Use data to turn sports bettors into political pundits

Last year was a landmark year in politics, defined by the surprise wins for Brexit and Trump. It was also a watershed moment for the gaming industry as political betting discarded its ‘novelty’ status and moved into the mainstream.

The idea that there is no longer a ‘sure thing’ based on the polls, and the attractive odds that accompany this uncertainty, are making customers sit up and take notice. UK bookmakers took around £20m in stakes and a further £200m via online betting exchanges on the 2016 US election – more than any single sporting event other than the Grand National.

The overall political gaming market is still a way off rivalling sports betting, yet there is a real opportunity for bookmakers to capitalise on it, particularly as the UK General Election approaches. Operators who have been quick to embrace data opportunities to attract and retain sports betting customers can cross-promote their political markets.

Ask for feedback
Any successful sale depends on how well you know your customers. One way to test the water is to provide a survey when they next visit your website – for example, “Will the Conservatives win a majority?” – ‘Yes’, ‘No’ or ‘Don’t care’. This immediately segments your audience according to their predictions and enables you to act, serving reminders with odds for outcomes they are likely to back and not wasting efforts on the disinterested.

These surveys gamify the experience and have already proved successful in sports, with initiatives like Sky Bet’s Super 6 providing an engaging, gamified experience and following up with wager information and prompts.

Time and place
There is no reason why tools that have proved effective in sports betting cannot be applied to political markets. This could be as simple as displaying a personalised cross-sell message at an opportune time, such as waiting until after the last football match of the day to surface the suggestion: “Will 8 June be a May day? Why not take your winnings to bet on the upcoming election?”

Geolocation can be used to tailor offers based on location. Customers in marginal seats would have likely been subject to a vast array of local campaigning material from all parties, while a high profile MP visit to a local destination may have sparked interest on the ground. Based on location and likelihood of interest, these customers can be targeted with specific odds for their constituency, as well as wider national odds.

Hijacking the news calendar
The news agenda is a tremendous source of free publicity – media increasingly quote bookmakers’ odds alongside polling. But mining data opportunities to react to the news cycle can increase operators’ chances to cross-sell political betting.

Push notifications are a fantastic way to reengage registered visitors who have browsed political betting pages but never actually followed through with a wager. Major news milestones – a breaking story or a live interview or debate – provide ideal moments to notify and re-engage previous visitors. By using real time customer segmentation, you can create rules for different parts of your audience depending on what they are most likely to react to.

The gaming industry has proved very effective in harnessing data to make sports betting more engaging and there’s no reason why we can’t apply these tried and tested techniques to supercharge the political market. We may find that 2017 is the year that customers start paying just as much attention to a newspaper’s front page as they do to the back.

Jonathan Patterson is the industry lead for egaming at Qubit. He works with operators such as Ladbrokes and Sky Betting & Gaming, helping them harness data effectively and provide customers with relevant, timely digital experiences.