Danil Emelyanov, Head of AI Labs at BETBY, outlines the crucial role that AI plays in the sportsbook player journeys. He also explains how BETBY’s personalisation engine utilises AI to effectively deliver revenue to sportsbooks.

In today’s digital world, personalisation is no longer a luxury. Players are accustomed to apps like Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon that anticipate their needs and surface content tailored to their interests. Sportsbooks are no different. Bettors want relevance, immediacy, and a sense that the platform understands them as individuals. This is the vision behind BETBY’s personalisation engine, a tool that is not only reshaping the sportsbook experience but also delivering tangible results for operators.

The top section of a sportsbook — the first thing players see — was the natural starting point for BETBY’s personalisation journey. It is a visible, high-impact area and a good place to experiment with AI-driven recommendations. But the top section is just the beginning. The broader strategy is to tailor everything in the sportsbook to each user: from navigation through sports, categories, and tournaments, to promotions via banners and widgets, and even combo assistance tools. We are only at the start of this journey, and the potential to transform user experience with personalisation is enormous.

Shifting From Manual Curation to AI-Driven Top Sections

Traditionally, sportsbooks have relied on manual curation to populate their top sections. Traders would highlight obvious, near-starting matches, or — in slightly more advanced cases — the platform would automatically display the most popular events in a user’s country. While these approaches are a step toward personalisation, they fall short of delivering a truly individual experience.

The problem with manual management has two key aspects. First, it is nearly impossible to keep content relevant 24/7, especially when covering multiple geographies. Second, local expertise is often missing. What resonates with players in Japan may not be the same as in France, and while traders can research it, doing so takes time and resources. BETBY’s AI solves this by learning directly from player behaviour, surfacing what is most relevant not just to one market, but also to players with similar profiles across regions.

The results speak for themselves. Players exposed to personalised top sections place 21% more bets on average compared to those in manually managed environments. Personalisation also changes how players bet. Normally, across the sportsbook as a whole, around 25–30% of bets are combos. But the top section works differently: it can either direct users to an event page or let them create a combo directly from that section.

Among bets placed straight from the top section, combos dominate with roughly 80%. In manual setups, that share was 78%, while with AI-driven personalisation it rose to 83%, showing that more relevant events are being surfaced together, making combinations easier. This improves the experience for players while also driving higher margins for operators.

Another striking effect is on timing. Previously, events were often placed in the top section days before they started, meaning many players either skipped them or placed bets too early. With AI-driven personalisation, events are highlighted when they matter most, in live or closer to the moments when player interest peaks. As a result, the average time between placing a bet and the event starting dropped from 530 minutes to 383, showing that players are being guided to the right markets at the right time.

Expanding Variety and Discovery

Another breakthrough has been the way personalisation expands the sportsbook’s horizons. With AI curating content, the number of promoted events with active bets more than doubled, from around 1,300 to over 3,200. Sports coverage grew from 21 to 40, and tournaments from 122 to 272.

This broader variety is crucial. It allows players to discover new sports, leagues, and events they might never have considered before. In fact, BETBY has seen a 90% increase in the number of sports explored, a 122% rise in tournaments, and a 139% jump in individual events viewed and bet on since introducing AI-led personalisation.

Every time we expose users to new types of content, it unlocks new betting opportunities and strengthens long-term retention. AI’s real strength is that it uncovers valuable content that might otherwise stay hidden and brings it directly to the player’s attention.

Real-Time Personalisation

Looking ahead, at the recent SBC Summit 2025 in Lisbon, BETBY unveiled the next evolution of personalisation: real-time adaptation. The enhanced model instantly adjusts to bets as they are placed, combining individual preferences with hourly, daily, and weekly trends.

This means that the sportsbook is no longer just tailoring content at session start but continuously learning and reshaping itself during the betting journey. A bettor exploring soccer markets in the morning may find recommendations shifting towards esports or tennis later in the day if their activity suggests an emerging interest.

For operators, this is a precision retention tool. Instead of generic promotions or static feeds, the platform adapts dynamically to maximise relevance, engagement, and lifetime value. For players, it delivers a smoother, more intuitive experience, one where every interaction feels meaningful.

The End of Generic Sportsbooks

By combining real-time adaptation with proven engagement metrics, BETBY’s personalisation engine shows how AI can elevate both operator performance and player satisfaction.

Generic sportsbooks belong to the past. What we’re building now is an ecosystem that understands each user, evolves with them in real time, and consistently pushes the boundaries of what a betting experience can be.

After BETBY showcased its enhanced personalisation model in Lisbon, the message became clear: the sportsbook of tomorrow is about intelligent journeys that adapt to every bettor, every moment, and every trend.