iGB Intelligence reports Social Gaming report | Page 8

Executive summary

play social products have struggled to gain traction
with audiences – certainly on the scale achieved by
traditional casino games. One reason is that sports
betting, in a social media environment, lacks the
instant gratification that is associated with casino
games, particularly if users have to wait for realworld results to discover if they have won. Real-money
gambling operators have even tried to fuse sports
betting with social elements and Facebook, though this
has hitherto proved a tough nut to crack.
But that’s not to say sports betting and social don’t
mix. Sportsbooks are big users of Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and even popular messaging apps like
Snapchat as marketing weapons. Paddy Power is
often cited as being head and shoulders above the
competition and its social media reach is enormous,
while the way in which it engages with and connects
with its target audience is likely to play a key, although
difficult to quantify, role in its retention efforts.
For social and betting-focused start-ups, social
media platforms provide access to so many 18- to

4

35-year-old punters flocking to Twitter or Facebook
for team news, match updates and results, transfer
rumours and conversation with their peers, that it
seems obvious to target those channels to talk with,
and market to, potential customers there. This age
of mobile and social media, combined with sports
betting, has to a large extent shaken off the negative
stereotypes it may have had in the past and created a
fertile environment where sports betting operators,
start-ups and affiliates can build up their presence.
Indeed, Millennial gamblers tend to share the
experience of having a bet in a much more social and
interactive manner than previous generations – it’s
natural to combine sports betting with social media for
many users.
But while it is natural for these users to tweet or
share their thoughts on which of their bets will come
in, success for the social media/betting start-ups will
surely depend on how well they harness those social
tools to monetise those users or drive them to operator
sites.

iGaming Business Social Media & Mobile Betting Report