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Taking the gamble out of Accelerating Growth: Maximising Your Marketing in New Sportsbetting Markets
By: Kalen Bushe VP Customer Growth at TrafficGuard
Too many sportsbooks are wasting their marketing dollars. As new markets open, they have to make every dollar count when it comes to winning to new players. Regions like the Middle East and Latin America (LATAM) are opening, and it is critical that sportsbooks optimise their marketing to win market share.
These emerging markets present sportsbooks with a golden ticket to expand into a new region and increase profits. These opportunities are being matched with new complexities in their digital marketing activities. Invalid traffic (IVT) is as a barrier to expansion by draining digital advertising budgets and reducing ROI without sportsbooks recognising it.
IVT encompasses any activity originating from sources lacking genuine user interest, including ad fraud, bots or returning users. While invalid traffic goes unchecked, sportsbooks won’t see the full value of their digital advertising campaigns and lose a competitive edge in new markets.
70% of surveyed iGaming operators reported to be expanding into online gaming markets in Central and South America in the next three years according to a GBG survey. This means there’s a lot to win by getting marketing right and not wasting advertising spend on attracting the wrong audiences, fraud or bots.
They key is to understand potential opportunities and recognise risks in digital marketing. Every sportsbook needs to maximise ROI on every dollar they are spending, and it becomes even more crucial when trying to gain critical mass in newly opened markets.
Bots, Timewasters, Fakers and Fraud
Legislation is loosening worldwide, over the past few years North America has seen numerous states legalise sports betting. Similar changes have happened in Brazil, where online gambling regulations were passed in late 2023. These changes have paved the way for sportsbooks to explore exciting new markets.
However, sportsbooks are being fed inaccurate campaign data by IVT. This inflates impressions and impacts future ad campaigns as sportsbooks funnel ad spend into projects that aren’t performing as well as it would seem, giving competitors the chance to take the lead in new markets.
IVT includes non-human traffic which typically takes the form of bots powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Bots can create a multitude of fake accounts and use them to exploit promotions undetected. Despite the implementation of rigorous registration verification checks by many operators to combat this issue, it remains a significant challenge. This poses a hurdle for sportsbooks seeking to attract users and carve out a presence in new markets, especially with bonuses, which can lead to a drain on their campaign resources. On average, around 5-7% of sports betting campaigns suffer from this form of media loss.
Bots aren’t the sole concern for sportsbooks in safeguarding against inauthentic engagement. Navigational traffic stemming from returning users, who are already part of the customer base, also poses a significant challenge as they unintentionally deplete budgets. When these users try to reach a site via search engines, they inadvertently click on paid brand advertisements, consequently inflating customer acquisition costs (CACs) without contributing to conversions, thereby causing losses for the sportsbook. Without an effective strategy to manage returning users, optimising campaign value becomes considerably more difficult.
Taking Down Barriers to Growth
For sportsbooks to flourish in emerging markets, the first step is to counter IVT. IVT damages budgets by remaining undetected, therefore it’s crucial that sportsbooks maintain visibility into their traffic.
Monitoring traffic as it passes through systems is key. Through this, sportsbooks can identify any irregularities, such as traffic from an unknown origin. This could be an indicator of IVT, which can then be identified and dealt with before the campaign can be interfered with.
The increasing frequency of non-genuine engagement is difficult for teams to monitor unaided. An ad verification platform can fill in the gaps and accurately pinpoint any threats and mitigate them directly. These platforms work to validate traffic in real-time, determining the origin of traffic and blocking it from entering systems if it’s suspicious to proactively protect budgets.
It is also possible to control the number of times returning users interact with your campaigns without risking damaging the relationship they have with sportsbooks. Setting custom verification rules is an effective method of limiting the number of times an ad can be clicked on by a certain user. Once the user reaches the threshold for clicks, they’re prevented from seeing it, which significantly reduces cost-per-click (CPC) rates.
This can be further expanded upon by deploying shadow campaigns. These are an effective way of maintaining optimal engagement by duplicating current campaigns set up with lower CPC. This funnels returning users away and prevents them from driving up costs. The budget saved can then be committed to growth in new regions.
Winning Big in New Markets
The sports betting industry is opening doors worldwide for sportsbooks to gain audiences in places they never could before. Excelling in newly legalised markets against a multitude of competitors is a difficult task, only being made harder by the interference of IVT.
By tackling non-genuine engagement, sportsbooks give themselves the advantage back over competitors. With full visibility and control over campaigns, their full potential can be realised to ensure sportsbooks can focus on global expansion.
The Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention and DigitalPlay Summit (DPS) closed its doors in April having seen the busiest show floor in Anaheim, CA yet. The exhibitors and education sessions enjoyed by operators and tribal leaders bode well for a return to San Diego, California in 2025 with iGaming firmly on the radar of many.
With more visitors through the door than 2022’s event in the same location, over 7,000 industry delegates engaged with an impressive roster of major industry stakeholders.
New for 2024 was the DPS which offered attendees the chance to discover development in iGaming and sports betting, expanding the opportunities at Indian gaming’s flagship event.
Leading providers including IGT, Everi, Konami, Playtech, Chalkline, Continent 8, and GBank, as well as other brands such as DraftKings and FanDuel, headlined the DPS and contributed to the over 400 booths that participated in the show.
Education was another key focus across the two days with the most comprehensive seminar program yet. Taking the DPS’ inaugural narrative into the seminar rooms, online casino and sports betting deep-dives were strengthened by a series of sessions examining technologies such as AI and how they can maintain tribal government gaming’s growth.
Another first was the Sustainable Gambling Zone (SGZ) which provided a focal point for the industry’s drive to share best practices and the latest innovations in operating sustainably.
With recent years perforated by challenges concerning the future of sports betting, the 2024 event was dominated by positive talk of the growth potential brought by cutting-edge technology and its deployment across the wider tribal gaming sector, boding well for the ever-present future introduction of iGaming.
Feedback from exhibitors and visitors heralded the evolution of event space that showcased dedicated solutions to pressing issues and trending topics in the industry.
The 2025 Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention, taking place March 31 – April 3 in San Diego, California, will once again include the DigitalPlay Summit and SGZ, and is already much anticipated.
Marcus Yoder, Chief Commercial Officer, Playtech USA, said: “It’s a pivotal time for iGaming and sports betting in the US. The conversations we were able to have at DPS with tribal leaders were critical to building the future.”
Gavin Knapp, Senior Director of Sales and BD at Light & Wonder, said: “iGaming is coming. It’s not a matter of if, but when, which is why the content covered at DPS was critical. Tribal markets are vastly important and are a natural extension to the iGaming ecosystem.”
Ernest Stevens, Jr, Indian Gaming Association Chairman, said: “It’s clear from the vast majority of the conversations held in Anaheim that we’re more aligned than ever on the way forward and the manner in which we’re going to get there together.
“Tribal government gaming leads the industry in its passion and responsibility to build and evolve a sustainable gaming infrastructure – giving back to and supporting local communities and future generations. Our annual event provides the perfect platform for sharing that passion and the insight that drives it. I know that next year’s gathering in San Diego will continue in that same collaborative vein and urge everyone who shares our vision to mark it in their calendar.”
Pragmatic Play, a leading content supplier to the iGaming industry, is set to participate in CGS Santiago this month, as the provider seeks further inroads across the continent.
The provider is also the standalone Diamond Sponsor at the event, which takes place at Espacio Riesco in the country’s capital, Santiago, on May 29 and 30.
Pragmatic Play is set to attend the event as a renowned actor in the market, for its multi-product offering, comprising Slots, Live Casino content, Virtual Sports, Sportsbook, and Bingo, including fan-favorite titles Gates of Olympus and the popular Blackjack X.
With expo season now in full swing, CGS Santiago marks another conference in the region for the supplier, following its presence at BiS – SiGMA Americas in Brazil, GAT Expo in Colombia, and SBC Summit Rio earlier this year.
Victor Arias, Vice President of Latin American Operations at ARRISE powering Pragmatic Play, said: “Latin America remains a key focus for Pragmatic Play as it gears up to make meaningful connections in Chile, a region full of potential as the iGaming industry continues to evolve in this part of the world. Pragmatic Play is also proud to be a Diamond Sponsor at this year’s expo, showcasing the importance that CGS Santiago represents and the immense opportunities that the two-day event has on offer.”
The leading slot game provider, Endorphina, has just confirmed its presence at this year’s PGS Lima event, which will be held at the Jockey Exhibition Center in Lima, Peru, from 12-13th June. This year, Endorphina invites attendees to visit its colorful stand number 65, which will be inspired by the famous holiday, Dia de Los Muertos.
This year, Endorphina’s stand aims to fully embody the uplifting spirit of Dia de Los Muertos while showcasing its revolutionary slot with the same name. In the slot, players encounter the symbolic Catrina, as well as the colored skulls, which represent the true spirit of this festive day. Furthermore, Endorphina has arranged a Mariachi band to entertain attendees, further elevating the Dia de Los Muertos experience.
The Peru Gaming Show is the largest international gaming fair in Latin America, and this year, the event will celebrate its 22nd anniversary. This annual event brings together the top game manufacturers, software developers, and platforms in the world to exhibit their most innovative products and services.
Join Endorphina’s celebration of Dia de Los Muertos at stand number 65, and embrace the ambiance of this year’s PGS Lima from 12-13th June!
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