If you know anything about Brazil and somehow made it through 2025 without hearing about CPI das Bets, Virginia Fonseca being nicknamed “Tigrínia” on Twitter, or your WhatsApp aunt asking if “that little tiger game is illegal now,” congratulations, you were clearly offline and probably have a much healthier life than most!
For the uninitiated: “jogo do tigrinho” is the Brazilian popular nickname for Fortune Tiger or similar games offered by illegal operators. These are often associated, fairly or not, with aggressive influencer promotion, problem gambling stories and political debates about regulation and responsibility.
It became shorthand for “everything that went wrong” in betting marketing, even when the reality is far more complex.
Before you brief your next campaign or email your next creator, here’s your survival guide.
#1: Choose wisely and, please, stop worshipping follower counts
Brazilian influencer marketing has finally outgrown the illusion that bigger numbers automatically mean better results.
Small and mid-sized creators with tight, engaged communities often outperform massive profiles when it comes to conversion, trust and message retention. Their audience still listens. They still reply to comments. They still feel human.
A creator with 30,000 followers who actually believes in what they’re saying, and whose audience believes them, can deliver far more value than a million-follower account posting a half-hearted story ad.
#2: Betting marketing IS controversial in Brazil and denying that won’t help
This is the part many affiliates underestimate.
In Brazil, promoting betting in 2026 is no longer a neutral act for influencers. It comes with risk of public backlash, brand association, political noise and, in some cases, it could literally take you to court.
Many influencers, especially those who built careers on family content, lifestyle or “clean” personal branding, simply won’t take that risk. And we have to understand that that’s fine.
The influencers who work best with betting are the ones who are willing to own the message. Who are comfortable saying why they work with the brand, how betting should be used, and where the limits are. Generally, sports content creators and entertainment creators are more aligned with this.
Choose creators who understand the controversy, acknowledge it and can communicate responsibly, not those pretending it doesn’t exist.
#3: Understand that the content ecosystem is a two-way reputation street
Influencer marketing in Brazil is a living ecosystem where everything leaks.
What I mean by that is: every ad your brand runs affects the influencer. Every joke the influencer makes affects the brand.
Every Twitter thread, TikTok stitch or Instagram comment section becomes part of the same narrative, whether you planned it or not.
Treat creators less like media space and more like partners in narrative management, then you’ll probably choose creators who brief better, align tone and anticipate backlash together.
Otherwise the internet will connect the dots for you, kindly or brutally. If you don’t understand that network effect, the audience will understand it for you.
#4: Entertainment first, conversion second (yes, really)
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: betting content that looks like betting content doesn’t work anymore. And honestly, it shouldn’t.
Sure, we all want to win capitalism and become the next billionaire. But you’re not marketing towards billionaires, are you?
Audiences are exhausted of urgency tactics, fake excitement and recycled scripts that make them feel like they're a mass audience being used to give companies more money while they still work their 9-5 and struggle to pay rent, especially in a developing country.
What still cuts through is entertainment, humour, irony, storytelling and self-awareness so people feel like they are part of the story too and could have your brand as a partner to have a fun time for a while, not another company who wants all their money.
Seriously, as someone who’s also chronically online, not every link needs to be shoved into a call to action. Not every story needs to scream “bonus now.” Trying to sell 24/7 makes people actually not trust your brand cause it looks desperate.
#5: Responsibility is no longer a disclaimer
If responsible gambling still lives at the bottom of your caption in tiny letters, you’re already late.
In Brazil, responsibility is the main character of this narrative. It shows up in how creators talk about limits, how they react to losses, how they answer uncomfortable questions in comments. Audiences notice who treats it seriously and who treats it like legal decoration.
The irony is that when responsibility is done well, it improves the performance instead of killing it.
Brazilian influencer marketing has a long memory
None of the things happening while Brazil’s market was shaping will disappear. They turned into inside jokes, memes, cautionary tales.
But Brazil also loves a good comeback story.
Whoever understands the cultural temperature, respects creators and audiences as humans, lean into entertainment and stop pretending betting is controversy-free will shape 2026 rather than just surviving it.