The sports betting industry will face a major opportunity next year as the 2026 World Cup drives engagement through the roof. Ahead of a busy month that is already less than a year away, Mark Langdon, Group Sports Director at Spotlight Sports Group, tells SBC News what the company’s Halo hubs bring to the table.
The 2026 World Cup promises to be the biggest and best yet for betting operators with unrivalled engagement opportunities. But with that comes fierce competition and with just under a year to go the preparation to be ready for next summer’s event should have started.
Major tournaments bring with them huge traffic spikes and an expanded tournament means 104 fixtures in total, with 46 countries battling for the right to be crowned champions.
Mark Langdon – Image: Spotlight Sports Group
Those matches will be played across three countries – USA, Mexico and Canada – with 16 cities playing host to the watching world.
The size of the prize is enormous for those operators who are able to make the most of the World Cup, and that is where Spotlight Sports Group can play a major part with our Halo content hubs.
We had eight Halo hubs live across five continents for the last World Cup and built on that success with a further three in Europe for Euro 2024.
One standout example was our partnership with Evoke, who chose to partner with SSG
to maximise its content experience for customers of the William Hill brand in both Spain and the UK.
SSG created a tailored Halo hub featuring live odds and ‘add to betslip’ functionality, directly integrated into William Hill’s sportsbook. Content was aligned to strategic priorities, including daily bet builders, long-form previews, and interactive match content.
The result: over three million page impressions and a user experience that brought audiences back daily throughout the tournament. Being able to place a bet in the Halo hub with live integrated prices means they are designed to engage across every touchpoint.
Owen Duffy, Head of Sports Product at William Hill, said: “Our Euro 2024 Content Hub collaboration with Spotlight Sports Group exceeded our expectations, driving significant engagement from customers.
“We were particularly pleased with the quality of editorial and actionable betting content available to players through the tournament.”
At SSG, we have spent the last two major football tournaments refining a system that works. Combining expert betting content with smooth technical delivery, we are able to offer bespoke builds for any major event in any language.
It’s a one-stop shop solution which is delivered without the tech burden falling on our partners. The Halo hubs have a proven track record of increased bet volume and stake value. It attracts the most valuable players with a higher dwell time without any integration headaches.
Each language comes with our team of content writers to ensure delivery is on-point. We are fully aware of what works in the UK might not work in Brazil and what works in Brazil might not be right elsewhere. Each Halo hub is tailored to the territory and features can be optimised accordingly around the homepage to deliver maximum impact.
Trusted, localised knowledge is key to what we do – creating independent content that grabs attention across all platforms in a flexible format – with calls to action across the Halo hub.
Our content proposition has been designed to deliver impact with bespoke outright tips, match previews, team news, scouting report, daily best accumulator bets and bet builders, all backed up by our expert editorial teams.
Each match includes predicted lineups, four key betting insights across major markets, and a betting verdict.
For extra cut-through, we are adding in-play recommendations, live audio and a bet builder tool which will enable bettors to research their selections across a number of key markets, such as shots and cards, which will all be new for the World Cup.
It’s the kind of evolution that reflects where we’re moving as a business.
December’s draw will determine where each qualified nation will be heading and, more importantly, their kick-off times as FIFA attempts to balance the need for player welfare in extreme heat with the desire to show football at friendly times for TV audiences around the globe.
International managers will need to wait for their group opponents, venues and kick-off times to begin devising plans, but for those in sports betting that could well be too late.
At Spotlight Sports Group we have had the World Cup at the forefront of our minds ever since Euro 2024 finished and if that tournament highlighted anything – apart from Harry Kane’s inability to turn up in finals – it was that operators need the right tools in place to take advantage of a summer-long window of engagement opportunities.
Our Halo Euro 2024 hubs were live in the UK and Spain, and while we can’t promise both finalists again, we can be sure they drive betting turnover thanks to high-quality content.
