World Cup betting rush favours leading brands, says Betsson CCO
For sportsbook operators, the World Cup is often seen as a major opportunity to attract new customers and increase revenue, one that comes around only once every four years. Ronni Hartvig, Betsson Group’s chief commercial and chief marketing officer, offers a more guarded view: the tournament creates an enormous pool of potential customers, but the biggest rewards tend to go to brands that have already secured a place near the top of their market.
That, he argues, is the “podium position”: the point at which a betting company is sufficiently visible, familiar and trusted to become an instinctive choice for occasional punters.
“You want to be the market leader, but if you are not, you at least want to be number two or three,” Hartvig told SiGMA News. “That is when you have a strong brand, remain top of mind and become a natural choice for occasional bettors.”
Major international tournaments attract people who may rarely, if ever, bet during an ordinary domestic season. For them, the decision is often less about comparing odds across several platforms than choosing a name they already recognise.
“They do not spend time comparing their options,” Hartvig said. “They simply think: ‘I want to place a bet. Which brand do I know? I know Betsson. I have heard of them many times, or I know they sponsor Inter.’”
A bigger pool, but not an even playing field
The World Cup expands the betting audience because it gives football a broader national significance beyond the sport itself. Hartvig said the emotional pull of the tournament draws in dormant customers, low-frequency bettors and people who would not normally open a sportsbook account.
“The appeal is emotional,” he said. “The tournament brings countries together and, in the case of the World Cup, can unite people across regions and around the world.”
That emotional connection changes betting behaviour. Supporters are more likely to back their own country, sometimes with little regard for detached analysis. Hartvig pointed to Argentina as an example of a market where national confidence and betting activity moved together.
“There are many more passionate bettors during the World Cup,” he said. “People in Argentina who do not normally bet are not going to come in and place a bet on Brazil. I can guarantee you that.”
Yet the uplift is not automatic. A country’s qualification, a company’s existing share of sportsbook activity and the strength of its brand all shape the outcome. A casino-led operator cannot simply assume that a major football tournament will transform its sports betting business, Hartvig said.
“If 80% of your business is casino in a given market, it’s a little bit naive to expect that you can just see big growth in your sportsbook area,” he explained.
The same applies to operators that enter the tournament with limited recognition. World Cup advertising may increase visibility, but it is difficult to build a leading position in a matter of weeks.
“It takes a long time to get to a podium position,” Hartvig said. “That takes years of investment.”
For Betsson, the effect therefore differs sharply between markets. Where the group already has a strong brand, or where football forms a large part of its customer base, the tournament can generate substantial activity. Elsewhere, the impact may be modest, particularly if the national team has failed to qualify or local attention remains focused on club football.
Interestingly, the effects of the tournament are not confined to the sportsbook. “We see an uplift in casino as well in many countries,” Hartvig disclosed. Existing customers may move between the two products, using winnings from football bets in the casino or turning to casino games after an unsuccessful wager.
The final score is not the whole result
Bookmakers inevitably judge a tournament partly through revenue and margin. Unexpected results can favour operators, while a run of popular winners can put pressure on returns. Hartvig said the tournament began strongly for bookmakers before margins moved back towards more familiar levels during the knockout stages.
“The tournament began very well for bookmakers, with several unexpected results,” he said. “As it progressed, however, and particularly once it reached the knockout stage, margins returned to more normal levels.”
He said overall margins had been “absolutely okay”, but cautioned that the tournament’s success should not be judged on short-term trading results alone.
The larger commercial question is what happens to the customers acquired or reactivated during the tournament. Some will disappear until the next major international competition. Others may remain active when domestic leagues resume, provided the operator has given them a straightforward and reliable experience.
“If customers have a good experience, with easy deposits and withdrawals and a simple process for finding the bets they want, then you have a good opportunity to retain them,” Hartvig said.
That is where the World Cup’s longer-term value emerges. Operators can study customer cohorts after the tournament, assess how many remain active and use those patterns to forecast performance over the next six to 12 months.
“If you fail to attract new customers, provide them with a good service and reactivate dormant accounts during the World Cup, it will be much harder to drive growth over the following six to 12 months,” Hartvig said.
The timing is favourable. The gap between the end of a summer tournament and the return of club football is relatively short, allowing sportsbooks to move quickly from acquisition to retention. Hartvig described the opening weeks of the domestic season as another decisive period, when customers settle on the platforms they are likely to use.
“If customers have chosen another operator and are satisfied there, winning them over becomes an uphill task,” he said.
The World Cup, then, is less a self-contained sales event than a test of everything built before it and everything delivered afterwards. It rewards scale, but also familiarity, product quality and timing. The tournament may bring millions of supporters into the same emotional moment. In Hartvig’s view, however, the decisive advantage belongs to betting companies already standing on the podium when that moment arrives.
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