Sportsbook Localisation – the BETBY Way

BETBY operates across a wide range of international markets. What does genuine localisation mean for a sportsbook supplier today, beyond language, currency and the basic requirements of regulation?

I think the easiest way to explain it is with a practical example. Before the betting ban in Brazil, we developed industry-first esports titles for vaquejada and footvolley, two sports that have a strong cultural relevance there. We’ve also created betting markets for competitions like X1 Futebol and Kings League Brazil, which may not attract the same level of interest in Europe, but are a crucial part of the local sports landscape in Brazil.

That’s localisation from a product perspective, but for us, it goes much further than that.

We also localise the way we work with operators. That means having local commercial, integration and account management teams who speak the same language, understand the market and work closely with our partners, from the first conversations through to day-to-day operations. In some cases, we’ve even had our specialists working directly from operators’ offices during major sporting events.

I believe that being close to the market makes a real difference. Rather than delivering technology and support from another continent, you’re working hand-in-hand with the operator, gaining first-hand insight into their challenges and uncovering opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed.

What differences have you identified between Brazil, Peru and Mexico in terms of sporting interests, betting preferences and the way players engage with a sportsbook? How are those differences reflected in BETBY’s offering?

One of the most interesting things we’ve learned is that sometimes the differences within a
country are bigger than those between countries.

Take Fortaleza and Criciúma in Brazil, for example. They’re almost 4000 km apart, but the biggest difference isn’t geographical. Ceará, where Fortaleza is located, has one of the country’s highest poverty rates, while Santa Catarina, where Criciúma is located, is among its wealthier states. That affects purchasing power and the way people actually bet. In more affluent areas, features like Bet Builder and player props, along with higher betting limits, may be more relevant. In lower-income regions, smaller stakes, simpler markets and boosted odds campaigns can make more sense.

Peru brings a different challenge. Bettors know football extremely well and expect deep market coverage, but many access sportsbooks through mid-range mobile devices or unstable connections. So you need to deliver a sophisticated betting experience without making it complicated or slow.

Mexico, meanwhile, has a stronger influence from American sports, with the NFL, NBA and MLB attracting interest alongside Liga MX. That alone changes how you prioritise content and structure the sportsbook.

That’s why we don’t believe in a single sportsbook configuration for Latin America. Even within the same country, what works for one audience might not work for another.

How does BETBY combine player data with the knowledge of local operators and partners when deciding how a sportsbook should be configured for a particular jurisdiction? Are there aspects of a market that data alone cannot adequately explain?

Of course. Data can tell you that a particular competition is attracting more bets than expected, but it won’t necessarily explain why.

Maybe there’s a local rivalry, a player who’s become particularly popular, or something happening around a club that has captured people’s attention. These are things local operators often understand immediately because they’re close to their audiences.

That’s why we don’t just look at dashboards and make decisions from there. We talk to our partners constantly, understand what they’re seeing and then use the data to validate those insights.

It’s a two-way relationship. Sometimes the numbers reveal something the operator hadn’t noticed, and sometimes the operator tells us something that makes the numbers suddenly make sense.

Poland provides an interesting contrast with BETBY’s activities in Latin America. What has your experience of the Polish market demonstrated about how differently localisation needs to be approached from one region – and one regulated jurisdiction – to another?

Poland is a really interesting case because it’s been regulated for more than a decade, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the sportsbook technology and user experience are as advanced as they could be.
That’s actually one of the things that attracted us to the market. We saw an opportunity to bring something different, particularly when it comes to technology, UX and product flexibility. And the fact that established operators like Lebull and Betters have chosen to work with us is a very encouraging sign.

The discussions are also quite different from what we’ve experienced in Latin America. In Poland, we’re often talking to operators who already have established businesses and know their audiences very well. They’re not necessarily looking to reinvent everything, but they do want to modernise their offering and become more competitive.

So, for us, localisation in Poland means understanding what those operators already have, identifying where we can add value and adapting accordingly. It’s a different starting point, but the principle is the same: understanding what the market actually needs rather than assuming the same approach will work everywhere.

Which aspects of localisation can now be automated or managed dynamically through technology and real-time data, and where does genuine human knowledge of a market remain essential?

Personalisation is probably the biggest change. Through BETBY’s AI Labs, our suite of AI-powered tools, we can adapt what players see based on their actual betting behaviour almost in real-time. After only one or two betting sessions, our system is able to tell why two people in the same city, supporting the same football team, have completely different preferences. One enjoys pre-match accumulators, the other only bets live. Why should they see the same sportsbook homepage? But there are things technology won’t tell you.

For example, AI might identify growing interest in a particular regional competition, but understanding its cultural significance, why people care about it and whether it’s worth developing dedicated content around it often comes from our local teams and operators. For me, that’s where it works best. Technology helps us react to individual behaviour at scale, while people help us understand the market behind that behaviour.

As BETBY expands across multiple regulated jurisdictions, how do you balance the demand for increasingly tailored products with the need to maintain a scalable underlying sportsbook platform?

The advantage of having our own technology and trading team is that we don’t need to rebuild the sportsbook every time an operator asks for something specific. If a partner wants markets for a local competition or wants to explore a particular type of prediction market, we can assess that request in-house and develop the appropriate offering without the need of third-party providers.

We’ve already done this with exclusive betting markets, localised esports titles and on-demand prediction markets for countries like Argentina and Mexico. I think that’s what operators appreciate. They get the infrastructure and reliability of a global supplier, but they’re not limited to the same standard product everyone else is offering. And, of course, all of this without affecting the platform’s performance.

Is localisation best understood as part of the market-entry process, or is it something that needs to evolve continuously after launch as BETBY gathers player data, operator feedback and evidence of changing behaviour?

Some of the most important things we’ve learned about localisation have actually happened after launch.
I’ll give you an example from our experience in Brazil. At one point, an operator informed us that the wording used in our Portuguese Betting Tips wasn’t compliant with local requirements. We were using direct suggestions, such as betting on a particular team to win, which created an issue under the applicable rules.

We managed to adapt the content in a very short period, addressing the compliance issue so the operator could continue offering the feature at the time.

It’s a relatively small example, but I think it explains the point well. You can prepare extensively before entering a market, but there will always be things you discover once you’re operating there.
That’s why we put so much emphasis on operator feedback and having people who understand the local reality. Localisation isn’t something you finish during integration. In many ways, that’s when the real work starts.