Handling major high-traffic events as a sportsbook

How should high-performance sportsbooks prepare for the biggest sports betting events to drive sustained performance and profitability?

From the Super Bowl and the Champions League final to the FIFA World Cup, Grand National, and The Masters, major sporting events invariably create standout moments in the sporting calendar for betting operators.

These major competitions consistently trigger a notable increase in sportsbook engagement, characterised by an influx of new users, unprecedented levels of betting and distinctive opportunities for operators to interact with players and foster their long-term loyalty.  

The impact of major sporting events on sportsbooks 

For sportsbook operators, these aren’t just busy days — they’re business-defining ones. These are peak moments where sportsbooks must deliver flawless performance or risk reputational damage and financial loss. Excelling during these peak periods is a defining factor for long-term success, fostering brand loyalty and driving substantial revenue. Conversely, operational failures, such as platform downtime or poor liability management, can swiftly undo considerable investments in customer acquisition. 

Surge in traffic and betting volume 

A marquee sporting event can drive a dramatic surge in user activity — often building and spiking just before kick-off. During events like the Super Bowl or Champions League final, sportsbook traffic will be many times higher than a typical matchday. This intense spike in real-time demand puts both the front end and backend systems under pressure and requires a stable, scalable platform to maintain performance.

In turn, betting volumes soar for high-profile events, leading to an exponential rise in offering requests per minute. This includes both standard pre-match singles markets and more complex products like Bet Builder, which tend to see a sharp uptick in activity for big games and events, accounting for approximately half of all pre-match bets for Super Bowl LIX. For operators, this means a huge significant short-term revenue opportunity — provided the sportsbook can maintain performance and offer a deep, engaging user experience.

Influx of new users 

High-profile events draw in not just regular bettors but new and casual users too, many interacting with a sportsbook for the first time. These audiences expect a seamless, intuitive experience. 

A confusing interface, delayed bet placement or limited bet offering can turn a moment of opportunity into a missed chance at long-term loyalty. These moments are pivotal for brand impression and customer retention, as is the ability for sportsbooks to maintain a comprehensive offering beyond just the high-profile events.

Increased risk exposure 

A sharp rise in betting activity can also mean an equally sharp increase in risk exposure — particularly as Bet Builder continues to grow in popularity. In contrast to traditional singles bets, Bet Builder allows users to combine multiple outcomes into a single wager, leading to vast number of potential betting combinations. While this offers an increased level of control for the player and higher-margin opportunities for sportsbooks, it also introduces new layers of risk with the potential for big losses if popular Bet Builder selections go the way of the players. 

A key complexity lies in interrelated contingencies — many outcomes within a Bet Builder are not independent. For example, if a star striker scores, it increases the likelihood that their team will win. Accurately pricing these correlated events is inherently more difficult and can result in unexpected liabilities if risk is not managed correctly. 

These risks are amplified during major event days with overlapping fixtures, or when a sport’s star players are in action. Take last year’s Euro 2024 final, which occurred on the same day as the Copa América final. The convergence of high-profile matches can dramatically increase exposure across global markets, heightening the likelihood of a black swan event — an unlikely but highly impactful result that has the potential to cause substantial financial losses. 

Tips for successfully managing major sporting events 

Preparation, strategy, and the right technology stack are vital to succeeding during high-traffic periods.

Here are some ways operators can not only handle marquee events but turn them into attractive opportunities. 

Robust and scalable infrastructure 

No sportsbook can succeed during high-traffic events without a stable and scalable platform. Your infrastructure must be able to handle sudden spikes in users, offering requests and bet placement without sacrificing speed or stability. 

Kambi’s multi-tenant sportsbook, which is the most reliable betting engine on the market, is specifically engineered for this challenge. Its scalability ensures consistent, efficient performance across both front-end interfaces and critical back-end systems, even under the most intense peak load conditions.  

The power of Kambi’s vast network provides us with invaluable data to test our platform end-to-end. This allows us to identify and address any potential bottlenecks or issues before they can impact our partners’ customers, ensuring platform stability and responsiveness from even before kick-off to the final whistle, even during high-intensity moments like penalty shootouts. 

Risk management & mitigation 

A robust risk management framework is fundamental, especially when traffic and betting stakes skyrocket. Operators must have real-time monitoring systems, player profiling, and liability controls in place to respond quickly to emerging patterns and mitigate risk. 

Kambi employs sophisticated machine learning-driven player profiling and real-time monitoring systems to proactively identify and mitigate risk, utilising predictive models powered by data from a vast global sports betting network.  

Each wager processed across our vast global network contributes to a continuously refined risk model. The breadth and diversity of this data enables the identification of anomalies, the detection of outliers, and the anticipation of market movements with a far greater degree of accuracy than isolated operators or suppliers without comparable scale can achieve. These insights fuel more informed pricing strategies, more agile trading decisions, and ultimately, superior financial outcomes for our partners. 

Crucially, this intelligence is applied to tailor our approach to each operator’s specific commercial objectives. Some partners may strategically leverage major events to attract new clientele, offering more competitive odds and elevated betting limits, thereby embracing a higher risk tolerance for these bigger events – a strategy Kambi is equipped to support. Others may prioritise maximising profitability through a more conservative risk management posture. Kambi facilitates both orientations by dynamically adjusting trading parameters, liability thresholds, and account management protocols in precise alignment with each partner’s goals. 

To explore more on this crucial area, join Kambi’s upcoming Festival of Sportsbook 2025 webinar on optimising risk management in the age of AI. 

Effective odds management 

Fast, reliable and high-quality odds are key to a successful sportsbook experience during peak events. Bettors expect competitive pricing, a wide variety of markets, high level of combinability and seamless in-play betting with low countdowns, high uptime and fast settlement processes. 

This is all delivered through Kambi’s Turnkey Sportsbook as well as its Odds Feed+ product which provides access to Kambi’s full library of traded odds, enabling competitive pricing and rich market offerings. This is especially critical for Bet Builders and special markets, which see a sharp rise in usage during major sporting events. 

Our network functions as a sophisticated learning system, continuously adapting and optimising with every interaction. This comprehensive synchronisation across pricing, trading, and liability management enables the delivery of a Bet Builder product that is both compelling for users and sustainable for operators, consistently leading to improved margins, increased user engagement, and enhanced competitive differentiation. 

Plan your marketing and promotional strategy 

Major sporting events are not only technical and operational flashpoints — they are also rich marketing opportunities. With surges in traffic and interest, these events provide a perfect stage to run targeted promotions, launch acquisition campaigns and build brand awareness. But success isn’t just about acquiring new users; it’s also about keeping them engaged long after the final whistle. 

Retention must be a key pillar of any sporting event strategy. With large volumes of new and casual users interacting with your product and brand, the goal should be to convert first-time bettors into loyal customers. Post-event re-engagement campaigns, tailored CRM flows, and loyalty programmes can play a vital role in achieving this. Moreover, personalisation can help maintain relevance by continuing to offer bettors tailored content, promotions and experiences based on their betting preferences — strengthening the relationship long after the event ends. 

Intuitive and optimised interface 

First impressions matter. With a large portion of new or occasional bettors joining during major events, an intuitive and frictionless experience is vital. From a quick registration process to placing a bet in just a few taps, your user interface should minimise obstacles and maximise player engagement. 

Prioritising mobile optimisation, speed and clarity are just some ways to ensuring this. The goal is to ensure bettors can easily find markets and place bets quickly even if they’re engaging with your sportsbook, or any sportsbook for that matter, for the first time. 

In summary, major sporting events present a unique convergence of opportunity and challenge. Beyond the above, other key considerations for high-profile events include strategic marketing and promotional activity and preparing your customer service team to drive not just short-term revenue, but long-term growth and engagement. By delivering a seamless experience, providing compelling and competitive betting products, and ensuring each user interaction is optimised, sportsbooks can transform these high-traffic days into milestones of commercial and operational success.