A Bookmaker (Bookie) Have to try to Differentiate Themselves
There are thousands of online and local bookies operating.
In order to compete in the crowded sports betting industry, you need to stand out. If you’re having trouble attracting new players to your website, you should ask yourself what makes you different.
Why would a sports bettor switch to your sportsbook over the competition?
How to Stand Out From the Crowd
Since most bookies have small marketing budgets, if any budget at all, you’re not going to compete with the corporations spending millions on TV ads and online marketing.
There are some things you can do to attract players to your sportsbook.
- Always Pay Your Players Quickly
Local bookies will generally pay winning players once every week. It’s important if you have a day to collect and/or pay your players, that you remain consistent on a weekly basis.
If you have players that aren’t local and pay them through online payment methods, generally you’ll pay these players when they request a payout. Make sure you have money to pay winners.
The quickest way to lose active players as a bookie is to begin slow paying them.
- Offer the Biggest Selection of Betting Markets
You’re likely using a pay per head (PPH) service to run your sports betting website.
It’s important to partner with pay per head bookie services that are still evolving and adding new features. If your PPH doesn’t offer live betting or props betting, you’re going to struggle to compete.
Apart from straight betting markets (moneylines, point spreads and totals), here’s a brief list of the types of betting markets that players are looking for today.
- Live Betting on all major sports, including the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL.
- Props betting, including player props, such as touchdown scorers.
- eSports betting is still growing fast and the younger adults are looking for these markets.
You can also differentiate yourself by offering casino games, horse betting and poker.
- Customer Service
If you’ve bet online for any amount of time, you’ve likely experienced poor customer service.
It’s a fact of life as a sports bettor online. Customer service is almost non-existent at some of the big bookies. A small bookie can offer more personal player support to every player.
Get to know your players, what they like and how you can keep them loyal to your brand.
- Anonymity (Avoid Asking for Personal Information)
Some sports bettors hate performing known customer (KYC) checks.
These KYC checks are becoming more intrusive. For example, in the UK, bookies are now required to perform checks on how much income their players earn annually, among other things.
A lot of players are going to switch to offshore bookies, such as yourself. There’s no need to require any personal information when operating a PPH bookie and this is a big advantage nowadays.
- Offer Rewards to Loyal Players
Small bookies don’t have the budget to offer huge bonuses on every deposit or too many free bets, but you can offer loyal players rewards, such as gambling insurance.
What’s gambling insurance? At the end of the month, losing players are given a percentage of their monthly losses back as a free bet. The little things will keep your players from jumping ship.