Casino Marketing: Strategies to Attract and Retain Players

To stay afloat, casinos must ensure they have quality gaming products and services, and market their goods. Simply, they are looking to draw new customers and keep existing members content and playing. Marketing can be done through countless mediums, from welcome bonuses for new players to sponsoring soccer clubs, but the marketing must comply with strict gambling regulations.

It probably comes as no surprise that marketing is quite expensive. Nowadays, marketing is a booming business, and all industries spend a lot of money advertising their products. In the film industry, the Avengers: Endgame which cost $356 million to make, had a marketing budget of $200 million. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was launched in 2009, costing around $40-50 million to make, and had a marketing budget of $140 to $150 million.

Casino marketing is just as multi-faceted, and marketing campaigns go to all kinds of lengths to build a larger community of gamers.

How Casinos Can Market Their Games

In 2023 alone, it was estimated that more than $1.9 billion was spent by US casino operators on advertising. The campaigns do not only include putting out social media posts, making TV adverts or launching new player competitions. A great part of efforts go into research, to understand the casino’s base demographic and their gaming needs. They also use the research to find out how they can expand their services to reach new demographics and stretch out their service to new markets.

New technological advances have given casinos even more information regarding player gaming habits. Using AI-driven software, they can even provide personalised offers to individual gamers, learn about which marketing strategies work best, and optimise their campaigns.

Bonuses and Perks for Users

There are so many online casinos out there that have great sports coverage, seemingly endless casino games, and full mobile compatibility. Competition is high, so casinos must win over their gamers with bigger and better promotional offers. The welcome bonus is a great example of marketing, as casinos can outdo their rivals by offering a bigger sign on bonus. However, most players know that these one time offers will not enhance their gaming experience in the long run. To win over their longterm loyalty, casinos must come up with recurring perks or a loyalty rewards program.

These rewards programs can include goodies such as cashback offers, bonus spin bundles, reload deposit offers, and various perks to keep gamers incentivised. They can also create in-house player contests with big prizes, to make gaming sessions more competitive and attract users to play more frequently. By creating a more personalised gaming experience, these casinos can ensure their existing members, and any newcomers, will keep coming back for more.

Refer A Friend Initiatives

These bonuses are placed in a category of their own, as they are very different from cashbacks, bonus spins, bonus bets, and other recurring promos. Almost all casinos and sportsbooks have referral programs, through which existing customers can refer a friend. A friend referral will grant the referred friend and the player who referred the friend bonuses, usually in the form of bonus cash or bonus spins. Players get a limited number of friend referrals, either limited per account or limitations per the timeframe of the bonus.

For example, you may have 5 friend referral bonuses to offer within the calendar year. If they grant $50 each, that means you can claim up to $250 in bonuses if you have successfully referred 5 friends. Referrals cannot be completed without the friend actually signing up, making a minimal deposit, and placing a qualifying bet. This means that your friend will probably have to spend something like $10 or more for both of you to receive the money. Though the casino will pay out $100 in bonuses for every successful referral, they are going to make it all back if that friend decides to continue playing at the casino.

However, casinos need to be careful of players who want to abuse referral bonuses. The bonuses are offered in the faith that the operators can extend their customer base. Some players may sign up to a casino just to get the bonuses and then never enter the casino again. Or, they may spam referral codes to get as many bonuses as possible. Operators can deny users these bonuses if they are suspected of fraud.

Social Media Presence

Social media marketing campaigns can be quite easy and relatively inexpensive to manage. A lot of casino operators have designated social media channels that users can reach out to as an alternative support channel. They also use their social media presence to announce new bonuses, player tournaments, or giveaways to attract more gamers. However, casino operators must be careful, as social media platforms may have strict laws about advertising content.

These channels can be accessed by minors or people who are considered vulnerable to gambling. Therefore, the content has to pass through more safety restrictions to ensure that it will not target vulnerable people.

But in general, social media is an extremely powerful marketing platform for casinos. They can announce new partnerships, or when they enter new gaming markets. Social media can also attract users to talk about the casino brands more, helping to improve the casino’s visibility.

Brand Visibility and Recognition

As there are countless online casinos and sportsbooks all over the world, it can be daunting for newcomers to find the ones that will meet their needs. Besides all the bonuses, banking methods, games offered and interface, one of the most important aspects that players need is reliability. They want to sign up at an online casino that is trustworthy, and will not run off with their money. A gambling license will tell you whether the platform is legitimate or not, but often, this is not enough for new gamers.

They will naturally be more drawn towards online casinos that they recognise or have seen somewhere before. Gamers who have never played at an online casino before may have doubts about joining any gambling site they find. Partnering with high-profile events or celebrities, sponsoring sports teams or leagues, and TV or social media campaigns can help casinos establish their reputation.

Newcomers will feel these platforms are more established and have better reputations. Brand visibility doesn’t just help attract new players, but it can also be used to pry existing customers from a casino’s competitors. For example, if a player is unhappy with the platform they are playing at, they may search for alternatives. The majority of such players first look at the biggest competitors – namely – the biggest brands.

Responsible Gambling and Casino Marketing

Reputable casinos cannot market their goods without complying with the gambling legislation of the land. In some countries, gambling marketing is highly restricted. The legislation wants to protect minors and people who are vulnerable to gambling from messages that could be misinterpreted. The ethics of gambling are also brought into question. Gambling companies have to spend huge sums of money to ensure their messages are free of any information that may be misunderstood. Plus, they cannot be accessible by anyone who is not eligible to gamble.

The UK has the most laid back laws when it comes to gambling marketing. Sports franchises and even sports leagues can be sponsored by gambling companies. Here are just a few examples:

• Premier League Darts – Sponsored by BetMGM
• Premiership Rugby – Sponsored by BetUK
• Snooker UK Championship – Sponsored by All British Casino

And more than half the soccer clubs in the English Premier League have gambling sponsors.

• West Ham/Tottenham/Brighton – Betway
• Liverpool – Ladbrokes
• Stoke City – Bet365
• Everton – Stake.com
• Manchester United – Betfred

Casinos have lots of options when it comes to sponsorships, and expanding their brand visibility in the UK. The UK Gambling Commission has laws in place to ensure that gambling addiction awareness and the prevention of gambling harm is maintained. And these companies must also spend money to research gambling addiction to help create a better environment for players.

The US gambling marketing laws vary from state to state. The laws are more strict than the UK, and the visibility is far less.

Goals of Casino Marketing

The main mission of casino marketing is to drive up revenue. This is money spent to make more money, and however many millions or billions of dollars are spent, casinos are expecting to make a profit on their expenditures. A key part of the research is studying player trends. In the US, for example, sports betting is on the rise. More states are passing bills to legalise sports betting, and the demand to place sports bets grows hugely every single year.

When events such as the NFL Super Bowl, MLB World Series, or NBA Championship Games come around, sportsbooks can go all out with their promotional offers. These events only come around once every year, and the relatively short periods can bring peak levels of interest from sports bettors. Other emerging betting markets in the US include soccer, UFC, eSports, college sports (where it is legal), and motorsports betting (NASCAR and F1).

How Casino Marketing Affects You, as a Player

Now onto the fun stuff. All of these strategies and plans are only working to bring you a more polished gaming experience. Competition is good, as it drives up the need for casinos and sportsbooks to enhance their offering. We are talking about bigger welcome bonuses, more frequent bonuses, and greater prize pools for any tournaments.

The need to outdo the competition does not just extend to bonuses or promotional goodies either. Casinos work on virtually every aspect of their overall gaming product. They look for ways to improve their banking options, customer support, mobile compatibility and interface performance. At online casinos, game libraries are a source of great competition. Operators look for new partnerships and deals to increase their game portfolios. Sports betting sites can increase the number of bets they offer, expanding the parlay betting possibilities and ability for bettors to personalise their bet slips with custom picks.

As the technology improves and more innovative games hit the shelves, you can rest assured that the future of online casino gaming is bright. The competition will only get better, bringing you larger deals and perks to bring the most out of your gaming.