The role of online marketing in sports betting
How can online marketing benefit sports betting?
The internet is an avenue that presents significant and attractive marketing opportunities. Hence, many small- and medium-sized enterprises enhance their business visibility through SEO or search engine optimisation. Online sports betting can also benefit from this.
With effective SEO strategies for online marketing, small companies and booming market environments like online sports betting can appear ahead of larger, more well-known enterprises on search results.
Marketing strategies are essential in market environments with intense competition, minimal product differentiation, and limited price elasticity, just like in online sports betting. Hence, it’s also equally important to invest in mobile device management solutions to remotely monitor devices used for online marketing and check for troubleshooting issues.
Suppose you’re into sports wagering and want to know more about this industry. In that case, this article will talk about the growth of this sector, the impacts of sports betting advertising, and other pertinent information about the role of online marketing in sports betting.
The rise of the online sports betting industry
The online sports betting industry is a rapidly growing sector of the global economy.
Bookmakers appear to have succeeded in normalising betting on the outcome of a sporting competition because of the vast influence of sports content and nascent internet regulatory framework.
Sports betting has traditionally been an asynchronous experience wherein game watching verifies the results of a stake placed days or hours before the game.
Today, online betting via mobile devices incorporates in-play betting options that synchronise wagering and watching activities.
For this reason, not only have sports fans become more aware of sports competitions, but their sports involvement has also grown.
As telecommunication technologies develop continuously, the cost of transmitting sports events worldwide has also decreased. Hence, this phenomenon has brought sports fans and competitions together in unprecedented ways.
Bookmakers have been so clever to capitalise on the massive amount of televised sporting events available to consumers.
Over the last couple of years, the progressive transformation of sports into a commodity wouldn’t have been possible without the primary contribution of mass-mediated sports.
Today, betting is customary in everyday sports media because of the affiliation of betting sites in online marketing.
Most sports websites are affiliate partners of various sportsbooks. In addition, these sports media platforms have helped journalists transition from being sports experts to betting experts.
Some of these writers write news stories shaped for betting purposes. Some articles are written to purposely build a narrative of a probable game outcome while subtly encouraging people to place a bet on that matchup.
Nowadays, most sports news stories also feature betting odds that attract more fans to engage in betting activities.
For instance, you’re an avid reader of a sports website who loves getting updates about the NBA. A banner from the sports site directs you to a betting site. After much thought, you eventually place a bet there.
The sports site will then receive a proportion of the net gaming revenue generated in that betting activity.
In 2012, gambling websites were perceived to attract 50% of their clients through affiliate marketing. If that’s the case for online sports betting, then it’ll be safe to assume that a large portion of that percentage must come from sites targeting sports fans.
Impact of gambling advertising
Typically, advertising depicts gambling as an exciting endeavour that promises instant financial and social rewards. In some ads, gambling is portrayed as an everyday activity that is increasingly linked to sports.
Advertisements about gambling seem to have more impact on a particular group of people.
A 2018 study from the Journal of Behavioral Addictions showed that young people had high advertising recall. Most of them could name at least one betting brand.
Although most young people took promotions at face value, some could engage with and critically challenge the marketing messages.
Increasing evidence suggests that minors engage in gambling and develop more gambling-related problems than any other age group.
Research from the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, and Norway shows that 63% to 82% of teens aged 12 to 17 gamble annually. The literature also states that 4% to 7% of adolescents display severe patterns of pathological gambling. Meanwhile, 10% to 15% are at risk of developing or returning to chronic gambling behaviours.
A 2021 systematic review published in Frontiers in Psychiatry indicated that moderate-risk gamblers were more likely to report seeing gambling promotions in social media. Nearly 30% of them said that gambling advertisements on that platform had increased their problem.
Still, the studies regarding the effects of sports-embedded gambling promotions are in their infancy. Hence, more research is necessary to determine the long-term impact of gambling advertising on people, especially young adults.
Suggestions for sports betting operators
- Develop social marketing strategies targeting high-risk groups to counter messages promoting sports wagering to minimise sports betting problems.
- Provide betting and deposit limits to bettors to help manage their betting activities efficiently. Their website must also include gambling help resources and services.
- Review the accuracy of sports betting advertisements, especially bonus promotions like money-back guarantees and free bets that require matching deposits.
Conclusion
The product innovations resulting from the internet’s popularity have transformed the essence of sports betting. However, more research is vital to understand the role of sports betting promotions in shaping consumer behaviour and attitudes.
Meanwhile, gambling industry regulators must develop policies and guidelines to protect those at risk of sports gambling-related problems.
If you think you have gambling problems, make sure to find the proper support from organisations that offer tailored treatments and confidential advice on a range of gambling issues.
