So far, it has been an interesting FIFA World Cup. The most-watched sports competition in the world faced a lot of criticism; for both footballing and non-footballing reasons. But while there have been issues with VAR and referring, there was a sense that fans began ‘buying into’ the Qatar World Cup after the first round of Group Games. And as we trundle towards the World Cup Final on 18th December, you can feel the momentum building.
Of course, the World Cup is an important time for online sports betting platforms, apps, as well as dedicated football sites. It represents the culmination of a four-year journey for the world’s most popular sport and the sport that challenges horse racing in betting volumes. For those platforms, it’s a crucial moment to build up a customer base.
Competition is, of course, fierce. It doesn’t matter if you are the New York Times Sports section or some obscure betting app looking to get its first customers; those platforms have to find ways to stand out from the crowd. And “static” content is seen as not enough to be the difference-maker. Increasingly, platforms are turning to the concept of gamification.
New ways to engage users
Gamification is, of course, a broad term, but it is seen as an important one to understand for anyone building an app or website in any sector. We mentioned static content earlier, and for sports betting apps at the World Cup, that would mean the usual stuff – odds, betting markets, and perhaps some statistics. Others will go further, providing predictions and editorial analysis for top teams like Brazil, France, and England.
But with gamification, betting apps and websites will look to engage fans in different ways. During this World Cup, we have seen sweepstakes and fan competitions, free-to-enter prediction games, tools to follow certain teams and players, as well as a host of other engagement tools related to the World Cup. It creates the conditions that mean you could visit the sports betting platform, engage with it, and not even have to place a bet.
The logic behind all this is clear. It might cost the operators of the platforms a lot financially to provide prize money, free bets, and other rewards – even the effort to overhaul the app for the World Cup will be costly. But it helps to build the customer base for the future. If you choose to bet later, say, on the Premier League or Super Bowl, you will be influenced to return to the betting company that provided fun during the World Cup.
Sports betting gamification is not a new concept
Of course, we should be clear that this concept of gamification of betting apps is not new. For a long time, sports betting has been more than, well, sports betting. There has been a movement for more direct engagement with the sports through live streaming on apps, bet-builders, and even community forums on the apps and platforms. But the World Cup, in our view, represents the pinnacle, and it will be an interesting blueprint going forward.
All of this is interesting for anyone building apps of any kind. There are over 2 million apps in the Apple App Store today, and Google Play has close to 3 million. How do you make your brand stand out? It doesn’t matter if its finance, video games, or some other sector; the World Cup shows us that gamification – finding different ways to engage your users beyond your standard remit – is increasingly becoming a means to make a mark on your sector.
