How sports betting mirrors online casinos in engaging players online

While sports betting and online casinos are two very different types of gambling, they both are forms of gambling. Both businesses are focused on getting players engaged and gambling as much cash as they possibly can in the hope of winning. 

As a result, we’ve seen sports betting websites borrow a lot of techniques from online casinos in a bid to increase player engagement and, hopefully, profits. Let’s look at them.

Bonuses & Promotions

A long time ago, online casinos realized that the best way to attract people to their platform was the promise of a load of free cash if they registered. After all, everyone loves getting money for free. Now, avid gamblers will know that the bonuses and promotions often have some heavy restrictions on them, which drastically limit withdrawal potential. Still, it attracts gamblers. You’ve probably bought into these promotions yourself.

Bookmakers, including many of those South African bookmakers featured on review platforms such as AskGamblers ZA, now offer very similar bonuses to reel people in. The cash benefits may not be as hefty as those in online casinos, but there is tangible bonus cash for bettors to use. There might even be a few fantastic odds promotions thrown in there, too.

These bonuses are often ongoing, boosting player engagement as people will always want to check out new bonuses they can enjoy.

Personalized Suggestions

If you gamble at an online casino, they keep tabs on what type of game you like to play. The result? Suggestions of your favorite games on their front page, and they might even send promotional emails advertising new games that they know you’ll be interested in. This boosts engagement as it keeps unwanted games out of sight, and players will always feel like they have something they can enjoy served up only for them.

Sports betting companies are doing something very, very similar. For example, some companies may notice that you’re betting a lot on certain teams or major events, and you might get specific promotions tied to them. Others may look at the type of sports that you’re betting on and show you all these events on the main page. As with online casinos, the whole purpose is to steer you toward content that you’re much more likely to interact with.

Gamification

There are a few ways online casinos tackle this. The main way is through offering loyalty systems that reward players the more they gamble. This encourages them to engage more on a platform and to avoid competitors. 

Many people love these reward systems, particularly when there are some cool rewards available. Some online casinos offer a sort of achievement system, but this isn’t really something that we’ve seen too much with bookmakers. This might change in the future, though.

Online bookmakers are absolutely using loyalty systems as a way to encourage more people to engage in their platforms, though. This includes offering slightly better odds to more loyal players, special sports bonuses they can claim, and deposit-based bonuses. There may also be other features that make gambling seem more like a ‘game’.

Betting Options

Head to any online casino and you’ll find thousands of games available. Sure, the vast majority of those games won’t be touched, but it’s great to have a choice. The same is happening with online bookmakers.

Sports books often have tons and tons of open markets. These are markets that most won’t be so interested in (think lower league amateur events or minor sports), but people still like the options. It also means that players always have something to gamble on, even during the off-season. 

While some gamblers may take a break during the off-season of the sports they love, there’ll always be a few that turn up on these websites and gamble on events they might have otherwise passed on.

Mobile Gambling 

Online casinos are now in our pockets. No matter where we are, if we have a smartphone, we can gamble. This has boosted player engagement, especially as the vast majority of popular casino games can now be played on mobile devices.

All popular sportsbooks now allow you to gamble with your mobile device. Player engagement shoots up as you don’t need to be sitting in front of a computer to gamble. You can gamble while watching TV, or even while physically sitting at a game. 

Even live gambling is now an option for people on the go, which is something else that has boosted player engagement. People love to bet on live sports simply because it becomes much more strategic than pre-game gambling. 

Social Options

Many online casinos now have chat rooms where players can talk. There may also be pop-ups that tell active players when somebody has achieved a big win. The social nature of these features has encouraged them to stick around. The pop-ups suggest that players could also win big if they keep gambling. However, some would argue that this isn’t a great thing to do.

While sports betting sites haven’t really created the same social features, some platforms are leaning into things a little bit more. For example, a couple of South African sites now have small chat rooms where people can talk. This is the sort of feature that has been incredibly effective when players are live betting. Some have even shared gambling tips in these chat rooms, which has pushed people to gamble a little bit more.

Final Thoughts 

Online casinos have always had the best ideas when it comes to encouraging people to engage with their website, which can lead to increased betting. Features such as personalized recommendations, bonuses, gamification, and mobile gambling have also made their way into the sports betting industry. 

Companies that use these features on their platforms are noticing increased player engagement, which, in turn, leads to higher profits. We wouldn’t be surprised if sports betting companies continued to borrow ideas from online casinos.