With most of North America operating under fragmented or provincial regulatory frameworks, do you expect the World Cup to accelerate regulatory change or standardisation across the continent?
Regulators move to their own rhythm, and a six-week tournament isn’t going to reshape frameworks that have taken years to negotiate.
What the tournament will do, however, is create the evidence base.
Regulators across all three countries will watch how the industry handles this moment, especially in terms of responsible gambling measures and player protection.
Handle it well and you build the case for expansion and standardisation further down the line. Handle it badly, however, and you hand ammunition to every legislator who already has reservations.
Football (soccer) has always struggled to break into the American market in the way it has in Europe, with bettors often more focused on domestic sports. What do operators need to do to ensure continued interest in the sport after the tournament has finished?
The Final is in mid-July. MLS is mid-season, European leagues are in pre-season, and the NFL is weeks away. That window is where the football habit either forms or dies.
Operators need to plan for it now, not in June. That means a calendar of football content that fills the gap – MLS, Liga MX, Leagues Cup, plus continuous products like eFootball that keep football betting active on quieter days.
It also means using the data gathered during the tournament to personalise what gets served afterwards. If someone is betting on every Mexico match, you know something important about them, and you should be speaking to them in Liga MX terms the following week.
Betting features and products have developed significantly since the 2022 World Cup. Looking at the emergence of AI, personalisation, micro-betting and other tech/trends, what do you think will have the biggest impact on bettors this summer?
Micro-betting, by a wide margin. The fundamental shift in how younger bettors engage with content is a shift towards shorter cycles and faster feedback loops. They’re not patient with 90-minute outcome bets in the way the previous generation was. Our data from the 2024 Euros shows this clearly – the ‘Next Goal’ market on eFootball grew its share by more than 20% during the tournament.
AI and personalisation matter too, but they work best in service of that faster tempo rather than as standalone features. The winning combination is a sportsbook that understands what the individual bettor wants in the moment, serves it instantly, and settles it fast. Operators who get this right will have a product their audience still wants to use in August – and well beyond.
The roundtable was originally published at Gaming Americas.
