Esportes da Sorte to acquire BETBR Loterias in Brazil

• Esportes da Sorte Group is acquiring BETBR Loterias, owner of the Apostou, B1BET and BRBET betting brands.
• The deal runs through subsidiary HS Gaming Participações and has been notified to Brazil’s antitrust regulator, CADE.
• It adds to a run of Brazilian betting M&A that has also swept up Betnacional and Aposta Tudo.

Esportes da Sorte Group is acquiring BETBR Loterias, the operator behind the Apostou, B1BET and BRBET betting brands in Brazil.

The deal is being carried out through subsidiary HS Gaming Participações, which will take full control of the company from current owner LottoCapital. BETBR Loterias holds a licence from the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) and runs a significant physical lottery network in the state of Paraná.

The transaction has been notified to Brazil’s antitrust body, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), under Public Notice No. 464, published last week on 25 June.

Once the deal closes, Esportes da Sorte will operate Apostou directly, a brand the group once controlled through an earlier stake in ST Soft Desenvolvimento de Programas de Computadores, acquired in 2024 ahead of its federal SPA licence.

Bigger footprint, bigger budget

The acquisition builds on a period of aggressive brand investment for Esportes da Sorte. The operator renewed its master sponsorship with Sport Club Corinthians Paulista through 2029 in February, in a deal worth BRL150 million a year with incentives that could push the total past BRL200 million.

Darwin Filho, chief executive of Grupo Esportes Gaming Brasil, said of that renewal:

“Renewing our partnership with Corinthians until 2029 reaffirms our confidence in an institution that, like few others, represents the diversity of Brazil and the passion for football.”

The group followed that with a national TV campaign fronted by former Corinthians star Marcelinho Carioca, debuting on free-to-air networks SBT and Record in March.

Alongside its namesake brand, Esportes da Sorte already runs Lottu and Onabet, and has held a definitive SPA licence since 2025. Two of its three brands sit in Brazil’s top 10 operators, with Blask’s first-quarter 2026 rankings placing Esportes da Sorte sixth and Onabet 10th.

A crowded field consolidates

Brazil’s betting market has become a magnet for consolidation since regulation took effect in January 2025. Betano and bet365 currently top Blask’s rankings, followed by Betnacional in seventh.

Esportes da Sorte’s purchase mirrors Flutter Entertainment’s move to take a controlling stake in Betnacional, which it has since migrated onto its proprietary Flutter Edge platform ahead of the FIFA World Cup.

ANA Gaming, owner of the 7K, Cassino and Vera brands, has also been active, recently completing its purchase of Aposta Tudo after earlier absorbing Donald Bet and Ponto Bet. The pattern points to a market where scale, licensing depth and marketing reach increasingly decide who survives.

Regulators tighten the net

The deal lands as Brazilian authorities intensify scrutiny of the sector. The government has moved to publish 25,000 betting licensing documents for public review and has begun freezing the funds of unauthorized operators, part of a broader push against activity still estimated to make up 41% to 51% of the market.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has kept betting central to his political messaging too, targeting the industry as part of his reelection campaign despite having signed the law that legalised the sector in 2023.

Distribution channels are shifting as well. Competitor Superbet became the first licensed operator reported to list its app on Brazil’s App Store, a step expected to speed up native iOS adoption across the industry.