Interviews
Personalisation in sportsbook roundtable
Leonid Pertsovskiy, Chief Executive Officer at Betby
If the pandemic has taught us anything about the current landscape of sportsbetting, it is that immersive experiences that facilitate modern requirements and short attention spans are becoming essential to survival. With the space becoming increasingly saturated with similar offerings and products, creating a more engaging user journey is key to standing out and ultimately retaining business.
How have you pivoted your offering to facilitate modern customer preferences? Or is it a case of ‘it if ain’t broke, don’t fix it’?
At Betby, we have done a lot over the past couple of years to adjust our sportsbook to the unique preferences of modern users, even though the general needs and requirements have remained consistent over the past five, or even ten years. The end user still wants to see their favourite events on a platform, as well as less distractions, higher limits, and instant bet settlement, and our sportsbook offering has evolved over the years to facilitate these preferences and attract a broader demographic of user.
Nowadays, our platform features high-quality content, including markets on more than 90 traditional sports, major tournament that stretch across the globe, an impressive selection of esports and virtual sports events, and the cherry on the cake: our proprietary Betby.Games range.
The remarkable variety of our offering is what helps us to stand out from the crowd and engage new users. A year ago, nobody could have predicted that we would be able to offer Kabaddi, Golf and Formula 1 live to our audiences, but our sportsbook has really opened up avenues to the rest of the world in a drive to provide followers of all sports with suitable markets, and live odds. It is important to be flexible to satisfy client needs, while offering same level of adaptation when talking about risk-management, localisation strategies, and promotional campaigns. Investing in flexibility means investing in long-term stability and adjusting to the post-pandemic sportsbook landscape.
We’re seeing plenty of changes in user behaviour and betting patterns, led by a surge in ‘in-play’ betting, Prop Bets, and Bet-Builder tools. What are you doing to capitalise on this phenomenon?
We’ve certainly played with the idea of dividing up old-school audiences from the newcomers, due to the differences in their behaviours. We understand experienced punters don’t particularly enjoy new features or innovation within sportsbook, and therefore require a simplified layout and interface that they can relate to, while on the other side of the spectrum, new users enjoy being met with an abundance of new technologies and products thanks to their pursuit of instant gratification.
Our recent focus has been on boosting gamification and the social aspects of our sportsbook, which aligns neatly with modern user requirements, such as needing consistent entertainment and various aspects of interaction in their experiences.
Have any innovations in the sportsbetting space have caught your attention?
We see a lot of innovations in the field of data analysis and recommendation systems where reporting and business intelligence (BI) tools have become more integral, and the times of buying market share with traffic investments are over. Our clients see just how easily and effectively they can optimise their marketing budgets using our BI analytics system, and this is exciting for both us and them.
Another innovation that we have started to see more of this past year is contests being created occurring between passionate sport followers. While casino tournaments have existed for the best art of a decade now, sportsbook was always seen as less capable of supporting engaging competitions, especially between punters, which is why we recently introduced a sportsbook tournaments engine, which has shown fantastic results.
With the worlds of esports and sports betting blending at an unprecedented rate, is it time that esports merits its own tab in a sportsbook?
Yes, absolutely. Esports has an entirely different audience to regular sports, as well as a distinct streaming-centric user interface, and even a different approach to risk-management in sportsbook and marketing strategy.
Esports as a vertical is very much here to stay, and competitions are extremely popular when it comes to the betting experience that surrounds their unique events, with passionate fans that enjoy placing a wide selection of bets on them. It is a very rare for a user to follow both traditional sports as well as esports, let alone combine the two in one betslip, and for this reason it should have its own tab that is managed differently to the classic sportsbook. Esports is an entirely different space to that of traditional sports, and with interaction between players and esports followers occurring in so many ways, it needs to be respected as a phenomenon.
Bobby Longhurst, Managing Director at Sportingtech
If the pandemic has taught us anything about the current landscape of sports betting, it is that immersive experiences that facilitate modern requirements and short attention spans are becoming essential to survival. With the space becoming increasingly saturated with similar offerings and products, creating a more engaging user journey is key to standing out and ultimately retaining business.
How have you pivoted your offering to facilitate modern customer preferences? Or is it a case of ‘it if ain’t broke, don’t fix it’?
We’re constantly evolving and catering our offering not only to new customer types but to specific markets. Rather than resting on our laurels, we’re consistently dedicated to incorporating new ideas and solutions into the Sportingtech Quantum platform. Attention to detail is imperative; if the customer believes there has been a lack of effort in the offering put before them, the overall success of the operation will be jeopardised. Localisation, and by extension player profiling, is what sets an offering apart from the competition, and this is something that Sportingtech prioritises – most prominently displayed in our proprietary Popular Bets and Popular Events widgets. In today’s industry, the idea that a one-size-fits-all solution can be offered is one that just doesn’t stand up. Our Quantum platform also has modularity at its core, and this is something that can’t be overlooked – if operators are handed the reins, they can personalise their own offering and subsequently make the experience better for the end user.
We’re seeing plenty of changes in user behaviour and betting patterns, led by a surge in ‘in-play’ betting, Prop Bets, and Bet Builder tools. What are you doing to capitalise on this phenomenon?
The rising prominence of these new kinds of betting is clear to see, but this relatively new environment can be a confusing place to navigate for newcomers. Sportingtech’s Bet Assist offering is ideally placed, making traversing platforms more straightforward for players – it generates automated betting tips based on historical data, live-score and AI analysis, covering both pre-match and in-play markets across seven sports and with complete bet slip integration, and has been proven to increase user engagement, retention and turnover rates. In addition, our FastBet solution, which enables users to wager multiple single bets across all sports at the touch of a button without creating a betslip, is the only feature of its kind on the market. Players are likely to place more bets than they usually would with a standard betslip.
Have any innovations in the sports betting space caught your attention?
Sports betting is a hub of innovation, and our Popular Bets and Popular Events widgets are testament to this. They allow operators to display a particular market’s current top-10 bets and top-10 events, automatically refreshing every five minutes. Offering our operator customers a localised, intuitive way to immediately boost engagement is extremely gratifying. With minimum effort on the operators’ part, they can be confident that their players are constantly being shown the most popular bets and events at any one time. Our priority is to provide flexibility of use, allowing operators to display the bets and events on different areas of their sites while also being optimised for mobile and desktop. It is important that they auto-populate according to the operators’ markets, which has gone a long way to making this the hassle-free and personalised engagement tool we set out to make.
With the worlds of esports and sports betting blending at an unprecedented rate, is it time that esports merited its own tab in a sportsbook?
Sportingtech’s authority in Latin America is well documented, and we are seeing that esports’ popularity in these markets is on a steep upward trajectory. New opportunities frequently arise in emerging markets for the introduction of new verticals, and our platform offers a quick and easy way to market, offering the very best of what esports has to deliver. Bettors in LatAm markets have fallen in love with esports and its popularity looks set to continue to grow – esports will certainly merit its own place in a sportsbook if this trend continues.
Suren Khachatryan, founder and CEO of Technamin
If the pandemic has taught us anything about the current landscape of sports betting, it is that immersive experiences that facilitate modern requirements and short attention spans are becoming essential to survival. With the space becoming increasingly saturated with similar offerings and products, creating a more engaging user journey is key to standing out and ultimately retaining business.
How have you pivoted your offering to facilitate modern customer preferences? Or is it a case of ‘it if ain’t broke, don’t fix it’?
Innovation is one of the cornerstones of Technamin. We could have easily stuck with the traditional approach to a sportsbook, but we decided to take things a step further and develop a sportsbook that is ideally suited to the needs of both operators and bettors. The “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy may apply to all sportsbooks, as their functionalities are by and large the same. However, it’s the approach that differs. Our approach is to create a product that is easily customisable to each partner’s preference and offers each end user a personalised sports betting experience.
We’re seeing plenty of changes in user behaviour and betting patterns, led by a surge in ‘in-play’ betting, Prop Bets, and Bet Builder tools. What are you doing to capitalise on this phenomenon?
With the development of technology and innovation, users are displaying a decreased attention span. Therefore, the majority of players prefer matches with rapid changes and easy solutions. Technamin works hard to provide the maximum amount of live matches and in-play betting throughout the year with the most reliable odds. Our professional team of traders and risk managers make sure we provide the most accurate data to our partners. Bet Builder and Prop Bets are the other tools that make the players’ journey more enjoyable and multifunctional. These are the features that our team continually develops.
Have any innovations in the sports betting space caught your attention?
I think we are living in the best of times when it comes to innovation in sports betting. We are very keen on how crypto payments are going to evolve in the sector. These currencies are already taking the industry by storm, and things are only going to progress from there. Another feature we are very excited about is the addition of VR and augmented reality technology that is going to create a more immersive experience for the end user. Overall, every technological innovation is exciting because it can be a gateway to something breathtaking.
With the worlds of esports and sports betting blending at an unprecedented rate, is it time that esports merited its own tab in a sportsbook?
Certainly so. Regardless of where each of us stands in the “are esports real sports?” debate, the facts clearly show that esports are here to stay and are popular when it comes to the betting experience. The fans are passionate about them and love to bet on the events. It’s just another fresh and innovative side of sports betting that we must embrace and build on. And the growing demand is something that operators must meet if they wish to maintain their popularity in the industry. Of course, we at Technamin are here to help with that!
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By Giuseppe Barbanera, Head of Commercial LATAM at Games Global
In an industry that prides itself on global reach, it is easy to assume that scale alone guarantees success. But in iGaming, “global” should never mean uniform.
The markets we serve are not interchangeable and nowhere is this clearer than in Latin America.
Too often, companies attempt to replicate European or US customer service models across every region, assuming efficiency and standardisation will translate universally.
In reality, operating across multiple regions does not necessarily mean the same model applied everywhere will succeed. In practice, success depends on how well strategies are adapted to each market.
A strategy that works effectively in Europe or the US can fall flat in Latin America if it does not consider cultural nuances and the way people prefer to communicate and build trust.
The real question for our industry is not whether we can operate globally, but whether we are willing to adapt locally. Are we prepared to meet markets on their own terms?
While iGaming is international in scope, when it comes to customer service and account management, there is no universal rule of thumb. Each region brings its own business culture and has its own expectations.
Understanding those differences is essential to building lasting partnerships. Ignore this, and you risk missing the full potential of high-growth markets. Latin America exemplifies this particularly strongly.
The region is expanding rapidly and offers significant opportunities with its own distinct dynamics and pace of development.
Different regions require different approaches, and success depends on adopting a much more hands-on and adaptable approach that reflects local market conditions.
Relationships and trust form the foundation of business, and partners value time, presence and consistency.
Account management is not just about supporting day-to-day operations; there is a heavy focus on guiding partners through regulatory change while tailoring solutions that reflect both cultural preferences and player behaviour.
Cultural nuance therefore plays a key role in building strong partnerships. Speaking the same language and recognising local customs helps create genuine connections.
These small but important touchpoints turn business conversations into personal relationships, which in turn build trust and make collaboration much easier, ensuring strategies are more relevant and effective.
After all, a business is built by people, and if you were choosing a partner, would you not favour one who has taken the time to understand your culture and values?
Flexibility and empathy are equally important. While priorities may vary by market, balancing efficiency with strong communication and collaboration is key everywhere.
In Latin America, dialogue and relationship-building play an especially important role. Operators and partners want to know their challenges are understood and that the solutions offered reflect their business needs and are tailored to the local market.
That means technical expertise is not enough. True success comes from being culturally aware and having the willingness to adapt global models to fit local needs, rather than forcing local markets to adapt to global models.
Having a presence on the ground also makes a tangible difference. Local teams and studios provide direct insight into shifting trends, regulations and player preferences.
The proximity allows companies to respond quickly, whether by launching content that resonates with global audiences, tailoring campaigns to local celebrations, or helping partners navigate evolving compliance requirements.
Combining global scale with a local presence enables support that feels both relevant and reliable.
What we see in Latin America is that customer service is never a one-size-fits-all exercise. It is shaped by people just as much as by products.
By listening to local perspectives, investing in relationships and embracing cultural nuance, customer service becomes more than problem-solving and becomes a driver of long-term growth.
That is the difference between being just another supplier and a true partner.
The region rewards those who take the time to listen, adapt and connect, and as Latin America continues to grow and mature, cultural understanding will remain a defining factor in the most successful collaborations.
The post Cultural nuance: Localising customer service for Latin America appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
As legacy sportsbooks struggle with ‘search and click’ fatigue, Josh Swerdlow, Founder and CEO of ChatBet, says the next industry titan will win by owning the conversational intent layer where billions of users already live.
Why is the current sportsbook UX struggling to keep up with modern tech?
It comes down to legacy debt. Current sportsbook apps are just digital spreadsheets – grids from the 1990s that have been optimised for desktop and not mobile-first intuition. With the majority of sportsbooks, users are forced through deep menus and endless scrolling, creating a “hurdle race” for every transaction. This leads to cognitive overload – while hardcore bettors might tolerate the clutter, casual punters encounter analysis paralysis and this usually leads to betslip abandonment. As user behaviour shifts from “search and click” to “intent and fulfilment”, and against a backdrop of spiraling acquisition costs and high levels of churn, this is really putting the squeeze on operator profitability and ultimately long-term sustainability.
What do you mean when you say we are moving from “search and click” to “intent and fulfilment” and what does this mean for online sportsbooks?
In a “search and click” world, the user does the heavy lifting – navigating deep menus and grids just to find a single market. “Intent and fulfillment” flips that script. It’s the shift from a user searching for a bet to simply commanding it. If a consumer can book a five-star hotel in Rome by sending a single text, they naturally expect to back their favorite team with the same level of ease. For the operator, this means the sportsbook evolves into a high-powered back-end utility – the engine – while the messaging interface becomes the front-of-mind “steering wheel”. By moving away from the friction of standalone apps and capturing intent directly within WhatsApp or Telegram, operators stop being a destination the user has to find and start being a conversation the user is already having.
How does conversational betting actually chance user behaviour and crush the conversion funnel?
Traditional betting can take between 10 to 12 steps and up to 60 seconds – a solution like ChatBet reduces that to a single text or voice note and ten seconds or less. It also shifts the player from architect to director – instead of manually building complex parlays by scrolling through 50+ toggles, the user simply asks the AI to “Build a safe 3-leg parlay for the United game” and then confirms the wager. The result? Data from a ChatBet pilot shows an 82% drop in time-to-bet and a 28% increase in conversion rates.
From an operator’s perspective, is this a rip and replace of the current technology or is it much easier to implement than that?
Conversational betting solutions such as ChatBet are an orchestration layer, not a replacement. Our solution literally plugs into existing APIs. This also helps from a regulatory and compliance perspective, with core functions such as KYC, wallet management and responsible gambling triggers remaining securely within the operator’s existing stack. This allows for overnight modernisation – operators can update their UX for the “TikTok generation” without the multi-year cost of rebuilding their entire core tech.
Why is intent data now considered the ultimate competitive moat?
It’s about context over clicks. Traditional trackers show where the user clicked but conversational data reveals exactly what they want in their own words. Then there’s the network effect – every interaction trains the AI on local slang, fan sentiment and individual patterns and preferences. This provides operators with an insurmountable defence. A competitor can copy your odds, but they cannot easily clone a refined, high-context relationship with millions of users.
Why is this a billion-dollar venture-scale opportunity right now?
Viral distribution. Conversation betting piggybacks on billions of WhatsApp and Telegram users to allow operators to solve the skyrocketing customer acquisition cost crisis they face. There’s also the retention advantage, with messaging-native users showing a 35% higher day-30 retention rate because the interface is “always on”. What’s more, chat-based betting allows for “nudge” technology and lower-friction, smaller-stake engagement, which aligns with 2026 global regulatory shifts toward safer play.
Predictions markets are throwing the sports betting industry into chaos. How does conversational betting help traditional operators get in on the action?
Prediction markets are exploding because they tap into the “stock market of everything” but for traditional operators, these markets are often too complex to display in a standard grid and too intimidating for the average punter to navigate. Conversational betting bridges this gap by acting as a natural language translator for complex binary contracts. Instead of forcing a user to decipher order books or probability curves, a chat interface allows them to simply trade on their opinions, like the weather or political shifts, as easily as sending a text. Because chat has “unlimited shelf space”, operators can offer an infinite array of niche markets without clogging their app’s UI. Ultimately, it turns prediction markets from a niche financial product into a social, real-time experience, capturing “hot takes” in WhatsApp or Telegram and instantly converting them into priced, compliant transactions.
If this shift is as inevitable as you say, what is the one thing legacy operators need to do right now to avoid becoming the ‘Blockbuster’ of the betting industry?
They need to stop thinking about their “app” and start thinking about their “API”. The battle for the customer has moved off the home screen and into the chat thread. Right now, the opportunity is to be the first mover in the conversational space – to own the “intent layer” before it becomes the industry standard. The winners of 2026 won’t be the ones with the loudest marketing, but the ones who make placing a bet as easy as telling a friend who you think will win.
The post Betting at the Speed of Chat appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Backed by Grupo Silvio Santos, founded by Silvio Santos, the company aims to position itself as a platform that goes beyond traditional betting.
In an interview during BiS SiGMA South America, Fernando Justos Fischer, CEO of TQJ, detailed the company’s strategic pillars, the sector’s challenges and its long-term vision for the Brazilian market.
According to Fischer, the current moment is one of consolidation in the regulated market.
The expectation is that the sector will move toward more mature discussions, focusing on compliance, sustainability and user protection.
In this context, the event is seen as a strategic space for alignment between operators, regulators and partners, driving more structured growth.
TQJ’s strategy is based on three main pillars: strengthening brand and distribution by leveraging the group’s assets; a data-driven operation focused on efficient acquisition and sustainable retention; and responsible gaming as a core principle of the business.
All of this, according to the executive, is supported by technology and intelligence applied to the user experience.
The backing of Grupo Silvio Santos is highlighted as a key competitive advantage.
For Fischer, the combination of credibility, scale and expertise in entertainment allows TQJ to position itself as an accessible, trustworthy brand with a strong connection to the Brazilian audience.
The goal is to lead the market in trust and responsibility.
In a highly competitive environment, the company is focusing on integrating proprietary distribution, gamified experiences and the intensive use of data and artificial intelligence for personalization.
Fischer notes that competitive advantage will increasingly lie in retention, supported by advanced CRM, engagement mechanics and solid responsible gaming practices.
During the event, this positioning was also demonstrated in practice.
Bet do Milhão came to life in a live game show format, directly connecting entertainment and betting. The activation generated engagement and reinforced the company’s value proposition.
Among the main challenges in the Brazilian market, Fischer highlights the need to build a sustainable environment amid intense competition, as well as the importance of educating consumers and combating illegal operators.
He states that operators with discipline, governance and a long-term vision will have a competitive advantage.
In terms of responsible gaming, TQJ already implements tools such as deposit limits, self-exclusion, behavioral monitoring and active communication with users.
The company adopts a preventive and continuous approach that goes beyond regulatory compliance.
This monitoring is carried out through real-time behavioral analysis, enabling the identification of risk patterns and allowing for fast and precise interventions.
Fischer emphasizes that the company aims to go beyond regulatory requirements, viewing responsible gaming as both a competitive differentiator and an institutional commitment.
Artificial intelligence plays a central role in the operation. In marketing, it is used for campaign optimization, prediction and content generation.
In product, it supports the continuous evolution of the user experience. In security, it strengthens analysis and protection systems.
Additionally, AI enables deeper integration between entertainment and betting, creating more interactive and personalized experiences.
Features such as real-time personalization and gamified mechanics are already part of the company’s roadmap.
Even so, Fischer stresses that there is a clear limit when it comes to personalization: user protection. All strategies must operate within responsible parameters, without encouraging risky behavior.
In summary, the CEO defines TQJ’s role in this new phase of the market as a platform capable of connecting entertainment and betting in Brazil with responsibility, technology and trust.
The post TQJ bets on entertainment and responsible gaming in Brazil’s regulated market appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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