In an insightful interview with Alexander Kamenetskyi, Head of SOFTSWISS Sportsbook, we delve into the complex balance between promoting mainstream sports events and exploring niche markets in the betting world. This strategy enhances profitability and ensures a steady engagement across diverse betting markets, crucial for maintaining a dynamic and resilient business model in the competitive world of sports betting.

How should operators balance promoting popular sports events versus niche ones?

The effective strategy in betting is to diversify wagers across a broad range of sports events and markets. This approach helps minimise fluctuations in outcomes, enhancing both the profitability and predictability of your betting business.

Based on this, we recommend that operators promote all sports comprehensively to maintain steady activity and turnover. This ensures that players remain engaged with alternative options, even during periods lacking major events.

It’s crucial not only to focus on popular events like top football matches or major NBA tournaments but also to spotlight less mainstream sports such as water polo, badminton, and Formula 1. For instance, Australian football is notably underappreciated despite offering unique scheduling advantages that can be leveraged during off-peak times to attract bets.

How can you choose sports that have the best chance of attracting your audience?

To effectively capture your audience’s attention, it’s crucial to identify alternative events during periods when popular events like the Champions League are not happening. Our strategy involves actively promoting these alternatives to familiarise players with new tournaments and sports.

We have two dedicated teams: one that selects potential events and advises operators on what to highlight, while the other crafts promotional campaigns to ensure these events resonate with your audience.

The primary factors we consider when selecting events are Total Bets and the number of bets placed on a specific event or tournament. Popularity is our second criterion, which we measure by comparing the turnover to the number of participating players.

For instance, if there are no football championships over a weekend due to Euro qualifying matches, we might suggest promoting NBA evening games or volleyball tournaments to fill the gap left by high-profile football events.

However, it’s also beneficial to occasionally promote sports other than football, even when popular football matches are available. This strategy helps diversify the betting habits of the audience, which is vital for maintaining a stable and engaging product.

How far in advance do you need to start working on a promotional campaign?

We typically share promotional materials with operators two weeks prior to the event. This timeframe usually provides ample opportunity for operators to finalise the text and graphics. If we opt to use bonuses as the main promotional tool, we generate the rules, bonuses, and banners automatically. It’s then up to the operator to create and either self-publish the content or do so with our assistance.

What promotional channels would you recommend focusing on?

Operators have a variety of tools at their disposal, from email and SMS campaigns to managing their own channels on Telegram and other messaging platforms where they can share updates, offer bonuses, and more. Many even offer additional bonuses for subscribers of these communities, which proves effective in building a targeted and loyal audience interested in your project’s bonuses.

Another effective strategy involves placing promotional banners on various sections of the operator’s website, such as the homepage, event pages, and user dashboards. Additionally, collaborating with influencers like streamers can significantly boost traffic.

It’s also crucial not to overlook the power of email newsletters. When crafting content for these, it’s important to consider user behaviour and device preferences. For instance, with over 90% of our current revenue coming from mobile devices, it’s safe to assume most emails will be opened on a smartphone. Thus, optimising for mobile viewing is key. Our tests show that simple, structured, and transparent offers tend to perform best – you only have a few seconds to capture the player’s attention and persuade them to click through.

Do promotions without financial incentives like bonuses still work?

Let’s be clear: bonuses and promotions are fundamental to attracting players, especially those who rely on luck to multiply their capital. Seen as lucky breaks, bonuses allow participation without direct cost. Properly integrated into the marketing strategy, these incentives not only maintain player interest but significantly enhance financial performance.

For example, if an operator earns 15% from express bets, they can afford to redistribute 5% of that as bonuses, slightly reducing their margin to 10%, but potentially increasing user engagement and solving other operational issues.

Furthermore, promotions enable operators to direct betting activity efficiently. While major events naturally draw attention, incorporating bonuses for lesser-known events like the World Curling Championship can broaden a player’s interest and betting activities, introducing them to new sports and betting markets. This strategy not only diversifies the player’s experience but also stabilises the operator’s financials by spreading funds across various sports, thereby reducing the impact of financial peaks and troughs during major events.

Some operators focus primarily on significant events, leading to considerable financial volatility. For example, many faced challenges during the European Football Championship qualification matches when favourites won, negatively impacting financial outcomes. Operators that engage their audience across a spectrum of events tend to experience more stable performance.

Ultimately, using high-profile events to attract new players while promoting a diverse range of smaller events can create a more robust and diversified betting environment. This approach mitigates risks and cultivates a more engaged and knowledgeable betting community.

How likely is it that a person who came to a particular event will continue engaging with you afterwards? What influence can an operator have during this time?

Welcome packages with various bonuses are highly effective in this scenario. The primary goal is to familiarise new players with the range of bonuses and sports offered. Ideally, the entrance bonus program should provide about 20-30% to engage the player effectively.

Besides the welcome package, we can implement trigger-based rules during major events. For instance, a new player might come for the World Cup, and we could offer a promotion like: “Win three World Cup bets and receive a free bet for Wimbledon.”

Once engaged, they might notice a dominant player like Djokovic and place a bet on tennis, triggering another promotion. For example, we could offer a 50% bonus for making an express bet with specific odds on three tennis events. This showcases our diverse bonus system and introduces new sports gradually.

Furthermore, promoting sports tends to be easier than casinos because there are more events and thus more opportunities to engage players through channels like email newsletters, with less risk of being flagged for spam.

We advise our operators to customise bonuses for specific player demographics – like promoting Brazilian tennis players to Brazilian users or Nigerian athletes to Nigerian users. This targeted approach is significantly more effective than generic offers and resonates even with experienced casino players.

However, it’s crucial for operators to view their offerings holistically; they don’t just have a casino or sports section, but a comprehensive project where every part should function seamlessly together, including promotions and the product’s internal functionality.

Kore Digital Mining Ltd, a UK based Bitcoin mining company, announces that effective 1st May 2024, an additional 14 PH/s mining capacity will be added to its existing infrastructure.

This additional capacity will be provided by a major Bitcoin mining corporation and will be operational until 30th June 2024.

Derek Nisbet, Kore’s Founder & CEO, said – “We are pleased to work with a leading Bitcoin Miner in securing a large amount of mining capacity, for a 2 month trial period. We look forward to hopefully extending this period and engaging more with major mining corporations offering Bitcoin hashing opportunities, in the future.”

This additional 14PH/s Bitcoin mining capacity adds to the existing 2 PH/s currently operational with Kore’s own infrastructure and an additional 4 PH/s is due to be added over the next quarter, totalling 20 PH/s.

There are many EU casinos that not only attract players from Europe itself but also from countries around the world, including the US, UK, and even those from countries where online gambling isn’t permitted. So why is it that EU casinos are so popular? What drives the online gambling community to these casinos?

Well, that’s what we’re going to be looking at today. What’s so attractive about EU casinos to people who are looking for an immersive and entertaining online casino experience? Why do people in the USA, the home of Las Vegas, go outside of the USA to play at online casinos?

Benefits of EU casinos

Online gambling is by far one of the most popular methods of gambling online. Throughout Europe, specific laws in each country can vary, so access to land-based casinos can sometimes be few and far between. Thus, going online to enjoy a casino experience has become a more preferable option. And so why EU casinos? Well, for those who are joining EU casinos from outside Europe and not from the UK or the US, the English-based support and customer service are very attractive. A lot of people who play at EU casinos access it using a VPN or from a country where they don’t have any domestic online casinos, and most of the time English is their first language or one that they can understand.

The next attractive factor regarding EU online casinos is safety and security. Each online casino in the EU is strictly regulated and licensed. It’s this reassurance that a lot of players look for when choosing an online casino to go to and play at. They are held to the same strict and high standards as those of their British counterparts in the UK, which are upheld and monitored by the UK Gambling Commission. In the EU, a lot of the casinos are also regulated by either the Malta Gaming Authority or the Curacao Gaming Licence Authority. All of which share the same standards and expectations as other authorities across theglobe,e which ensures that all players playing online at EU casino websites.

The casinos that are available online in the EU are also very open to a lot of different payment methods. There are even some crypto casinos where you can play casino games online with cryptocurrency. This openness to accepting a lot of different payment methods means a lot to people who like to play at online casinos. The vast majority of them also pride themselves on providing very quick withdrawals, which are measured in hours rather than days. After all, there is nothing more frustrating than having a big win and then having to wait days to get your hard-fought winnings.

And lastly, bonuses and promotions. The vast majority of EU online casinos will have a wide range of different bonuses and promotions that you can sign up for and take advantage of. There are certain countries, such as Sweden, where the online casinos are strictly limited to one bonus or one promotion; however, the vast majority of EU casinos are not subject to such restrictions and offer a great online casino experience.

When it comes to the popularity of EU online casinos, it is growing year on year. There is plenty going in their favour and more people than ever before are shifting to online casinos rather than having to go down to the casino themselves. The fact that they can access these EU casinos from their smartphones, wherever they are, means it’s easier than ever before to win big at a casino online and have a good time.