Reconfiguração estratégica dos meios de pagamento frente à regularização das apostas esportivas no Brasil

Abstract

The formal regulation of sports betting in Brazil has reconfigured the payments and financial services ecosystem, positioning intermediaries at the center of market governance, traceability, and enforcement. Although Institutional Theory explains how coercive, normative, and mimetic pressures shape organizations in regulated fields, studies examining how these pressures are converted into strategic responses remain limited, particularly in markets mediated by financial infrastructure. This study analyzes which institutional mechanisms shape the strategic responses of organizations in this ecosystem in the context of sports betting regulation in Brazil. A qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive approach was adopted through a multiple-case study. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers from 13 organizations, subsequently transcribed and subjected to content analysis with the support of MAXQDA, including within-case and cross-case analyses. The results show that regulation intensified institutional pressures, especially coercive pressures, but its effects were not linear and were mediated by managerial interpretations of regulatory, reputational, and operational risks. Strategic responses included strengthened compliance practices, expanded monitoring, technological investments, partnership reconfiguration, greater commercial selectivity, and reassessment of risk appetite. The study contributes by demonstrating that managerial interpretation is a key mechanism in converting institutional pressures into strategic decisions, expanding the understanding of Institutional Theory in contexts of financial infrastructure and intensive regulation.