BETBY: E-Sims keep the game alive during World Cup off-hours

For operators, global football tournaments like the upcoming World Cup bring a spike of activity. However, they also present a test of retention. Traffic soars during matches, then drops within minutes of the final whistle. Users check results, settle bets and don’t come back until the next kick-off. 

This off-hours gap has become an underestimated challenge in sportsbook operations: bettors leave the platform for a protracted period of time, weakening engagement over the tournament’s full cycle. 

BETBY’s Head of Sportsbook Product, Kirill Nekrasov, explains: “Keeping users active once the matches come to an end is where engagement becomes difficult. If they leave your platform for too long, you lose not only activity but also emotional momentum.” 

The Off-Hours Challenge 

The World Cup compresses global attention into a single sport for a short window of time. Every operator competes for the same audience and every user is emotionally invested in their national team. In between games, that interest doesn’t transfer easily to other sports or leagues. 

Some platforms try to push unrelated content, but the user mindset remains locked on football. 

“You can’t ask someone who’s been cheering for Argentina to suddenly care about basketball overnight,” says Nekrasov. “The context has to remain familiar if you want them to stay.” 

What happens instead is a traffic vacuum: bettors stop betting, marketing triggers lose effectiveness and CRM systems have fewer data points to work with. For an operator, those hours are lost engagement potential, especially when multiplied across a month-long tournament. 

Replicating the Tournament 

One of BETBY’s answers to this behavioural gap is Betby.Games, a proprietary e-sim feed that offers a range of virtual sports experiences, including the ability to replicate live tournaments. Rather than diverting users elsewhere, it allows them to keep betting on the same national teams and fixtures they’re following in real life.

Operators can mirror the World Cup structure and format, group stages, knockout rounds, finals, in a continuous virtual cycle that runs day and night. The result is a sense of uninterrupted play, even when no real match is scheduled. 

“The key is to maintain the emotional link,” notes Nekrasov. “When users can keep following their team through simulated matches that look and feel real, due to fresh visuals and complex models built with real-life data, they remain connected to both the sport and the platform. It bridges the gap between one live match and the next.” 

This approach proved highly effective during the recent World Club Cup, where operators from BETBY’s partner network used Betby.Games to sustain engagement throughout long breaks between fixtures. Bettors kept returning to the same interface, betting on familiar teams, and interacting with the sportsbook as though the competition never stopped. 

Fast Matches, Fast Engagement 

One of the most powerful aspects of Betby.Games’ football e-sims is their duration. Each match often lasts only a few minutes, short enough to keep users active and engaged, but long enough to keep the excitement around the tournament. 

In practice, that means a bettor can complete multiple 1×2 wagers in the time it takes for a single live match to finish. It’s an experience that fits perfectly with today’s fast-betting culture, where immediacy is everything. 

“Modern users are drawn to instant results,” says Nekrasov. “They don’t want to wait an hour and a half to see if their bet landed. With five-minute matches, for example, the feedback loop is constant and that rhythm keeps users active much longer.” 

If we consider a typical World Cup matchday where the break between fixtures can stretch to four hours, during that window Betby.Games can generate up to 48 complete virtual matches, each with dozens or even hundreds of betting opportunities. 

And because each e-sim fixture offers the same familiar markets bettors expect from live football — including outcomes, goals, next to score, and corners — the transition feels completely natural. 

Besides this, the format also supports a more balanced operator flow. Trading systems stay active, promotional tools remain relevant, and marketing teams have continuous touchpoints to re-engage users instead of waiting for live events. 

From Retention to Loyalty 

For operators, continuous content like Betby.Games is not only a filler between matches but also an engine for loyalty. When users can stay immersed in the tournament 24/7, they develop stronger attachment to that specific platform. 

The emotional continuity matters as much as the betting itself. A bettor who can keep backing their national team overnight, in a format that feels part of the same journey, is less

likely to drift to another operator. The platform becomes the place where the World Cup never stops. 

Nekrasov adds: “Engagement is a habit. If you give users something meaningful to interact with even when the real action pauses, they stay longer, return more often, and view your platform as their default destination. That’s the ultimate goal” 

By turning downtime into active time, Betby.Games is helping sportsbooks redefine what tournament coverage means. The World Cup may pause between matches, but for operators using BETBY’s technology, the game never really stops.