For most operators, acquisition tends to dominate the conversation leading into major sporting events. Budgets increase, campaigns ramp up, and marketing teams focus heavily on bringing new users into the funnel. And understandably so. Less than a month away, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be one of the largest global sporting events ever, with unprecedented attention, media coverage, and fan engagement across every major market.
But while acquisition will remain important, there is another opportunity that may be even more valuable for many operators: reactivation. Beneath every sportsbook database sits a large segment of dormant, churned, or inactive users who have already registered, deposited, and engaged in the past. The challenge is not introducing these users to your brand for the first time. It’s giving them a compelling reason to return.
How the World Cup Changes Player Behaviour
Events like the World Cup operate differently from regular sporting calendars. Casual fans return. Lapsed bettors become interested again. Conversations around sports betting expand beyond core betting audiences and into mainstream culture.
The tournament dramatically increases attention around sports, betting, predictions, and fan participation across digital, social, and everyday environments. For operators, this creates a unique moment where dormant users are already more likely to pay attention and re-engage with betting-related content.
At the same time, the scale and global significance of the World Cup strengthens overall brand familiarity and trust. Users who may not normally think about sports betting are suddenly surrounded by football discussions, predictions, media coverage, and social participation tied to the tournament.
This naturally increases the likelihood of users reopening apps they may not have interacted with in months.
Why Traditional Reactivation Campaigns Often Underperform
Most sportsbook reactivation strategies follow a familiar pattern:
- Free bets
- Odds boosts
- Deposit bonuses
- Generic promotional emails
While these tactics can generate short-term spikes in activity, they often struggle to create meaningful engagement beyond the initial return.
One of the biggest challenges is that many World Cup reactivation campaigns still rely on the same promotional mechanics operators use throughout the rest of the year, only repackaged around the tournament. A free bet becomes a “World Cup Free Bet.” A deposit offer becomes a “World Cup Special Deposit Offer.” Despite the event itself being unique, the user experience often feels very familiar.
As a result, these campaigns struggle to stand out, particularly when dormant users are receiving similar promotions from multiple operators at the same time. Instead of creating excitement or curiosity, many campaigns blend together into a stream of repetitive offers that fail to meaningfully re-engage users. This is why so many reactivation efforts generate only temporary activity before users disengage again shortly afterward.
The World Cup Requires a Different CRM Approach
The scale and excitement surrounding the World Cup creates an opportunity for operators to rethink how reactivation works. Rather than relying on the same promotional mechanics used throughout the year, operators have a golden opportunity to create experiences that actually feel tied to the tournament itself. The goal is no longer just to place a World Cup label on an existing offer, but to give dormant users something that feels more interactive, timely, and engaging.
This is where CRM strategies become especially important.
Operators already have extensive dormant-user databases. The challenge is no longer reaching users — it is giving them a compelling reason to pay attention again. During a global event like the World Cup, experiences that feel interactive and socially connected can stand out far more effectively than another standard promotional email.
Interactive experiences become especially powerful because they align naturally with how fans already engage with the tournament itself. Predictions, competition, social discussion, national pride, and real-time participation are already core parts of the World Cup experience, making interactive formats feel far more relevant and engaging than traditional promotional campaigns.
Instead of simply marketing around the World Cup, operators can create experiences that allow users to actively take part in it.
How BetHero Creates a New Reactivation Opportunity
BetHero gives operators a new type of CRM reactivation campaign that goes beyond traditional promotional mechanics. Instead than asking dormant users to return solely for a bonus or free bet like everyone else is, operators can invite them into World Cup betting experiences that feel social, competitive, and fun from the first interaction.
Interactive World Cup Experiences
BetHero allows operators to create World Cup-themed betting lobbies and leaderboard-based experiences tied directly to live matches and tournament narratives. These experiences can evolve throughout the tournament itself, from group stage and country-specific lobbies to knockout round challenges, live match experiences, and leaderboard competitions tied to the final.
Operators can also create experiences around specific narratives emerging during the tournament, such as breakout players, national rivalries, or underdog upsets. This allows CRM campaigns to feel dynamic and connected to the real-time conversation surrounding the World Cup rather than static or repetitive.
Instead of sending a generic promotional email, operators can invite dormant users into experiences that feel directly tied to the excitement already surrounding the tournament. This changes the first interaction from “come back and deposit” to “come participate and have fun.”
Lower Friction Re-Entry Points
One of the biggest barriers in reactivation is psychological friction. Users who have been inactive for months are often hesitant to jump directly back into traditional sportsbook flows.
BetHero lowers this barrier by creating lightweight entry points that prioritize participation and curiosity. Swipe-based betting UX, pack openings, social mechanics, and shared competitions create a more approachable way for users to re-engage with your brand.
Once users begin participating again, reactivation becomes significantly more achievable.
Social Competition and National Identity
The World Cup is inherently social. Fans rally around countries, players, and shared narratives throughout the tournament.
BetHero’s social mechanics amplify this dynamic through shared lobbies, live leaderboards, and multiplayer sports betting experiences. Users are not simply reopening an app — they are entering a competitive environment connected to the event itself. This creates stronger emotional engagement and increases the likelihood of continued participation throughout the tournament.
CRM Campaigns That Feel Different
Most dormant users have already seen countless bonus emails from operators. By the time the World Cup begins, many will be receiving similar promotions from multiple brands simultaneously.
Interactive CRM experiences stand out because they feel fundamentally different from traditional reactivation messaging. Instead of presenting another offer, they create an activity.
This allows operators to re-engage users through curiosity, competition, and participation rather than relying exclusively on financial incentives.
Beyond Reactivation: Visibility, Attention, and Top-of-Mind Awareness
Unlike most sporting events, the World Cup reaches people well outside of the typical sports betting audience. The tournament dominates social media, mainstream news coverage, advertising campaigns, conversations between friends, and public spaces throughout its duration. For weeks, soccer (or football, depending on where you’re from) becomes one of the primary global cultural conversations, whether someone actively follows sports betting or not.
This creates a rare environment where the World Cup remains constantly top of mind, even outside of a betting context. For operators, that level of visibility becomes a powerful opportunity not only to acquire new users, but also to re-engage dormant players who may not have interacted with a sportsbook in months.
Operators that create experiences tied directly to the excitement and participation surrounding the tournament place themselves in a much stronger position to capture that renewed attention. Rather than relying solely on traditional promotional messaging, they can tap into the broader energy and visibility already being generated by the World Cup itself.
Over time, this also strengthens brand recall and user affinity, particularly when users associate the operator with interactive, engaging experiences during one of the largest sporting events in the world.
The Takeaway
The 2026 World Cup will undoubtedly create major acquisition opportunities for operators. But for many brands, another significant opportunity already exists within their own dormant user databases.
The operators that succeed will be the ones that approach reactivation differently. Instead of relying solely on bonuses and transactional offers, they will focus on rebuilding engagement through participation, interaction, and social experiences tied directly to the tournament itself.
BetHero reflects this shift by giving operators a new type of CRM reactivation tool, one designed to create more engaging and interactive experiences that can bring dormant users back into the ecosystem during one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
If you’re exploring new ways to reactivate dormant users ahead of the 2026 World Cup, we’d be happy to show how BetHero can fit into your CRM and engagement strategy. Contact us today to learn more.
