Stefanos Karakidis, Head of Business Development, BETBY.

In recent years, sportsbooks have come to realise that sustainable growth isn’t just about entering new markets. While expansion can increase the number of players, revenue, and GGR, it often misses the bigger picture. In fact, what guarantees long-lasting success is making every user interaction feel locally native, contextually relevant, and personally tuned.

In order to achieve that, operators need to curate experiences for diverse audiences whose expectations vary based on geography, digital habits, and cultural background. But it isn’t about drawing lines around borders, it’s about creating identity-driven ecosystems. Each audience has its own motivations, UX preferences, and content demands, which means success depends on designing solutions that cater not just broadly, but with surgical precision to how they think, how they bet, and how they live.

Delivering on this challenge requires more than a flexible technological product, it demands a sportsbook framework that can adapt dynamically through localisation of content, customisation of product, and personalisation at the user level. The industry’s most adaptive operators are doing exactly that with their platforms, and suppliers such as BETBY provide the sportsbook tech architecture enabling them to do it at scale.

Localisation: Content Meets Cultural Fluency

Localisation is often misunderstood as simple translation, but operators serious about succeeding in regional markets know it involves much more than that. It requires a fundamental rethink of how content is structured, how users interact with it, and what value propositions are offered.

Let’s start with device preferences. In markets like Latin America, where most users bet via mobile, UX and UI must be mobile-first. That means more than just a shiny interface, it demands low latency and seamless performance, especially in the betslip. Without this, users will look elsewhere.

The same applies to the betting opportunities offered. A one-size-fits-all approach is outdated and potentially off-putting since what resonates in Spain might not work in Argentina, despite the shared language. Offering local sports and leagues boosts retention and loyalty, but that requires deep local insight.

Take BETBY’s experience with vaquejada, a rodeo-style competition popular in northeast Brazil. At a partner’s request, BETBY created markets for the sport, which proved so successful it led to the development of a dedicated e-sim version — a first in the industry. Its popularity confirmed that a hyper-localized approach was the right one, just like in another similar case. We created the PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) league within NBA2K for one of our Asian partners, developed entirely from scratch to cater to local fan demand, showcasing how BETBY builds tailored solutions that drive engagement.

But not every sportsbook can do this. Many lack the internal trading expertise and depend heavily on third-party feeds, leaving them with their hands tied. Without the ability to quickly build niche, underexplored markets, localisation becomes just a buzzword and bettors will drift to platforms that truly cater to their preferences.

Customisation: Turning Strategy into Product

Once localisation sets the cultural foundation, customisation becomes the key factor for differentiation. This is where sportsbooks can shape the betting experience around their brand identity and user behaviour not just by market, but by audience segment.

All operators have different needs depending on the regions they serve, and the solution is building a product that fits. One good example of this approach is BETBY Games, BETBY’s proprietary esports feed built with full customisation in mind. It’s not just an e-sim content catalogue, it’s a solution that allows operators to reshape the entire experience to suit their audiences: set the frequency of matches to match user engagement windows, adjust margin settings based on business strategy, and customise banners, players, and league structures to create narratives that resonate with local preferences.

When treated as a strategic asset, customisation has a measurable impact on performance, as it increases time-on-site, bet frequency, and user engagement. It’s about more than just aesthetics, as it enables operators to craft personal sportsbook experiences that are relevant. For instance, operators can feature e-sim World Cup matches during the actual FIFA World Cup, or e-sim Wimbledon during the live tournament, keeping users engaged even when no real matches are taking place. This integration of virtual content ensures continuous excitement and activity, regardless of the live sports schedule.

At the same time, users now expect the possibility to customise their own betting experiences. Betting options were once limited, but today’s players have access to hundreds of sports and markets and they want to have the freedom to build their own narratives and strategies.

BETBY’s Bet Builder is a prime example of this. It puts that freedom in the user’s hands, letting them combine and customise bets not only from different matches but even from different sports. On top of that, it covers 100% of football matches, giving users a vast array of betting options tailored to their preferences, whether that’s top-tier fixtures or lower-profile leagues like Uganda’s second division.

According to our experience, the usage of this feature — which is also available on four major esports titles, something unique — grew in a remarkable way from 2023 to 2024. We saw a 481% increase in traditional sports bets placed through Bet Builder and a 485% rise in esports bets, highlighting its growing relevance among users. With extensive market coverage, the ability to combine traditional and statistical markets, and unmatched flexibility, Bet Builder transforms betting into a creative experience entirely shaped by the user.

Personalisation: Data Transforms the Experience

Last but not least, there’s personalisation, one of the most overused and under-delivered terms in the industry. Most platforms reduce it to basic suggestions or generic “recommended for you” sections, but true personalisation demands deep behavioural insight, real-time feedback, and responsive systems.

The most advanced sportsbooks are now leveraging AI-driven recommender systems that go beyond bet history, they consider time of day, device type, session behaviour, and other metrics. A user who bets on MMA late Saturday nights should not see the same homepage as someone focused on weekday tennis matches. Why? Because personalisation isn’t just about content, it’s about context.

BETBY’s comprehensive suite of AI tools, AI Labs, is building this intelligence directly into the sportsbook experience. From dynamic content to predictive recommendations, every interaction becomes smarter and more user-centric.

And it’s working. BETBY has seen a 10% average growth in bets placed via personalised top sections, with countries like Japan and Germany seeing increases of 62% and 40%, respectively. This shows that when personalisation is done right, it drives real engagement, sometimes even reminding users of sports or markets they hadn’t considered.

Another strong use case is BETBY’s Betting Tips API, which gives users tailored insights, news, and key data to encourage more confident bets. Notably, BETBY is the first in the industry offering betting tips for esports, an innovation that reinforces our commitment to staying ahead of the curve. By integrating this feature into the sportsbook experience, players stay informed about their favourite sports and esports without leaving the platform, leading to higher conversion, longer sessions, and greater loyalty. Around 10% of users are already actively engaging with the feature, proving its value.

Synergy is the Real Differentiator

Even though they all have impact on their own, the real power of localisation, customisation, and personalisation lies in their synergy. When local content is effectively customised and then personalised for individual users, the impact is far greater than any one approach alone.

To achieve this, operators need to build flexible, adaptive ecosystems instead of rigid, static platforms. As competition rises and acquisition costs climb, precision becomes the only sustainable strategy.

Operators who treat these three pillars as core, interconnected tools and not as optional features are building sportsbooks that connect more deeply, perform more consistently, and scale more intelligently.

The vision is already here. What matters now is the technology, execution and the willingness to design for difference. Ultimately, success won’t belong to those who expand fastest, but to those who localise smartest.