BETBY has released a new report examining how football betting behaviour changed between the 2022 and 2026 World Cups, highlighting 10 insights that sportsbooks can use to improve player engagement, betting markets and turnover throughout the new football season.
World Cup Data Reveals Changing Bettor Behaviour
The report, “10 World Cup Insights for the Next 10 Months of Football,” looks beyond headline tournament figures to examine how players interacted with sportsbooks across match betting, player props, platform features, products and promotional campaigns.
BETBY found several notable changes. Only 18.84% of World Cup bets were placed through the dedicated tournament page, highlighting the importance of making major events discoverable across the wider sportsbook experience.
Device behaviour also showed a significant difference between player numbers and revenue contribution. Desktop users represented 13.14% of World Cup players but generated 30.24% of turnover, suggesting that device preferences can have a substantial impact on sportsbook value.
Engagement Extends Beyond Match Days
The analysis also found that player activity did not disappear when World Cup matches were unavailable. On days without a tournament fixture, engagement with BETBY.Games increased, demonstrating the potential value of complementary sportsbook products in maintaining activity between major events.
The report also explores what drove a 2.96x increase in average stake size, changes in football betting markets and player props, and the contribution of individual players to overall turnover.
Turning Tournament Insights Into Growth
According to Stefanos Karakidis, Business Development Director at BETBY, many operators focused primarily on acquisition during the World Cup rather than examining the deeper behavioural changes revealed by the tournament.
The report highlights that while the World Cup reached four out of five BETBY players, it generated less than half of all sportsbook bets. This suggests that major sporting events can act as powerful engagement drivers without becoming the sole focus of player activity.
For sportsbooks, the findings offer practical opportunities to apply World Cup learnings to the wider club season, from improving event discovery and expanding prop markets to strengthening cross-product engagement and tailoring experiences by device and player behaviour.
With the football season now underway, BETBY’s 10 insights provide operators with a framework for turning temporary tournament engagement into longer-term sportsbook growth.
