Sportsbooks have long reaped the benefits of integrating online casino within their offering, however, casino platforms have been more hesitant to embrace sports betting.
As a result of this, online casinos are missing out on significant player engagement opportunities and a valuable source of income. This was the topic of conversation for three industry experts during a recent SBC Casino Digital Day.
Appearing on the panel, titled ‘Unlocking new revenue streams: Why online casinos should embrace sports betting’, James Roche, Head of Product at Betr, and Darren Mercieca, Director of NetBet, both agreed that the complexity of sports betting compared to online casino has contributed to the lack of cross over on iGaming platforms.
“Sports is always seen not as a moneymaker but as a measure to acquire as many players as possible and then trying to sell to other verticals,” explained Mercieca. “The main concern is the volatility of it all [and] this aspect is something that casino operators normally shy away from.”
“[Also], the engagement that you need with the customer. Casino engagement is very simple, but sports engagement is much more complicated. It needs to be real-time, needs to be thought over and needs to provide good data.”
However, the benefits for casino operators able to overcome these barriers are clear, said Roche, as it allows operators to facilitate all aspects of a players’ needs in one place.
He said: “It will naturally give a companion product for users who would have typically left and placed [a sports bet] on another app. Now they can do it all in the one app, so you’re creating that ecosystem to keep users within your space.
“I’m sure not every casino user is playing across sports betting, but a large percentage of those are, and what you’re doing is giving yourself a chance to increase wallet share from users that are in your customer base already.”
When considering the prospect of integrating sports betting within a platform, an operator must ensure that they have in place all the aspects that underpin such a service, including risk management, oddsmaking services and an effective back and front-end system.
Therefore, explained Yuri Berest, CEO of DATA.BET, careful considerations must be made when choosing a platform provider.
“[You must] find a proper provider, a good partner. It is the most complicated thing,” he warned. “In business, cheaper means better, but in betting, from my perspective, sometimes cheaper means less revenue. It’s the biggest challenge to find one that will cover your needs.”
He also suggested casino platforms should consider a solution that provides all aspects of a sportsbook to increase the simplicity of the transition period.
Given the aforementioned complexity of sports betting, the return on investment may not be immediately evident to casino operators, however, Mercieca urged operators to remain patient for the positive results to show.
He said: “When a casino operator wants to integrate a new game, you usually go to an aggregator or you directly integrate new games, and your fees would be pay as you go. If you don’t make money, perhaps they don’t charge you money.
“When it comes to sports, it’s completely different. You have to put up a lot of investment and you have to keep up the momentum in order to justify the costs. So, you need to ensure it’s a long-term investment and you’re in it for the long game. It’s going to be very challenging because of the amount of information that you need to provide, and from a content perspective, it is very laborious.”
Although this may seem daunting to casino operators considering the switch, Roche explained that the inherent characteristics of online casino development and promotion mean that casino operators may have a unique advantage in what is a saturated market.
Additionally, the key to success lies in identifying the weaknesses of sportsbooks that they can exploit.
He said: “You know your customer better than someone who’s a sportsbook trying to get a casino user. You need to know why users might want to play sports betting and then look for what sportsbooks don’t do well.
“Promotion journeys aren’t spectacular in sports betting, and a lot of users don’t play the tertiary markets for lower league games. Focus on the basic stuff from the start, getting to the top league and top sports, but then really focus on where you potentially have an edge.
“That’s the promotional journeys, the gamification, the CRM that you’ve built within your casino, and leverage that to give you a chance to get in there. Otherwise, you’re competing with a lot of clients in the space.”
Also discussed during the 45-minute conversation was the role that ambassadors from the sports world can play in spreading the world of your platform and the value of effective risk management to protect revenue.
To watch the full webinar, click here.
