Chapter 4: Customer Engagement
Marketing expenditure as a % of revenue by operator, 2014
36%
35%
33%
29%
28%
24%
13%
bwin party
888
32 Red
Betfair
Betsson
Unibet
William Hill
10%
Paddy Power
Source: Operator annual reports
4.2 Attracting new customers
Digital sportsbook operators need to balance the requirement of making their services easily
accessible to novice gamblers with the provision of creating more sophisticated services for
established customers. There needs to be a comprehensive offering that is priced competitively and
that is tightly controlled and closely monitored by the operator.
Sportsbook success factors
2
of sports, bet types
• Breadth
• No. of live events covered
Product
Pricing
•
•
1
Accurate pricing
mathematical models
controlled
• Tightly
• Closely monitored
Risk management
3
Source: Paddy Power
4.2.1 Brand power
Operators that are consumer-facing typically have a strong marketing-led business model seeking to
attract customers to their website and to encourage loyalty from their active customers. These tend to
be brands that offer a mix of sportsbook, casino gaming, poker, skill games and bingo and often have
a well-known land-based brand (for example Ladbrokes and William Hill).
Such operators vary from those that only offer betting, casino, poker, bingo and/or skill gaming, some
of which have been around for nearly a decade or even longer and have grown to a substantial size
often due to first mover advantage (such as PokerStars in the digital poker industry).
4.2.2 Standing out from the crowd
In order to differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace, digital sportsbooks are having to work
98 Digital Sports Betting