The next phase of the battle – Tech & innovation

The story is well told so far. In 2018, the New Jersey government, facing opposition from a coalition of interest groups and anti-gambling organizations, successfully pushed the Murphy v. NCAA lawsuit into the docket through various appellate jurisdictions by Hook and the crooks. Did. of the Supreme Court.

Elena Kagen has since overturned the lower court’s ruling and joined the conservative majority in a 6-3 decision on the 10th to declare Congress’ Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act unconstitutional.^th Correction reason. State legalization of sports betting in the United States has paved the way for states.

whirlpool

The opening of the US market was the beginning of what ended up being a huge bidding war for US sports bettors.FanDuel, DraftKings, MGM, Ceasars, who else?

The competition seemed too tough for all but the biggest operators. As huge marketing costs began to show up as a bright red spot on their balance sheets, carriers began cutting back on spending. Only Flutter-owned FanDuel is able to keep spending, and in the states where he operates, he’s making a solid profit with a 51% market share.

The battle for consumer acquisition in the U.S. isn’t over yet, but aside from the launch of a few big new markets, at least for now, the period of explosive growth seems to be coming to an end. The trick is to keep players in place rather than bringing them in new.

1 penny saved

User acquisition isn’t purely about spending money, but it’s definitely a big part of the story. User retention, on the other hand, is a delicate game that hinges on the actual quality of the product an operator produces.

Sportradar customer retention expert Blaž Žitnik explains the difference in value between retained and acquired players:

“From my point of view, the easiest comparison here is very similar to hiring versus retaining current employees. and education, etc.”

“And after a while you have very good resources. The same goes for retention, so you have to focus on them. You have to give them what they want. Both equally It’s important, when it comes to effort, I would say that usually more effort is spent on acquisition than on retention.”

Especially in a marketing-heavy business environment like the US, it’s easy to see the high relative value of retained users. At one point during the push, Ceasars was offering users his $3000 sign-up bonus. For the operator to recoup its value, the player’s lifetime expenditure must clearly exceed that amount and not other costs necessary to maintain it. they were engaged.

So what are the factors that influence a player’s decision to stay or move?

strange socks

Not surprisingly, operators should be careful that users aren’t overly sentimental about the platform. Zitnik says they mostly care about the odds.

“According to a recently released white paper, there are three common reasons players switch to another operator,” Žitnik said.

“Very simply put, it’s about making the odds more attractive, offering more variety of odds and finally improving the user experience. But in general I think it’s the whole package. Ultimately you set the odds as part of the user experience, so from my perspective it all comes down to user experience and a user-centric approach.”

Žitnik offers an almost philosophical answer to survey data. Mundane user concerns about getting the best odds drive results, but for her Managing Director the odds themselves are all part of her wider user experience.

Unexpectedly, a good user experience is highly subjective and varies greatly by region, as Zitnik outlines.

“First of all, it varies from country to country. So if you ask Europeans and Americans, you will get very different answers,” Zitnik said.

“There are also regulatory issues, so in some markets there are different verticals you can bet on.”

“And there are also differences in how the content is presented. In Germany, for example, you cannot bet on cards or corners. “

“So you have to understand the needs of different markets and understand that different end users have different needs.

Another key area where user experience can make a big difference is helping users better interpret the increasingly complex information and signals they receive from sportsbooks.

It stands to reason

The rise of live betting has forced operators to build tools that allow users to make sense of the fast-moving, informative feeds being broadcast.

“In general, tools that incorporate data have enabled better people to make informed betting decisions, and I think that’s the key part,” said Žitnik.

“Back when there was only pre-match betting, it was pretty easy. Now with the increasing importance of live betting, you need visualization and you need live data to support what is happening on the pitch right now. ”

“We need to gain insight, and we need to personalize it to the individual user. It’s very important to be able to pull it off.”

Žitnik offers a vision of what sportsbooks could look like in the future if they successfully integrate these new services.

“Right now the home page is very static and offers very generic visualizations. I believe.”

“We are trying to understand who the end-user is. To achieve that goal, based on that user’s preferences, we may modify at least one piece of content, if not the entire homepage, etc. Personalized.”

“Here, of course, artificial intelligence plays a key role in collecting data and processing algorithms. Trial and learning play a key role, and the more data, the better.”