BC.GAME: “The World Cup should not be viewed solely as an opportunity to increase sportsbook volume”
In an exclusive interview with Focus Gaming News, a BC.GAME spokesperson discusses how the 2026 World Cup drove cross-product engagement, highlighting the importance of regional localisation for improved retention.
Exclusive interview.- For BC.GAME, the 2026 FIFA World Cup was more than a test of sportsbook demand. The tournament became a broader experiment in how sports, casino, livestreaming, creators and community engagement can work together to drive users across an entire gaming ecosystem.
In this exclusive interview with Focus Gaming News, a new instalment of The World Cup Verdict series, a BC.GAME spokesperson reflects on how player behaviour differed across markets, from football-driven engagement in Mexico and LatAm to the importance of local-language livestreams and community interaction in Southeast Asia.
Looking back at World Cup 2026, what was the single most important lesson you learnt about how football betting demand behaves at a global scale?
The most important lesson was that while a global tournament can trigger demand across multiple markets at the same time, the way that demand converts into meaningful engagement varies significantly by region.
In some markets, users were primarily driven by pre-match and live betting. In others, leaderboards, streak-based challenges and raffles played a greater role. There were also users who entered the World Cup experience through livestreams, creator content or community discussions before engaging with platform activities.
For BC.GAME, this confirmed that the World Cup should not be viewed solely as an opportunity to increase sportsbook volume. It should be treated as a broader engagement window connecting sports, casino, livestreaming and community content across the platform.
Which trend or market signal during the tournament surprised you most?
The biggest surprise was that the impact of the World Cup extended well beyond sportsbook activity.
We initially expected most of the growth to come from major fixtures, live betting and new sportsbook users. In practice, the tournament also reactivated existing casino users and encouraged movement between sports, casino games, livestream content, raffles and platform rewards.
Some users did not enter through a betting page at all. They first engaged through watch-along streams, creator interaction or tournament discussions, and then moved into other platform activities. At the same time, some casino-led users began exploring sports-related content through football-themed rewards and cross-product challenges.
This demonstrated that, even for a casino-led brand, a major sporting event can become a full-platform activation opportunity rather than simply a short-term sportsbook traffic spike.
Based on your analysis, which countries or segments behaved most unexpectedly during the World Cup?
The most notable difference was not simply that one market generated more betting activity than another, but that users across different regions were motivated by very different factors.
In Mexico and parts of Latin America, national-team performance, major fixtures, local football personalities and Spanish-language content could generate attention very quickly. Football carries a strong emotional connection in these markets, so locally relevant talent and storytelling played an important role in driving discussion and participation.
In Southeast Asia, match timing, local-language hosts, watch-along content and real-time community interaction had a much greater influence. With many matches taking place late at night or in the early hours, users were less likely to follow every fixture but more likely to return around selected matches, familiar creators and interactive content.
This reinforced that demand does not automatically convert simply because a global tournament is taking place. Local culture, time zones, language, content format and existing product habits all shape how that demand is activated.
In terms of geo-specific configuration, which markets forced you to adapt your World Cup experience most sharply?
Mexico and Southeast Asia were two of the clearest examples, although the required adaptations were very different.
In Mexico, we had to consider local football culture, Spanish-language messaging, relevant personalities, compliance requirements and product journeys suited to local users. Translating a global campaign into Spanish was not enough; the content itself had to feel relevant to the way Mexican audiences follow and engage with football.
In Southeast Asia, the focus was more heavily placed on mobile experience, match timing, local-language livestreams, creator scheduling and community interaction. Because some fixtures took place late at night or early in the morning, CRM timing, livestream schedules, promotional triggers and customer-support coverage also had to be adjusted.
The main lesson was that localisation should not be treated as an additional step after a global campaign has already been created. It needs to be built into the campaign structure, content format, product mix and operating rhythm from the beginning.
What new metrics, visualisations or tools proved most valuable during the tournament, and which were less useful than expected?
For BC.GAME, the two most valuable metrics were cross-product conversion and stage-to-stage return rate.
Cross-product conversion showed how many users who entered through a football-related activity went on to engage with casino games, raffles, livestream content or other parts of the platform. This was particularly important for BC.GAME because it demonstrated that the value of the World Cup was not limited to a short-term increase in sports betting volume. It could also serve as an entry point into the wider platform ecosystem.
When a user completes one sportsbook action around a single match, the value is often temporary. When that user moves from sports into casino, livestreaming or the broader rewards system, the tournament begins to create much wider platform engagement.
Stage-to-stage return rate helped us understand how many users who participated during the group stage returned for the knockout rounds, semi-finals and final, and whether they remained active after the tournament. This allowed us to distinguish between traffic generated by one major fixture and users who remained engaged over several weeks.
By comparison, total visits, registrations and overall betting volume were less useful when viewed in isolation. These figures can be heavily influenced by a final, a host-nation fixture or a particularly popular team, but they do not explain why users stayed or whether the tournament generated lasting value.
Looking at first participation, cross-product movement and repeat engagement as one connected user journey gave us a much clearer view of the World Cup’s real impact on BC.GAME.
Which retention mechanics clearly reduced post-World Cup churn, and which had less impact than expected?
The strongest retention results did not come from one large bonus. They came from mechanics that gave users a reason to remain engaged across multiple stages of the tournament.
BC.GAME’s stage-based leaderboards and streak rewards gave users a clear objective beyond a single match. Their main impact was not simply an increase in activity on one particular day; they encouraged users to continue participating from the group stage through the knockout rounds and into the final stages of the tournament.
This reduced the likelihood of users dropping out midway through the campaign. They returned not only to claim a one-off reward, but also to check their position, continue a streak or progress towards the next campaign milestone. In that sense, the mechanics turned a series of separate matches into a participation journey lasting several weeks.
A raffle that continued beyond the final also played an important role. Tournament-led engagement often declines sharply once the competition ends, but a post-final reward window gave users a reason to continue returning to the platform and helped create a smoother transition from peak tournament activity back into regular platform use.
The connection between football activities and casino products also contributed to retention. Some users who entered through the World Cup began exploring casino content, while existing casino users engaged with sports through football-themed challenges and rewards. The key result was that users were no longer completing a single action around one match; they were moving between different products and building a more continuous relationship with the platform.
By comparison, one-off free bets, generic bonuses sent to all users and short-term promotions built around a single match could generate immediate traffic, but their effect on longer-term retention was more limited. Once the match ended, activity often declined quickly if the user had no next objective or another product journey to continue.
If you had to choose one decision during the World Cup that you would repeat, and one you would not, what would they be and why?
The decision we would repeat is treating the World Cup as a full-platform entertainment campaign rather than a sportsbook-only campaign.
Sports betting was an important entry point, but we also connected casino games, leaderboards, raffles, livestream content, creators, community interaction and platform rewards. This allowed us to engage different types of users while remaining consistent with BC.GAME’s position as a casino-led platform with an expanding sports and entertainment offering.
The decision we would not repeat is relying too heavily on one globally standardised campaign structure.
The World Cup showed again that even when audiences are following the same global event, different markets require different entry points, content formats, reward mechanics and operating rhythms.
For future campaigns, we would define regional plans earlier, including priority fixtures, language, creator schedules, campaign timing, product mix and CRM cadence. We would also give local teams more flexibility from the beginning, rather than adapting a global campaign only after it has already launched.
This is the fourth instalment of The World Cup Verdict, a special content series exploring the lessons, data and industry insights from FIFA World Cup 2026.
Follow the series at focusgn.com.
