Kaizen Gaming’s sponsorship blueprint: trust, adaptation, and the ‘no FOMO’ ethos

The Tottenham experiment as a regulatory testbed

Kaizen Gaming’s Betano brand has signed a three-year partnership with Tottenham Hotspur that serves as a live experiment in Premier League gambling sponsorship after the front-of-shirt ban took effect in 2026/27. For the first season, Betano will appear as the club’s training wear partner, replacing BetMGM, with no logo featured on retail training merchandise. From the 2027/28 season, the arrangement shifts into an official Europe and Latin America betting partnership running through 2029.

“We don’t know” whether this structure will become the blueprint for post-ban sponsorship, said Kaizen CCO Julio Iglesias Hernando, “but we are willing to try.” He argued that reduced visibility does not mean diminished value, pointing to the association with one of the Premier League’s most globally recognised clubs, prominent training wear presence, and engaging activations. The regional focus on Europe and LatAm aligns neatly with Betano’s stronghold in Latin America and Tottenham’s massive global fanbase of over 600 million.

From FIFA newcomer to established partner

Betano’s journey with FIFA began in 2022 when it became the first sports betting operator to partner with the world football governing body, a move that surprised many in the industry. “The conventional wisdom was that FIFA would keep our industry at arm’s length,” Iglesias Hernando recalled, but Kaizen presented itself as a fully responsible and regulated operator willing to learn.

Three tournaments later—Qatar 2022, the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, and now the 104-match World Cup 2026—the relationship has matured into what Iglesias Hernando describes as a clear activation framework. He emphasised that the real value lies not just in broadcast exposure but in “the permission it gives us to engage with football’s international community in ways that feel authentic.”

A portfolio built on market logic

Kaizen Gaming has expanded from six markets in early 2021 to over 20 regulated jurisdictions today, with Betano holding roughly 23% market share in Brazil’s online betting market. The sponsorship portfolio mirrors this geographic footprint: FIFA, UEFA competitions, Bayern Munich, Flamengo, River Plate, FC Porto, and now Tottenham.

Iglesias Hernando described sponsorships as “a deliberate map of our markets,” where the right club in the right territory delivers impact that a generic global campaign cannot. On measuring return, he acknowledged that while technology provides visibility into broadcast exposure and share of voice, the cumulative effect of brand association cannot always be reduced to a single number. “We won’t always have a clean number to put in front of our CFO,” he said, “but we know why we’re doing it, and the results across our markets continue to validate this conviction.”

The company’s expansion into Ghana in February 2026—its second African market after Nigeria—illustrates its portfolio logic. Despite an incumbent holding 60-65% share, Iglesias Hernando noted that the marginal cost of entering is low because compliance frameworks and regional brand recognition already exist. “The time to position yourself in a high-growth market is before the consolidation happens, not after,” he said.

The US remains a deliberate gap. “We have watched many overseas brands incur staggering losses trying to capture market share there,” Iglesias Hernando explained. While the door is not closed, the company gains North American experience through its presence in Ontario, Canada.

Regulation as an entry price, not a burden

Kaizen Gaming operates exclusively in regulated markets, a choice Iglesias Hernando calls foundational. “While others might frame regulation as a burden, for us it’s the entry price to the tier of the market where we want to compete,” he said. His primary concern is inconsistent enforcement: “Implementing restrictive regulatory frameworks in environments where unlicensed gambling platforms remain highly accessible only drives more consumers to them.”

Asked whether tightening rules ever forced a fundamental rethink, he replied that while the company has pivoted strategy more than once, it has never had to tear up the commercial model.

The ‘no FOMO’ philosophy

Iglesias Hernando brought consumer goods experience from Heineken, Kellogg’s, and Philip Morris into iGaming, and he believes his industry suffers from a weak grasp of marketing fundamentals. “A large part of our industry still does not get it, or even worse, they just imitate,” he said. “Sponsorship is a characteristic example of this.”

The antidote, he said, is what he calls confidential information: “Our secret motto is NO FOMO. No deal in itself is important enough to sacrifice our principles and framework.” This discipline means Kaizen will not chase reactive sponsorships simply because a rival signed a club. Instead, the company aims to be a top-three operator in every market where Betano operates, focusing on long-term trust over short-term visibility.

“Flexibility and curiosity are leading principles for us,” Iglesias Hernando concluded. “We will adapt to the environment, try new things, fail and learn. Rinse and repeat. There is no other way.”