Jamison Selby, President of Rubystone, writes for CasinoBeats on why the sweepstake casino vertical has significant untapped potential for operator expansion.
Navigating the North American online real-money gambling landscape is a formidable challenge for operators. The intricate web of state-by-state legislation can present challenges at every turn, and regulation is constantly evolving.
Brands face significant hurdles when entering the market, and even after a successful launch, they encounter stiff competition from industry heavyweights, as well as increasing player acquisition costs and marketing demands.
Social and sweepstake casinos present an enticing alternative for market entry into the US and Canadian territories. Operators able to navigate the state-level legal requirements and intensive third-party compliance reviews gain access to over 40 states and Canada.
That broad reach across such a wide territory also makes marketing across different platforms considerably easier, allowing brands to reach out to much larger audiences and build a strong reputation. Player acquisition costs are insanely high in the real-money scene as the big operators all compete for market share. By contrast, social casinos are not nearly as impacted by the marketing spend death spiral of traditional operators, making them a much more financially viable option.
Building Trust
America is a nation built on brands. We trust our favorite operators and companies because we know they can deliver a high-class product. This is fantastic for established brands, but it also makes establishing a new brand and building trust extremely difficult.
Social gameplay sites can be an extremely effective tool for major operators aiming to expand their presence and build trust in this wider market. Building that trust is crucial for casino brands, especially in the US market, where loyalty is fleeting outside the largest market leaders.
Opportunities Outside of the Industry
The social gaming industry offers proven legal and accessible pathways into the US market for online operators and presents opportunities for adjacent industries, such as entertainment, sports, or travel. Leveraging sweepstakes offerings, businesses in the entertainment, sports, or travel industries can tap into the market’s potential. Integrating a fully operational social gaming site with their service has the potential to generate substantial revenue streams and offer customers a new, exciting, and highly engaging entertainment experience.
Operators can also discover a lot about player demands through sweepstakes casinos. A game’s success on a sweepstake platform can provide operators with valuable information about its popularity, offering useful insights into its engagement rates. This data can be extremely valuable to both operators and developers, allowing the former to reconsider their gaming catalogs and the latter to refine their gaming output and make needed changes.
The Future of Social Gameplay Platforms
While the potential benefits of launching a social gameplay site are huge, the idea of launching one can be extremely daunting, especially for operators or brands unfamiliar with the US market.
Companies looking to enter this space will clearly require industry expertise and a dependable platform. With the right resources, the sweepstakes market’s potential is significant, but businesses must possess the means to capitalise on it.
Collaborating with established companies that already have a strong understanding of the industry could prove to be an exceptionally effective strategy. For instance, if a tribal casino with no prior online experience wanted to explore entering the social gaming arena, it could do so by establishing a partnership with a B2B platform that provides them with access to all the necessary tools and resources.
Social gaming is one of the most hotly discussed and exciting spaces in the online gaming industry, and we are just beginning to scratch the surface when it comes to its potential.
