The Gamification of Sports Betting
Betting on sports and playing games for money have both existed for millennia but for most of history sports betting and games were seen as two very different things. Before online betting became a thing sports and games were rarely combined but these days most gambling sites offers sports alongside casino and other game products. Still, there has up to now be a degree of separation between the two with those just wanting to bet on sports being able to through the sportsbook while staying away from the gaming side.
Betting companies know they can make more money from gaming, however, and this is one reason they put on the hard cross-sell for sports bettors to try out various slots and games. That is not a new practice but what has now started to creep in as another tool to engage sports punters in games is the gamification of sports betting itself.
What do we mean by gamification in relation to betting? Gamification adds typical elements of game playing to other products, for example scoring points or competing with others. Things such as loot boxes to win additional bonuses, fantasy betting against other people for sports such as football, points scoring for betting that give ‘added rewards’, effectively anything that takes a standard sports betting product and adds an element of gaming to it.
The idea being to insert aspects you would usually find in casinos or video games into sports to add to their entertainment value. Integrating game dynamics to increase consumer ‘motivation’ is novel strategy, it has been used for decades to get people more engaged in all sorts of goods and services but in more recent times it has been latched onto by gambling companies.
It is used a tool to get people more engaged with what they are betting, to encourage them to be loyal and also to try and get people interested in the gaming side more. Those in the industry say they are doing this because it is what customers want. A statement form casino and sports betting provider SoftSwiss in recent times stated that “gamification is what the market demands right now”. It begs the question, though, as to whether adding gaming to sports betting adds an a degree of fun and more rewards or encourages people to bet more or move over to more hardcore casino and slots games?
SoftSwiss Gamifies Sportsbook With Lootbox Bonus
The SoftSwiss sportsbook recently introduced the world to its Lootbox bonus, which it says is there to broaden the player experience and allow bettors to win extra bonuses within the sports betting process. This marks the first sports betting solution to offer the popular tool, rewarding players with a certain number of bonus points while they place wagers on their favourite sports events. Once enough points have been accumulated to activate the bonus, then players have the chance to select one of the loot boxes appearing on-screen. Up to three free bets can be earned this way, and these are equal to the player’s average wager.
And it doesn’t look like SoftSwiss will be ending the gamification of its sportsbook there, either. Another upcoming project will see it present gamers with exclusive bonus type for sports betting solutions in the form of Hunting Tournaments.
The introduction of receiving bonuses via loot boxes when you amass points is quite an interesting one, and it is a popular inclusion in the eSports and video gaming world already. Loot boxes have, for a couple of years now, been the subject of much scrutinization by governments in multiple countries. Belgium went as far as banning loot boxes in video games back in 2018, citing them as being another way for people to get involved in gambling, which violates the legislation in the country.
Of course, with children being able to access video games and potentially those loot boxes as well, this led to even more criticism of their introduction from concerned parents.
That being said, players are already engaging in gambling if they’re betting at a sportsbook, so they will already be deemed of a legal age to gamble. Choosing a loot box for a random prize after amassing bonus points is also a different and unique way of going about receiving free bets. These are usually provided as a reward for depositing and betting at a bookmaker’s site, rather than as a random prize.
And SoftSwiss says this is precisely what the sports betting scene has been demanding lately. Speaking on the launch of the Lootbox bonus, SoftSwiss sportsbook Product Owner, Alexander Kamenetskyi said,
“When developing new bonuses, we always pay attention to market trends and the needs of the player and operators. Gamification is what the market demands right now and it’s one of the key goals for sportsbook”.
He went on to state that the Lootbox bonus operates as a fantastic addition to the current features that SoftSwiss already provides. Furthermore, he commented that it serves as a new bonus type for the sports betting scene, so this makes it “a double pleasure” to offer such tools.
Gamification of Sports “Is The Future”
In 2020, the Head of Sports Partnerships for Verizon Media and Yahoo! Sports, Ishwara Glassman Chrein sat down with Sports Betting USA. As well as providing her thoughts on subjects like the impact that 5G technology is having and the importance of personalisation, she spoke on the gamification of sports herself.
During the interview, she was asked if there was a value in promoting sports betting as being “part of the ‘entertainment industry’” rather than as a sector of the gambling scene as it always has been.
Her response was that the goal of Verizon Media and Yahoo Sports! is to make sports a fun thing for people and to “serve them with whichever products they enjoy”. She spoke of the future of sports being people getting the chance to see different telecast options surrounding one and the same game – i.e., the traditional feed, a fantasy feed, a statistics feed, a betting feed, and so on. Through this, players can see how the last play affected their bet and then place a bet on the next play accordingly.
Chrein said that they knew that in-play betting will grow, and the introduction of 5G technology is bound to help that. She closed off her statement on that by saying that “gamification of sports is the future”.
And true to form, sports betting companies and sports organisations in general began tapping into the power of gamified experiences as a way of driving retention and conversions within their campaigns. But how is gamification in betting benefitting the sportsbooks and why would they want to use it when sports betting is often already an entertaining experience?
Gamification: How and Why?
Just to hammer one point home: gamification does not mean that in-app games or casino games will be created specifically for sports bettors to play. Instead, it relates to a technique that is used to lead players through standard experiences in a way that makes it feel like a game. In essence, sports betting is enhanced to become more entertaining by inserting certain elements into it that you would usually find in video games or casino games, for example.
Games allow people to become more engaged in a product. They maintain a person’s interest and keep them coming back for more in the future. Some companies utilise quite shallow gamification schemes though, such as the addition of digital trophies or leader boards or badges, for example. Gamification is so much more than this. Trophies and badges are relatively nice, but they are far away from what many deem to be the key to a successfully gamified experience in relation to sports betting.
Sports betting actually already features a huge gamification element, which is the key reason why many people continue engaging in it. And that element is the unpredictability of a wager. But some bookmakers and software developers take that further. The biggest driver that makes up a gamified experience is social influence. Social betting has rapidly grown in popularity, and while multiple reasons could be behind this, communities are often a big key to keeping people loyal to a brand. Visiting a land-based bookmaker was often considered to be a social experience in itself, but the digital world hasn’t really had that same draw. And instead of trying to catch up with this, the online sports betting world wants to make a much more modern, global version of such. This allows players to connect with betting friends or other like-minded individuals from all over the globe.
Eoin Ryan serves as the Head of Sportsbook Product for BetVictor, and he believes that the socialisation of betting is something that will continue increasing in popularity. He says that there will be a focus on building features and functionality that allow sports bettors to share their betting successes and other accolades within their own private social group. Vibrant social communities are expected to be introduced through betting apps, uniting people with a common interest in sports betting. Different companies will, and have, gone about the social betting aspect in different ways, of course.
Other Gamification Methods
As things stand at the moment, sports betting fans usually need to take certain steps to acquire a reward. Progress bars at sportsbooks are not uncommon, and once a player reaches the end of that bar, they receive a reward. Of course, that already reinforces the feeling that you have accomplished something (especially if it comes on top of a winning sports wager).
Ownership and possession are something else that many sportsbooks utilise. Off of the back of a promotion, you may end up coming into possession of something. Free bets or bonus points can be acquired this way. Looking at one app as an example, chests and crystals are awarded to you simply for logging into your sports betting account or spinning a wheel of fortune after placing a bet. These offer exciting rewards, and again, that gamification technique results in people returning to use the app over and over again.
Scarcity and impatience is a bit of a black hat mechanic that can be used by companies in various industries, and it has started being abused by many of them, too. You only need to take a look at a hotel booking website for example, where you’re intending to book a room for a few days and you see the flashing words, “Hurry! Only 1 room left at this price”. This is something that motivates you to go ahead and book it, despite the fact that there is a strong potential that the hotel has many other rooms available at the same price (and sometimes less, depending upon which website it is booked through). Promotions and other offers are manifestations of that kind of thing – they have an expiration date, a countdown and so on, which prompt you into taking part. The likelihood is that there will be another promotion of equal or similar value introduced in a week or two that you can take advantage of, too.
Sports betting companies are taking notice of the demand for gamification, without a doubt, and SoftSwiss has already stated that there is a demand for it, too. There are no right or wrong ways of them implementing this into their products, due to the fact that multiple paths can be taken. The sportsbooks that have much more of an ethical and moral practice going on will likely introduce gamification methods that are of benefit to both players and themselves, whereas those on the other end of the spectrum will be looking to reap as much of the rewards for the company.
Obviously, in the end, whatever the case is, sportsbooks will likely benefit from gamification. Sports bettors may see the rewards from the sites and then be enticed to play online casino games as a result. And this is an ideal outcome for a gambling platform, because a casino is 5x more lucrative than sports betting. There is also less risk to the site, due to the guaranteed edge that they have when it comes to casino games.
