whose audiences had little to do with sports, gaming or even content that made sense with betting at all.
One high-profile example involved a creator known primarily for children's content engaging in a betting partnership just due to his big numbers online, a move that would be unthinkable today!
Followers were just curious and didn't really know what that meant... and that's where the problem started. Some of them had never even placed a wage.
Back then, reach mattered more than relevance.
From mass exposure to reputational risk
Fast-forward to today and the tone has shifted. Betting partnerships are no longer seen as universally aspirational, in fact, depending on who you partner with, they can still be reputationally risky.
If anything, regulated and respectable operators have become far more selective.
The focus has moved towards creators who already speak to sports fans, gaming communities or entertainment audiences that naturally overlap with betting products. The logic is simple: credibility works better than impressions.
This shift is not just about branding sophistication, it's a response to the damage caused by illegal operators, who continue to finance questionable influencer campaigns across social media, including some that partnered with influencers who were minors, even before the sector was properly regulated.
These promotions often promise easy wins, exaggerated earnings and frictionless withdrawals, narratives that directly clash with responsible gambling principles.
And once the public associates a face with misleading promotions, it sticks.
Is there such a thing as bad publicity?
In theory, visibility is visibility. But in practice, the national betting sector is learning, sometimes the hard way, that notoriety is not the same as trust.
High-profile influencer investigations, lawsuits and parliamentary inquiries have dominated headlines in recent months.
Cases involving influencers with millions of followers being named in online gaming fraud lawsuits or summoned to testify before Brazil's Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) on betting promotion by the start of the year have reshaped public perception and some Brazilians are not planning on giving operators - or influencers -- a chance.
The message is clear: fame does not shield anyone from scrutiny.
Regulation catching up slowly
Brazil's regulatory framework is still maturing.
The CPI hearings, the scrutiny over influencer conduct and ongoing legal debates show a system trying to catch up with digital reality.
The law is finally no longer just asking what is being promoted, but how, to whom and by whom.
This transitional phase creates uncertainty for both creators and operators. What was once tolerated is now questioned, what once generated engagement now triggers investigations.
And how could that be a bad thing? Influencing people online comes with a lot of responsibility, which some creators and brands tend to forget.
Doing it right: creators as community builders
Yet, this is not a story of failure: it's one of recalibration.
Some operators have started to rethink the role of creators entirely. Instead of transactional posts, they are investing in experiences, live activations, co-created content and community-led initiatives. In these cases, creators are not just advertising products; they are building narratives, memories and shared moments.
When done properly, influence becomes more about participation and less about persuasion.
And then we reach the place where the creator economy still holds immense value for betting brands: when it's aligned, transparent and contextual. It's definitely not a bad thing to partner with influencers if they actually fit the brand.
Influence, like betting, is also about probability: you can chase volume or you can play the long game.
And only one of them's the smart bet.
Good to know: Brazil's CPI into betting promotion recommended indictments against 16 individuals in June 2025
