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Beyond the World Cup: How SIS will continue making a splash for operators

By jili tutorial · September 2, 2026

Beyond the World Cup: How SIS Will Continue Making a Splash for Operators

Paul Witten, Managing Director EMEA at SIS, spoke to SBC News about how the supplier successfully scaled its high-integrity, short-form eSports sports simulation products to fill critical betting gaps during the World Cup. He explains why a 24/7 esports offering has become a strategic necessity for year-round sportsbook retention.

How eSoccer Performed During the World Cup

What impact did the World Cup have on eSoccer activity, and where did you see the biggest surges in bettor engagement?

Paul Witten: This was the largest World Cup we’ve ever seen. With more teams and matches, fans repeatedly engaged with sportsbooks around the live action. Our short-form eSoccer events are designed to fill the gaps between real matches, giving sports bettors extra betting opportunities.

We increased our output during the tournament to maintain sustained engagement, and the results confirmed our approach. One major operator partner recorded a 31% jump in daily eSoccer turnover on the very first day of the World Cup — even though our additional content had already been running for ten days. That highlights the crossover appeal between real-world sport and our simulated version.

The most popular matchup overall was Argentina vs England, which generated a strong average stake per event.

Ensuring Fairness in eSports Simulations

How do you balance contests to keep them fair in terms of player skill and the teams being used?

The structure of our eSports sports simulation puts the onus on the gamer to perform at their highest level in every match. A stronger gamer playing as Jordan in eSoccer, for example, should easily beat a weaker opponent playing as Spain. Our goal is to create a compelling dynamic: the prestige of real-world teams — whether the Chicago Bulls in eBasketball, the Dallas Cowboys in eAmerican Football, or Barcelona in eSoccer — drives betting volumes, while gamer skill determines the outcome.

This keeps margins consistent and bettors engaged. Nobody wants events that are heavily weighted in favour of one side, and we have systems in place to prevent that.

Scaling Up for Major Events

You have scaled up output across the H2H Global Gaming League recently, both for the World Cup and for eBasketball during the NBA off-season. How do you manage the increased demand?

For the World Cup, we expanded the H2H Global Gaming League by adding 50 extra eSoccer games per day, doubling the share of international matches from 25% to 50%, and extending the pre-match window to 90 minutes. All of this was achieved against a backdrop of running hundreds of games daily and thousands weekly without any issues. Trading margins remained strong throughout.

The same applies to eBasketball, where we boosted our offering between NBA seasons. Operators have given positive feedback, reinforcing that scalability is a key selling point. Delivering smoothly during a high-pressure event like the World Cup proves that our workflows hold up under intense demand. It gives us confidence to lean further into major events in the future.

Carrying Momentum into Domestic Seasons

Now that the World Cup is over, how can operators maintain this momentum during the domestic season?

The World Cup validated many of our product assumptions: crossover from real-life sport works, and familiarity is king. These findings underline the need to respond to trends and behaviours in real soccer betting, which will help eSoccer continue to grow.

A natural next step is replica games built around major Premier League or Champions League nights. We are already building a calendar of these events and planning which matches to replicate with the teams available in the game.

It’s also vital to stress that maintaining long-term engagement requires absolute trust from all parties. What end users see in eSports sports simulation events must reflect the highest level of integrity. That’s been a fundamental building block for all our products. Everything we do is backed by ESIC Gold Standards, professional studio setups, and dedicated integrity refereeing — ensuring a fully future-proofed proposition.