Every year is a big one for sports betting, but 2026 is set to be a standout with the return of the World Cup. Experts from Abelson Sports, Delasport and Sportradar offer their views on the trends that will shape the next 12 months
The beauty of sports is that there is always something new in the calendar for fans and bettors to look forward to. The plethora of fixtures, tournaments and events ensures there are new storylines being created and developed all the time. But while sports audiences have no problem in being regularly entertained unfold by the narratives that unfold, the sports betting sector faces more of a challenge in tapping into that excitement. Speaking to INTERGAMINGI, experts in the sector from Abelson Sports, Delasport and Sportradar outlined the trends they expect to come to the fore in 2026- and dove deep into the latest products and tools pushing the industry forward.
SECTOR SHIFT
For Delasport’s vice president of business development, Rosaire Cavallaro, 2026 will be the year when the sports betting sector “shifts decisively toward experience-first entertainment, not just transactional wagering.” The rise of “high-drama” betting formats will be key in 2026, he said. “Players increasingly expect the same immediacy and emotional intensity found in crash games and casino-driven mechanics like jackpots. The traditional sportsbook journey feels static by comparison. In 2026, fast, visual, high-tension formats will become central to retention.”
Personalisation and “always-on” engagement will be “non-negotiables,” Cavallaro added. “What was innovative in 2023 and 2024 is now baseline expectation,” he said. “Players want curated interfaces, personalised contextual combos, missions and real-time engagement loops that respond instantly to how they play.” Finally, Cavallaro believes the convergence of verticals and interoperable ecosystems will be crucial to look out for this year. “Sports, casino and esports are merging into unified entertainment flows with a single wallet, unified loyalty and consistent UX principles,” he said. “Operators will rely on suppliers who can deliver a seamless multi-vertical environment. These trends reflect a broader movement: sports betting is becoming a form of interactive entertainment, and companies like Delasport that deliver excitement, not just odds, will lead the next growth phase.”
PREDICTION MARKETS
Jeeve Jeyaratnam, chief betting officer at Abelson Sports, noted that the rise of prediction markets cannot be ignored by the sports betting sector. The regulatory rift between state-regulated sports betting and sports event contracts as part of wider prediction markets has grown significantly in recent months. The likes of Kalshi have faced legal action in some US states, but the company has pointed to its Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) accreditation at a federal level as proof it can operate legally. Meanwhile, some of the leading US sportsbook operators – DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics- have all entered the prediction markets space as they pre-empt the final verdict on the situation.
“Prediction markets have dominated US industry news over the past year,” Jeyaratnam said. “With no new state openings for legal sports betting, operators have turned to creative solutions – some might say creative lobbying – by collaborating with or acquiring prediction market platforms. While it may appear a passing trend, these markets represent a new financial instrument that gives operators access to millions of US citizens in states that have rejected legalised sports betting. Inside and outside the US, we can expect to see continued improvements in live market offerings driven by technology and data improvements. Operators with decades- old, monolithic betting platforms may find it increasingly hard to keep up with more modern technology approaches.”
GEN AI ON AGENDA
Over at Sportradar, Darren Small, senior vice president of Managed Trading Services, believes generative Al will have a lasting impact on player engagement, especially in a World Cup year. The company’s Bet Concierge, Virtual Stadium and Alpha Odds solutions are front and centre of its strategy as it looks to provide its sportsbook operator network with the tools to succeed. Indeed, Small said there is a “realistic expectation” that new tech trends and the variety of fresh and popular betting markets available will make casual bettors more likely to stick around than in the past. “Back in 2022, almost one in six of all bets was on the outright ‘winner’ market for the FIFA World Cup, many of these from patriotic fans backing their own team,” Small said. “This meant many fans were only superficially engaging with the betting experience through the simplest of all wagers.
“The more intuitive, conversational pathways offered by GenAl tools should help with conversion by removing the complexity for fans who are unfamiliar with the navigation of traditional betting websites. The new GenAl paradigm also offers hyper-personalised insights that almost instantly identify the future appetite and preferences of new customers. With this, the opportunity now arises to offer fans attractive alternative content beyond the sportsbook, such as casino or crash games. This is one of the most effective ways of generating repeat custom from casual bettors who might otherwise switch off when their team has finished playing. It is why Sportradar embeds a casino cross-sell tool within operators’ sites, delivering real-time feedback on customer activity.”
KEY PARTNERSHIPS
As well as tapping into the latest sports betting trends, companies in the sector will also look to continue expanding their reach in key markets throughout 2026. In 2025, Ontario, Canada was pivotal for Delasport following deals with Titanplay and Maverick Games involving the company’s technology stack. In Brazil, Delasport’s igaming platform received accreditation in March ahead of a partnership with A247.
“These partnerships underscore Delasport’s strategy of entering high-potential, highly regulated markets with strong local partners,” Cavallaro said. “Ontario is one of the world’s most demanding regulatory environments. Our success there demonstrates compliance-by- design capabilities, operational transparency, trustworthy data handling and modern responsible gaming frameworks.” Delasport also expanded across Latin America with Vibra Solutions, which Cavallaro said brought “localised payment ecosystems, football-first user experiences and engagement tools suited to regional preferences” to the region. “These collaborations accelerated our presence in one of the fastest-growing markets globally and reinforced our role as a provider ready for large-scale operations,” he added.
The focus for partnerships at Abelson Sports is on the company’s third-party partners solution, which provides aggregated products from a range of sports betting suppliers. “With congested operator roadmaps, the provision of aggregated distribution options increases in value and importance, especially for smaller suppliers offering niche or alternative sports who have little chance of roadmap prioritisation,” Jeyaratnam said. “This is even more true in a World Cup year. Unless a supplier can prove it will move the revenue dial significantly, which many simply can’t, they won’t get integrated.”
Abelson currently has six partners in its third- party solution and is open to adding more to its network in 2026. “We’ve already seen others in the space looking to build on similar ideas and that supports our notion that there is great merit in the project,” Jeyaratnam said. “We have two of our tier-one clients taking additional products from our third-party partners already and we are confident that can grow considerably in 2026. Aggregation is such a valued distribution method that Abelson Sports has integrated its full Football Player Markets solution into Kero Gaming’s micro-market platform, giving Kero customers access to both Abelson’s standard player props and Kero’s micro-markets.”
REWRITING THE NARRATIVE
Sportradar’s focus in another busy year for sports events is on helping bettors shape their own narratives.
“In addition to bet builders, there is the wealth of potential player markets to consider,” Small said. “With social media taking fans beyond the teams they follow and bringing them closer to individual players, there has been a broad uptake in these markets, which offer more of a narrative feel than standard match betting.” He added that fans can now “zero in” on individual players’ strengths, allowing sportsbooks to increase storytelling and engagement opportunities.
“This will drive convergence across the sports, media and betting sectors – another developing industry trend. GenAl tools will be of particular value in a multidisciplinary, simultaneous-action event like the Winter Olympics as they will assist fans in surfacing the bets they want without having to search through multiple pages on a betting site. Al is also helping fans to connect with their peers, share bets and hold conversations around the action through Sportradar’s Virtual Stadium. This new solution amplifies the social betting experience and makes it more personal.”
WORLD CUP OPPORTUNITIES
Much of the focus for sports betting suppliers and operators this year is unsurprisingly on football’s World Cup. Abelson Sports’ chief betting officer Jeeve Jeyaratnam believes the introduction of a three-minute hydration break in each half of each match will offer the betting sector further opportunities for player engagement.
“This is enough time to run a commercial break and is much akin to the four quarters format of other US sports,” Jeyaratnam said. “The enforcement comes despite the fact that there are a number of air-conditioned stadiums hosting matches. The impact could be a positive for operators who will see this as an additional six minutes of captive audience time per match. No doubt many of the more capable operators will be planning how best to take advantage of two handy breaks in play. Will we see new markets representing each of the four quarters of play?”
Jeyaratnam added that the Winter Olympics in Italy in February will provide some alternative sport interest, despite the event traditionally being small as far as betting revenue is concerned. Alt Sports Data, which works with Abelson Sports, “has plenty of options” for operators looking to take advantage, he said. Jeyaratnam’s final prediction for the sports betting sector is for Al and predictive analytics to continue their acceleration, extending beyond betting markets and “reshaping the very fabric of sports themselves.”
SOLVING PROBLEMS
While the World Cup and other sporting highlights will provide exciting opportunities to push the sports betting sector forward, we can expect to see these opportunities matched by fresh challenges. Delasport’s Cavallaro believes tighter advertising and promotional restrictions, rising expectations around responsible design and increased taxes are at the top of the agenda. “As Europe imposes time-based bans, sponsorship limits and opt-in consent requirements and LatAm begins similar discussions-operators must rely on product strength, not marketing volume,” he said.
“Meanwhile, UX must now visibly support transparency, pacing, withdrawal clarity and safer play. Operators need partners whose platforms are built with these principles embedded, not bolted on.” Amid tax hikes across several global markets, Cavallaro said the “significant rises in the tax burden directly impact profitability, making additional revenue streams like sportsbooks a critical need.” Finally, the demand for new experiences is something Cavallaro is looking out for. “Traditional sportsbooks risk stagnation. Without emotionally engaging content such as jackpots, missions and crash-style formats, operators will struggle to retain players,” he said. “Delasport’s innovation pipeline directly addresses these challenges: our Engagement Suite replaces heavy bonus dependency; our personalisation tools increase retention even with limited marketing; SuperPot and Betiator offer new emotional experiences that stand out in restricted markets; and compliance-by-design technology ensures operators always meet regulatory expectations. 2026 will reward operators who focus on experience, compliance and differentiation – and these are precisely the areas Delasport leads in.”
For Jeyaratnam, the biggest threat to operators and suppliers is “over-restrictive, ill-conceived” regulatory measures. “The UK is a fine example of a territory that is now under huge pressure to make ends meet,” he said. “Smaller and medium-sized regulated operators may be forced out of the UK market, and this not only limits competition but also offers opportunity for black-market operators, for whom customer protection is far from the fore of their thoughts.”
Jeyaratnam also has concerns that tax increases will affect efforts to improve integrity in sports betting. “The growing use of Al to uncover deep trends is a huge help for identifying malicious intent,” he said. “However, the trend for increased taxation within Europe and the Americas does little to stymie the black market, where bad actors and match-fixing are far more likely to find fertile ground. A number of high-profile integrity cases in the US has put sports under the spotlight, but the fact that these nefarious athletes are so easily identified is proof of a robust anti-corruption framework. Quite how prediction markets, governed by CFTC laws, deal with sports integrity issues is a fascinating thought.”
RISK MANAGEMENT
Sportradar’s Small pointed to risk management as a key hurdle for sportsbook operators to cross in 2026. “Through Al, the personal touch also infuses one more developing trend for the betting industry: real-time risk management,” he said. “Innovations like Sportradar’s Alpha Odds provide operators with bespoke odds pricing that offsets their own financial exposure while the action is underway. The corollary to this is that at the same time, individual bettors are offered enhanced odds for markets that carry less risk for the bookmaker, driving volumes while reducing the volatility of unwelcome losses. Introduced ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and expanded since, Alpha Odds not only works for soccer events but also for tennis, basketball, cricket, ice hockey, baseball, table tennis and esoccer.”
SPORTSBOOK EVOLUTION
Cavallaro believes that as the modern sportsbook continues to evolve, operators are moving away from traditional odds booster books and toward more immersive ecosystems. He said that in 2026, players will demand a UX that supports “responsible pacing, high engagement, fast discovery and personalised content,” adding: “Static and one-size-fits- all homepages and cluttered navigation no longer work.” He believes missions, boosts, jackpots, mini-games and personalised offers will rise in prominence, triggered in real time based on player behaviour. “Seamless transitions” between casino, sportsbook, esports and engagement features will be key, Cavallaro added, alongside regulatory resilience, “with advertising restrictions tightening, operators need platforms where the product itself drives acquisition and retention.”
SPORTS BETTING TOOLS
In terms of the different sports betting products on offer in today’s market, INTERGAMINGI’S focus for our Issue 1 deep dive is on bet builders data feeds and odds.
“Our feeds cater to different levels of sportsbook sophistication and approach, including in every message, player metric expectancies, player metric share percentage, marginated odds and raw prices,” Abelson’s Jeyaratnam said. “Ideal for inputs into internal or third-party bet builders, we have a football player props solution suitable for all and especially geared towards bet builders. The trend and importance of bet builder multiples to a sportsbook is set to continue, and Abelson is adding more and more depth to its live markets, helping expand the options for operators.”
For Delasport’s Cavallaro, while bet builders remain crucial, he insisted their role is shifting. “Today, bettors expect speed, relevance and ease not complexity,” he said.
“Instead of overwhelming players with dozens of categories, Delasport uses personalisation frameworks like My Combo and Suggested Bet Builders to present instantly relevant suggested combinations that match each bettor’s style. Delasport’s work on odds and market creation supports the shift from static betting to dynamic, interactive experiences. Features like IfBet, event builders, combo boosters and Betiator all rely on structured and flexible market architecture. In short, our approach moves operators away from ‘every market possible’ toward the right markets presented in the most engaging way – a direction the entire industry is now taking.”
BIG YEAR AHEAD
“The operators who are best placed to harness these organic revenue drivers will be those who deploy new developments like generative artificial intelligence tools, giving fans more choice and more control over their betting experience,” Sportradar’s Small concluded. “All in all, it points to 2026 being not only a significant year for betting in its own right, but one that brings a long-tail opportunity for operators who harness developing trends in tech innovation to enhance and expand the customer experience.”
