—TechRound does not recommend or endorse any financial, investment or gambling practices. All articles are purely informational—
According to Statista, just under 25% of people in the UK have taken part in some type of online gambling in the past four weeks. The majority of this gambling is done through online casinos and sportsbooks, which are now extremely easy for the public to access.
With millions of people now regularly gambling online, it’s led to the iGaming industry shifting its focus to data. All of the leading gambling sites you can think of, such as the UK bookies on minimumdepositbettingsites, are collecting data player data on a large scale, with the purpose being to:
- Improve marketing campaigns
- Understand player trends and behaviors
- Provide players with greater incentives (e.g. offering more slot games if the data indicates it’s what players want)
Essentially, data has become a goldmine for iGaming operators looking to make smart, data-driven decisions. This is an especially effective strategy in the modern era, too, as the industry is jam-packed with countless different casino and sports betting sites. What iGaming operators can do is use data to gain a competitive edge over their rivals, converting ‘new players’ into ‘repeat players.’
What Data Do Online Gambling Companies Collect?
Online casinos and sportsbooks are constantly collecting data from players and site visitors. This data is then translated into actionable insights, allowing companies to boost engagement, personalize the player experience, and more. Specifically, a large portion of the data is collected around the following factors.
Geographic Location
One of the key things that iGaming operators collect data on is geographic location.
They want to know where their players are from and how they found their site to begin with (e.g. Google). From here, operators can use this data to their advantage, such as expanding to new countries and tailoring future marketing campaigns to specific areas.
For example, bet365 was experiencing interest from overseas US players for over a decade before the company finally decided to expand to some of the biggest states in America, including Arizona, New Jersey, and Ohio. This was a bold move to make and it was all based on data.
Payment Methods
Payment methods are a big source of interest to iGaming operators.
By knowing which payment methods are most popular with players, it enables them to adapt accordingly.
One of the most exciting trends over recent years has been the rise of crypto gambling. Between around 2015 and 2020, crypto gambling started picking up speed and eventually the demand reached a point where gambling operators could no longer ignore it.
Since then, countless popular gambling sites, such as FanDuel and Stake, have started accepting cryptocurrency like Bitcoin Cash. This is something they’ve benefited from greatly, as it’s boosted their player counts massively (and the crypto gambling market size has since reached a value of $250 million).
Similarly, iGaming operators have also adapted by starting to accept other modern payment methods, too. One of the best examples of this is Apple Pay, which is especially popular amongst younger gamblers who use their iPhones to bet on sports and play casino games. Of course, you also have Google Pay, PayPal, and other payment mediums, too, which are all driving engagement.
Player Numbers
Every month, online casinos and sportsbooks assess their player numbers.
Is the number of players up or down? If it’s down, why are we losing players? If it’s up, what are we doing right? These are the types of questions that data collection leads to.
Often, when iGaming companies experience a drop in players, they will quickly take action to resolve it, such as offering free spins and sending out marketing emails to existing (and past) players. The key is to always take action based on the data and to never ignore it.
Average Monthly Spend
Reports on average monthly spend, bets placed, and profit to loss ratios are regularly generated by leading online casinos and sportsbooks. These reports are great for overall analysis and provide an excellent insight into player behavior.
For example, if there’s an upcoming sports tournament, such as the FIFA World Cup, a sports betting site might start running marketing campaigns targeted towards football fans. During the month of the World Cup, they can then check to see the number of bets placed and whether or not their campaigns have achieved the desired outcome.
Bonus and Promotion Activation
One of the number marketing strategies gambling sites use to attract players is offering bonuses and special promotions.
Usually, these offers come in the form of freebies, such as “100 Free Spins” or “£50 Cash Bonus”. More often than not, they can only be activated with a code. Marketing teams will then regularly sit down to analyze how many new players have signed up as a result of the bonuses and promotions.
If the data is positive (e.g. 500 new players signed up using the ‘Free Spins’ bonus code) then it will provide the casino with incentive to keep the bonus offer going so that even more players can sign-up. Similarly, if a bonus or promotion has flopped and failed to attract engagement, it allows operators to cancel it and create new bonuses instead that are based on player preferences.
Time Spent on Site
The total time that users spend on gambling sites is very important to operators.
Research from cambridge.org previously found that male players spend an average of 2.8 hours per online gambling session while female players spend 3.4 hours – and insights like this are extremely valuable.
Specifically, operators want to know where you’re spending the most time. For instance, are players spending more time on the slots than any other type of casino game on offer? If so, should we boost our slot offerings to take engagement levels even higher? All kinds of analytics are looked at so that actionable insights can then be taken, which is what all of the leading operators, including the likes of DraftKings and BetMGM, are doing.
When iGaming sites are experiencing low engagement, they’ll take action in a variety of different ways. This might include adding more games to their libraries, improving odds, or simply giving their sites a makeover to make them more attractive. Whichever actions are taken, though, they’re almost always based on what the data is telling them.
Moving forward, big data will continue to be one of the key tools used by iGaming operators.
The data they collect will allow them to provide a better player experience, make smart changes to their offerings, increase player numbers, and more. Not only does this benefit them, but it also benefits the players, too.
Ultimately, more data collection schemes will also be launched by operators, with players being given the option to opt-in or (alternatively) opt-out. This is already becoming a common practice, so you can expect it to increase twofold over the coming decade.
—TechRound does not recommend or endorse any financial, investment or gambling practices. All articles are purely informational—
