Opportunity knocks

June has been an exciting month for gambling brands, with the Premier League and horseracing both returning behind closed doors. However, with credit card restrictions now in effect, further regulation on the horizon and a global recession looming there are clearly challenges ahead.

The past decade has been one of huge growth for the sector, but this has led to increasingly competitive strategies where the acquisition of committed gamblers and high-rollers via sign-up bonuses and more has been the core aim. But the more brands have gone after these customers, the more pigeon-holed they have become. Everything from business models, to brands, to product innovations, to web-design has been aimed at attracting a certain type of consumer.

Next generation

There is plenty of research to show that the youth of today simply don’t have enough money in their pockets to be spending £50 a week on betting, and with the economy in disarray it would be wholly irresponsible to lead them down that path.

Over the past decade many online gambling sites have been too focused on persuading people who perhaps should be gambling less to gamble more. This has led to a steady stream of homogenous offers, and now that regulation has caught up they’re finding that this pool of committed gamblers is shrinking away and gambling has been pigeon-holed into a certain demographic.

Gambling brands who want to grow over the next five years will not be able to rely on poaching existing gamblers from competitors with free bets or new slot games, instead they will need to find a new pool of customers.

The good news is that the essence of gambling is not football or horseracing. Ultimately, gambling is about dopamine release. It’s a natural behaviour, which appeals across gender, age group or any other demographic. Studies have shown that it is even popular in the animal kingdom, and is loved, in particularly by pigeons.

Unfortunately – because it would make a cracking headline – I’m not saying that gambling brands should shift their focus and start targeting pigeons; the point is that gambling can be enjoyed by anyone, and there is huge opportunity for growth outside of the existing pool of gamblers.

For a case study, cast your mind back to 2013 when Candy Crush Saga was being played 700 million times a day by 130 million unique monthly users. The game appealed across demographics, with a 50/50 gender split. It was easy to pick up, offered snackable gameplay, and, pivotally, it was free play.

In fact, the vast majority of players have never paid anything for the game, and back in 2013 over 70% of people on the final level had got there without paying a penny. Despite that the game was taking in an estimated £500,000 a day, made from small in-game purchases of between £0.99 and £4.99.

Now, Candy Crush is not technically ‘gambling’, but it is based on the exact same cognitive behaviour, and the business lesson remains that scale can be turned into revenue, even if the average value of a playing session is less than one pence. All you have to do is make a good enough game.

Over the next decade, game quality is going to be paramount. The gambling brands that can apply behavioural analysis and neuroscience in their gamification to create environments with a low barrier to access where players have minimal stakes and losses but maximum dwell time will be the ones who succeed.

It’s time to widen the net and lower the stakes.

In 2015 Gareth Owen co-founded ROAST with Ollie Bishop. Owen was responsible for the quality of product offering, driving innovation in areas such as voice search and Amazon and growing the group from one to four agencies. In 2019, he moved to group MD of TIPi Group where he oversees the business’ growth and ensures a more efficient partnership between each agency. He also takes responsibility for strategic thinking across the group’s business offerings.