SBC Barcelona: How sports gamification will change the betting industry status quo

The SBC Summit Barcelona was full of interesting developments during the first day of the event. One of the panels Casino Guru News attended was on the future of sports gamification and how it can drive engagement with younger audiences.

The panel, aptly named "Sports gamification – has the future finally arrived," reunited several industry heavyweights, including Genius Sports Head of Business Development Judd Goldstein, LiveScore Group Marketing Director Richard Leask, Adjarabet Performance Marketing Director Vakhtang Mdivani and Shape Games CCO & Board Member Morten Pedersen Tonnesen, and moderated by Sportingtech CEO Ivo Doroteia.

The panel focused on discussing what sports and media companies can do to better engage with Generation Z customers and audiences and whether sports gamification is the answer to the demographic woesthat sports are experiencing. Plenty of innovation has been driving positive results in the sector in terms of engagement with younger audiences, and this is precisely what was discussed on Wednesday.

Gamification plays an important part in the industry, and the speakers agreed that incorporating this concept into sports will be key to the segment’s longevity. The panel attendees acknowledged that one way to bolster engagement in the sector is through the increase of share-time.

Examples and parallels were drawn with the esports industry, both from a betting and entertainment point of view, with the speakers agreeing that the sports industry has a lot to learn from how competitive video gaming succeeds in attracting younger audiences.

Gamification should not be an end in itself, and it should be used smartly, the panel participants added. They said that gamification, for example, can be used to reactivate dormant audiences. But this is only half of the consumer journey back, and sports companies will also have to do their part.

In order for gamification to succeed in reactivating consumers, the products that consumers find, whether it’s sports betting or something else, must be user-friendly and easy to use.

Personalization is another very important part of this journey and the future of the industry. Gamification fits right into the sports betting concept, and it also creates the opportunity to personalize and add value to the customer experience.

The goal with F2P games is reactivation, confirmed Judd Goldstein. "It’s simple, easy-to-play products," it’s about "getting audiences back." Many of the audiences who engage with F2P games are also inclined to place a bet, he explained. Consumers are more willing to deposit money and place bets again, as a result of their experience with F2P games.

Free-to-play games are increasingly important but driving the message home to big companies can be challenging. Then again, sports companies need to also understand what market they are entering into, as the local preferences of audiences will play a huge part in determining which company succeeds and which does not. For example, Latin America is completely different from the United Kingdom and vice versa.

Overall, the panel offered an optimistic outlook for the industry, where the right changes have begun spinning their wheels, but they need some calibration to elicit the strongest, best possible results.

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