How Online Casino Trends Impact the Sports Betting Industry
Mon, Apr 29, 2024
by
CapperTek
Digital gambling falls into two distinct categories –
sports betting and casino gaming. Combined, they make up a significant
percentage of all online gambling industry. While other one-off gambling games
also entice people – such as the lottery – there’s simply no disputing the
immense scope of sports betting and casino gaming and how it shapes the overall
industry. Although there are stark differences in the mechanics of the two –
such as the technology and online strategies that casino gaming and sports
betting platforms use – there are a lot of similarities.
The Rise Of The Review
Prior to online gambling becoming a viable and
reputable area of the broader gambling industry, reviewers did not have any
sort of avenue or market. There was simply no appetite for land-based gambling
companies to have reviewers trawling through all of the games they offered. And
on top of that, there wasn’t a market or audience for those who wanted to get
more information about them; they’d simply check them out for themselves.
The landscape prior to the internet meant that there
were far fewer establishments, and the vast majority of people who sought out
these institutions would simply check them out for themselves and obtain their
first-hand experience. However, now that we are in the digital age and
thousands of new casinos and sportsbooks are operating, review sites have
become a valuable tool that people use when assessing the site they want to
use. Expert industry casino reviews work in the same way as
sports betting reviews. While they are often two very different types of
platforms, increasing numbers of gambling companies use their reach in either
industry to build a platform that caters for either sports betting or casino
companies.
Market Dynamics
Casino gaming and sports betting are unique and offer
very different avenues to punters. Sports betting has a much more expansive
scope and market, catering for thousands of individual types of bets, with 50
or so sports all having their own specific nuances and considerations.
Although some aspects of slot gaming, such as slot
machines, encompass thousands of different titles and gaming types, the base
offering is deep-rooted in a core design and structure. However, sports betting
can range from combat sports to tennis to team sports like rugby and soccer,
all of which have their own standalone markets. Casino gaming is more rigid,
and while there’s still a lot of innovation in casino gaming, there’s a smaller
scope and a more streamlined way for casino gaming companies to advertise and
develop their new games.
Sports betting markets attract fans of a particular
sport, whereas casino gaming has a more generic appeal. While some bettors will
dip their toes in both, they broadly encompass two different types of gamers.
That’s not to say that the same impactful marketing strategies can make a dent
in both sectors.
Effective Promotions & Bonuses
Undeniably, the
most common tools that both industries share are the marketing tools and
strategies that bring in new clientele. As more casino companies and sports
betting companies look to grow their base, many sports betting platforms also
have a burgeoning casino gaming platform of their own.
Likewise, with
many digital casinos looking to provide the same offering in the opposite
direction, marketing strategies have become broader, looking to encompass both
types of bets as part of their larger marketing campaign.
Online casinos
pioneered gambling promotions, and from the early 2000s, they found incredible
success in using free spins, no deposits or refer-a-friend bonuses to
continually grow their customer base. Sports betting companies were slightly
slower in identifying this as the way forward, but it was a trend soon adopted
en masse and garnered outstanding results.
Gambling Via Mobile Apps & Devices
Again, while it wouldn’t be entirely accurate to say
that sports betting didn’t exist on mobile apps, casino gaming platforms were
the first to make significant leaps into pioneering the research and
development of gambling via mobile devices.
As PC and desktop gambling started to dominate the
global industry at the back end of the 2000s, casino gaming companies pivoted
their market research to include the exponential rise of people looking to use
their mobile phones and devices to play their casino games. While the iPhone is
one of the most recognizable inventions of the last century, it wasn’t
until the early 2010s that the legitimacy of the mobile gaming and gambling
sectors became apparent. Still, it’s a trend that the online casino sector
picked up on, with the sports betting sector quickly following suit.
Around this time, many people started using their
mobile phones to get news, not just sporting news. Hence, the
natural leap for companies to offer betting services on the same devices seemed
the next logical move—but the logistics and costs involved were very different
from the landscape we have today.
However, this significant change in attitude meant
that the sports betting industry used the pathway carved out by successful
casino gaming marketing strategies to level up its own brands and continue to
shape many of the new marketing trends in the industry. Sports betting
platforms and casino companies now use similar campaigns to get people on
board, but the whole foundation of their success initially stemmed from the
casino gaming industry.
Summary
By implementing changes similar to those that the
casino gaming sector brought in, sports betting companies have been able to
expand their operations, helping to fuel the rise of the broader gambling
industry.
Those changes have resulted from mobile app gaming and
revolutionary advertising and marketing strategies. As the walls that
previously used to hamper US gambling companies continue to come down. Many of
the top names are using this changing rhetoric and attitude to offer a
collective gambling platform.
In 2024, many more gambling companies will adopt a one-stop shop for casino gaming and sports betting without having to use two separate providers for each. Therefore, many of the online casino trends are shared across the wider industry, and ultimately, as the industries become closer, there'll be an increasing number of casino trends adopted by the sports betting sector.