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Competitive Assay in the Gambling Niche: Recipe for Success

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Updated 20.12.2024

Monitoring the actions of other brands is the basis of a smart strategy and a skill that every entrepreneur should have. Conclusions drawn from such research allow operators to make the right decisions and outline growth points.

Experts from the Smart Money studio talk about the specifics of examining the opponents’ entertainment services. You will learn what goals to set and which data sources are worth considering to achieve the most relevant results.

About the Concept

Competitive analysis in gambling: general info

It identifies the strengths and weaknesses of casinos that offer similar or identical products.

The tool makes it possible to understand the following aspects:

  • who is the operator's rival in the fight for players' attention;
  • what strategies competitors use to promote solutions;
  • position in the market that business owners take.

Such analysis in the gambling niche is essential for developing a successful marketing strategy. Brands can obtain valuable info about their advantages and disadvantages to improve the created product range.

Factors affecting the concurrence in the casino and sportsbook industry:

  1. Technologies. These include virtual and augmented reality, mobile apps, blockchain, artificial intelligence, gamification, and other innovations.
  2. Regulation and licensing. Entertainment policies of individual countries and entire regions are considered focal points. These include the availability and legality of the placement of bets, current restrictions (on advertising, bonuses, or deposit amounts), and future legislative changes.
  3. Advertising strategies. Among them, we can name bonuses, promotions, and loyalty programs for both operators and their competitors.
  4. Affiliate marketing. It examines the role of partners in attracting new gamblers, the quality of Internet traffic, the return on investment, and other factors.

When It Is Necessary to Study the Rival Brands’ Work

This is a regular process. It should be carried out before the start of promotional activities, the launch of new features, and during the formation of a modified development strategy, gambling tools, etc.

The better a provider understands its competitors, the easier it is to distance itself from them and create a unique product.

It is worth studying the experience of opponents in the following cases:

Launch of the Business

Launch of a casino business: nuances

The analysis will show how overloaded the market is and whether it is worth entering it with a new offer.

When launching an entertainment project, several options are possible:

  1. Lack of competitors. This is a serious reason to think about the risks of entering the sector and why no one has done it before. There can be many reasons, from a strict government policy towards gambling to the low incomes of the population, which is why people cannot even theoretically place bets in casinos or bookmakers’ offices. Examples here can be Morocco, Algeria, the UAE, and other Muslim countries.
  2. Too many opponents. In this case, the market share that beginning entrepreneurs can claim will be small. Business owners are going to need a lot of resources (money, time, and labour) to interest customers who regularly visit other websites. Great Britain, the USA, France, Germany — these are states with a huge number of iGaming operators.
  3. Low competition. It is typical for those jurisdictions that have recently legalised casino activities. A limited number of opponents can be called a temporary phenomenon. If the niche creates good working conditions, it quickly becomes oversaturated with entertainment firms.

Formation of the Gambling Product’s Advantages

To highlight the strengths of an enterprise, it is important to study the benefits and weaknesses of opponents.

It is important to consider the following aspects:

  • how providers attract and retain their audience;
  • what bonuses and games are offered;
  • how firms organise payments and technical support for clients.

Based on the data obtained, it is possible to form a USP. This is what others do not have: exclusive slots, an original loyalty system, a memorable design of the website.

Today, gambling is not only an active placement of bids on the digital platform but also a well-thought-out financial policy, an individual approach to each customer, and impeccable work of support staff. All these points should be considered when creating a unique selling proposition.

Determination of Pricing Policy

In the entertainment sphere, it is affected by many factors:

  • the minimum and maximum cost of a spin;
  • limit on the amount and number of bets;
  • number and size of bonuses;
  • percentage of cashback;
  • amount of commission fees, etc.

Competitive analysis helps to correctly draw up or redistribute the company's budget, taking into account its income (from partnerships, advertising, the deposits of users) and expenses (for marketing, hosting services, salary payments, etc.).

Development of a Promotion Strategy

This task is aimed at attracting and retaining clients.

It is important for operators to study the experience of opponents in terms of:

  • key queries by which they promote digital portals and mobile applications;
  • titles and descriptions in contextual and targeted advertising;
  • frequency of publications on social networks;
  • use of paid search channels;
  • interaction with the media.

Finding Ideas for Growth

Studying competitors is an important tool for both beginning entrepreneurs and experienced businessmen. For the latter, such analysis is a way to understand how and where to move forward, as well as what ways to strengthen the market exist.

The approach will be useful when scaling a business, creating a new set of solutions, or finding channels to attract solvent traffic.

The analysis is always carried out:

  • before entering the international market (horizontal growth);
  • when expanding the current gambling offer in the regulated sector (vertical growth).

How to Study the Work of Competitors in the Entertainment Niche

Competitive research in gambling: features

The process includes several stages:

Statement of Research Objectives

This may be the decision to strengthen positions, change the marketing policy, etc. Performing specific tasks (for example, modification of the gambling portfolio) also involves conducting an analysis.

Making a List of Opponents

The main types of rivals:

  1. Direct. They offer identical goods or services. For online casinos, these are websites that operate in the same jurisdiction, with an identical set of slots and bonus functions.
  2. Indirect. These are companies that offer similar things: bets, poker tournaments, and lottery draws.
  3. “Swing”. Such firms supply different products, which can be replaced by each other.

In the casino field, the attention is paid to the work of large international platforms. These are 888 Holdings, Flutter Entertainment, Bet365, and other industry leaders. An excellent solution would be to study the experience of local providers specialising in selected solutions or regions.

Competitive assay is the collection of data about contenders, including:

  • offered services and their features;
  • market share;
  • pricing policy;
  • advertising strategy;
  • iGaming brand positioning;
  • communication tone;
  • reviews from real customers.

Study of the Collected Data

Let us consider the main stages:

  1. General analysis of activities. This is a revision of the content presented in the portfolio (slots, table entertainment, and scratch cards), bonus policy, service level, available protection methods, obtained licences, certificates of conformity, and promotion methods.
  2. Analysis of user experience. Here, it is worth paying attention to the presence of a UX interface, convenient navigation, as well as pages with a description of the rules of the game and information about the harm from gambling. Important points: the speed of the online casino platform, the quality of graphics or sound, and the response time of the support. Competitive analysis allows operators to understand what players appreciate and expect from betting enterprises.
  3. Analysis of the marketing strategy. Active advertising campaigns, presence in the media and social networks, as well as participation are the main aspects that need to be considered.
  4. Study of financial indicators. This is data on monthly revenue, GGR, the number of active clients, and investment projects.

Sources of information can be very different.

For example, for marketing purposes, it is possible to use several publicly available platforms:

  • Topvisor, Similarweb, Keys.so — to evaluate SEO promotion;
  • SpyWords, Click.ru — to determine keywords for contextual advertising;
  • Livedune, Popsters — to analyse competitors' activity on social networks and study their statistics;
  • Brand Analytics — to evaluate image indicators and frequency of iGaming brand mentions.

Quarterly and annual reports of companies are sources of economic data. They disclose details on GGR (gross gaming revenue), NGR (net profit), taxes paid, and investments.

So far, only large entertainment holdings regularly publish their financial results: Kindred Group, Entain, Flutter Entertainment, Betsson, and other market leaders. For them, disclosing information on income and expenses is part of the ESG strategy.

The Most Common Practices

Competitive analysis practices: features

Among the popular techniques, it is worth highlighting the following options:

  1. SWOT analysis. This is a universal approach aimed at studying 4 groups of factors — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. The method is highly flexible and adaptable. Due to this, it is used in many sectors of the economy, from mechanical engineering and retail to the service industry and gambling.
  2. Porter’s 5 Forces. The approach is focused on 5 main parameters: the market power of suppliers and customers, the level of competition, the threat of the emergence of substitute solutions, and technology companies. The technique was first used at Harvard Business School in 1979 by economist and marketer Michael Porter.
  3. PEST research. Here, the experience of entrepreneurs and their main rivals is examined through the prism of the political, economic, socio-cultural, and innovative environment. If the SWOT and Porter's Five Forces methods are aimed at studying local opponents, PESP is a multi-level study of the macro environment of casino brands.
  4. SPACE. The approach analyses the situation in the exact sector and is suitable for young iGaming startups. The focus is on the firm’s financial capabilities, its assets, available resources, as well as the stability of the regulatory framework and the niche’s economic potential.

Complexity in the Study of Competitors

Let us consider the main problems that operators face:

  1. Market saturation. Betting is highly competitive, especially in countries with clear regulations and a decent standard of living. Every year, the number of online casinos and bookmakers’ offices continues to grow, making the task of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of opponents more difficult.
  2. Reliability of the information. Providers often do not want to reveal details about their work, partners, and target audience, unless this is a direct requirement of the regulator. So far, only large companies publish comprehensive data about themselves, following the chosen ESG strategy.
  3. Variability of legislation. The introduction of new regulations and rules complicates the operation of iGaming brands. They need not only to quickly adapt to changes in the niche but also to continuously monitor the actions of their opponents.

The Main Things about the Concept

Studying the work of other entertainment firms is a useful and effective business tool.

Key aspects that entrepreneurs need to take into account:

  • Research should be carried out before launching a digital platform to determine the advantages of the products and the pricing policy. The tool will be useful for horizontal and vertical growth of the enterprise and help generate new ideas.
  • Among the popular methods of analysis, we can highlight the SWOT, PEST, and SPACE approaches. A detailed study of the sector and the company's positions is provided by the practice based on the Porter’s 5 Forces.
  • The level of competition in the casino and sportsbook field is affected by many factors. These are technologies, regulation, licensing, advertising policy, and affiliate marketing.

The Smart Money studio offers its clients to buy turnkey projects that will facilitate and speed up entry into the market. We offer ready-made platforms, White Label portals, as well as betting and lottery software.

From us, it is also possible to order the following useful services:

  • development of unique HTML5 slots;
  • games for sale and rent;
  • payment system installation;
  • security software integration;
  • furniture and equipment for land-based halls, and much more.

Hans Adrian

Hans Adrian

B2b Gambling Business Advisor & Strategist

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