Novibet sportsbook chief: player props turnover up 180% in August, two major products planned

Novibet has reported a 180% year-on-year increase in player props turnover in August, the month after the 2026 World Cup ended. Executive Director of Sportsbook Giannos Grivas shared the figure in an interview with SBC News, presenting it as evidence that demand for the content that defined summer betting has outlasted the tournament.

According to Grivas, the operator launched an in-house player props model, built by its own trading algorithm team, during the World Cup. The company saw a large rise in turnover and in the share of bet builder wagers. The challenge afterwards was keeping customers engaged, and he said that offering more pre-built bet builders, enhanced odds and distinctive player props appears to be working. He credited the company's proprietary technology stack, which Novibet has owned for nearly 20 years, for the ability to create products internally.

Grivas returned to Novibet in late 2025 after nearly six years away. He first joined as a pre-game and in-play trader shortly after retiring as a footballer, who had played for Greece's U21 side and in the country's top division, and became Director of Sportsbook by 2016. He left shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, worked at BVGroup and bet365, and spent 2021 to 2025 in management roles at Kaizen Gaming. He said a conversation with Chairman Rodolfo Odoni convinced him the timing was right.

The interview also touched on regulatory pressure. Novibet is Greece's second-largest operator, according to the Blask Index, but its second-biggest market, Brazil, faces a difficult situation after President Lula declared an outright ban on online betting there last month. The company retains operations in markets including Ireland, Mexico, Chile and Cyprus. Grivas described the sector as a battlefield and argued that operators should embrace competition and regulation rather than fear them.

He was reluctant to give details of upcoming plans, saying only that Novibet is preparing something very big to launch in the next few months, with two major products ready to implement. He added that customer behaviour will guide development. In his view, modern bettors expect something to happen within minutes and are well versed in statistics because player and team data is easily accessible. He noted that the average age of Novibet's customers is low, which he sees as a positive sign.