Biometric authentication gains ground in Brazil’s iGaming market as 2026 World Cup bets loom

As Brazil’s online betting market matures, biometric authentication is becoming a practical tool for verifying identity on deposits, registrations, and withdrawals. That matters because the next wave of volume is not theoretical: the 2026 World Cup could pull in up to US$ 60 billion in sports betting globally, with Brazil accounting for about 10% of that amount.

1. In Brazil, biometric authentication is being used to confirm that the person opening an account, making a deposit, or requesting a withdrawal is actually the account holder. The point is not cosmetic security; it is to reduce credential abuse and make digital transactions harder to game.
2. Sportradar and SOFTSWISS project that the 2026 World Cup could generate up to US$ 60 billion in sports betting worldwide. The same projections say Brazil could represent around 10% of that volume, or approximately R$ 31 billion by the end of the tournament.
3. A Creditas and Opinion Box survey found that 56% of Brazilians will bet or join pools during the World Cup. For operators, that means more first-time users, more onboarding traffic, and more pressure on identity verification before money starts moving.
4. The fraud backdrop is not subtle. According to the Veriff Fraud Index: Latin America, Brazil was among the three leading countries in the region for identity fraud in 2024, with rising multi-account attacks, deepfake-based registrations, and bonus abuse using fake identities.
5. Regulation has also pushed in the same direction. Under Lei 14.790/2023 (Portaria SPA/MF Nº 722), enforced by the Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas (SPA), facial recognition became mandatory to verify that the person behind an account is the real holder and to keep minors out of the sector.

For PSPs and iGaming operators, the practical takeaway is simple: Brazil is moving toward a model where payment acceptance, onboarding, and identity verification are becoming harder to separate. In that setup, biometrics is not a side feature; it is part of the control stack.