The Event Mode Effect – reading the World Cup user
The FIFA World Cup brings together very different types of users: experienced bettors, casual fans, and first-time players, often interacting with the same platform at the same time. Danil Emelyanov, Head of AI Labs at BETBY raises an important question for operators: should segmentation change during major tournaments, or remain consistent?
Core Player Profiles
Player segmentation exists to provide continuity, based on the idea that, over time, users develop behavioural patterns – risk tolerance, preferred markets, betting frequency – and these do not disappear just because a tournament starts.
This means a player who typically prefers low-risk bets does not suddenly become aggressive during the World Cup, while a live-betting user will still tend to lean toward in-play markets, regardless of the competition. For this reason, BETBY’s segmentation models maintain persistent core profiles, built on long-term behavioural data such as:
- Risk profile (stake sizing and odds distribution)
- Market preference (pre-match vs live and market categories)
- Betting rhythm (frequency and session cadence)
These profiles remain stable across all events, creating consistency, which is important to preserve trust: even during the biggest tournaments, whether it’s the World Cup or the Olympics, the platform continues to behave in a way that feels familiar to the user.
In comparison, basic AI systems often struggle here by overreacting to short-term spikes or small pattern deviations, “reclassifying” users too quickly and creating inconsistent UX.
Event-Specific Signals
However, while core profiles should remain stable, the World Cup also requires looking at short-term behavioural signals that cannot be ignored. Why? Because during the tournament, users may adopt specific patterns such as focusing almost exclusively on World Cup matches, increasing live betting activity, reacting more strongly to odds movement, or even showing bias toward their national teams.
To monitor this, BETBY’s AI-powered system introduces a temporary layer on top of the base segmentation, using event-driven behavioural features like:
- World Cup engagement (WC vs non-WC activity)
- Live-bet bias during tournament matches
- Volatility tolerance under high-profile conditions
- National-team affinity strength
- Responsiveness to fast-changing odds
These signals are then carefully analysed in parallel with the core profile, giving operators a clearer view on how each user behaves during the World Cup. This combination of persistent profiles and temporary signals creates what we refer to as an event mode.
In practical terms, it means users are understood as a mix of their core profile and how the World Cup is influencing their behaviour in that moment. This allows the system to understand not just who the user is in general, but how the tournament is influencing them right now.
For example, a typically cautious player may show increased engagement during his national team matches, without fundamentally changing their risk profile. Meanwhile, a live bettor may become even more reactive during high-volatility knockout games. At the same time, a casual user may temporarily behave like a high-frequency bettor during peak moments.
Instead of forcing a permanent segmentation change, BETBY’s AI treats this as a temporary layer of behaviour, whereas basic systems typically lack this separation, either ignoring short-term behaviour or reacting too strongly to it, which ends up leading to inconsistent UX.
How This Translates Into UX Decisions
This layered approach directly affects how the platform behaves during the World Cup. How? Some of the key UX adaptations include:
- Content prioritisation: Heavy World Cup users see tournament markets more often, while others retain a balanced view
- Market exposure: High-volatility players see more live markets, while conservative users are guided toward pre-match options
- User flow: Active users experience faster, lower-friction journeys, while hesitant users see more context, tips and support
- UX consistency: Despite these adjustments, the overall experience remains in line with the bettor’s long-term profile
Take this example. A user who becomes highly active during a knockout match may see faster access to live markets, but will not suddenly be pushed into higher-risk betting options if their core behaviour is conservative.
This balance is key because overreacting to short-term behaviour can feel intrusive for most users, but ignoring it can make the platform feel disconnected from the moment. The sweet spot sits somewhere in the middle.
In high-engagement markets, like Brazil, the need for this dual approach is even clearer. Most Brazilian users are sophisticated and experienced, explaining why they are especially responsive to platform behaviour, quick to detect repetitive or static UX, and sensitive to timing and relevance during major events.
This means that non-adaptive systems feel outdated for them, especially during the World Cup, when attention is limited and competition is one click away. Proper AI-driven segmentation addresses this by:
- Processing behavioural signals in near real time
- Handling volatility without overreacting
- Delivering small UX adjustments instead of abrupt changes
This results in a smoother experience, where users perceive the platform as responsive and feel that it understands their needs. Besides that, it also supports more responsible behaviour, particularly during emotionally intense moments like a losing streak, by keeping UX informative rather than overly promotional or aggressive.
Bringing the Series Together
Across this mini-series, we’ve looked at three layers of the same challenge related to the use of AI during the upcoming World Cup. First, how UX must respond to behaviour in real time. Then, how AI can detect disengagement before it becomes visible. And finally, how segmentation must evolve to reflect both who the user is and how a global event is influencing them in the moment.
During the World Cup, these layers must work together, forming a unified approach to AI-driven UX. Behaviour changes within minutes, and a user who was engaged in one session may return with a completely different intent in the next. Without a system that keeps updating what it knows about the user, those shifts are easy to miss.
To get this right, operators need to connect the signals, otherwise the platform will react in a fragmented way and adapt in one area while remaining static in another. Only when these elements are aligned, the experience remains coherent even as behaviour becomes less predictable. Users are not treated as new profiles every time their behaviour changes, but as the same individuals moving through different phases during the tournament.
This is particularly important in an environment like the World Cup, where attention is short and expectations are influenced by every interaction. The ability to adjust without overcorrecting, and to recognise change while keeping the experience consistent, is what ultimately defines whether users stay after the tournament ends.
