Internet Vikings Founder & CEO: Tackling ‘real-world resilience tests’ in sports betting

For sports betting operators, major sporting events are more than commercial opportunities. They are real-world resilience tests. In my experience they reveal how systems perform under pressure, how teams respond when demand peaks, and how prepared an organisation is to recover if something unexpected happens.

The best question is not simply whether you stayed online

After a major event, it is natural to ask: “How did our platform perform?”

And that is a useful starting point. But there is an even more valuable question: “What did the event teach us about our ability to respond and recover?”

During the tournament, a major European betting operator reportedly faced almost 19 million malicious requests over a three-week period. Ahead of the competition, the same operator experienced a short DDoS attack that generated more than 786,000 requests in just 87 seconds, peaking at nearly 18,000 requests per second. Operators must often manage multiple pressures at once: growing customer demand, security threats and the need to maintain service availability under challenging conditions.

“A backup helps you recover your data. Disaster recovery helps you recover your business.”

In my opinion, one of the most common misconceptions I still encounter is treating backups and disaster recovery as the same thing. They are not.

A backup is essential, but it is only one part of the equation. A backup helps you recover your data. Disaster recovery helps you recover your business. The strongest recovery strategies are not built around assumptions. They are built around testing, and validation.

Questions to guide the next stage

With the FIFA World Cup complete, operators have an opportunity to review what they learned and build on their successes in preparing for the NFL.

Leadership teams should be asking:

• How quickly can we recover each critical service in practice?

• Can our recovery environment support peak match-day demand?

• How are production systems and replicated data protected?

• Which customer services can remain available while recovery takes place?

• When did we last test the complete recovery process under realistic conditions?

• Which lessons from the tournament can help us improve further?

The next opportunity is already on the calendar

For many operators, the 2026 FIFA World Cup was a commercial success. Alongside that success came something equally valuable: a clearer understanding of how their platforms behave under exceptional demand. Now is the time to act on those insights.

The NFL season is approaching, making now the right time for operators to review what worked, address any gaps and test their recovery plans before the next peak in demand.