date 30 July 2021 update Upd: 23 August 2024 reading time 7 min views 782 views

While many operators benefit in the boosting iGaming market, providing the best comprehensive gambling experience for their audience, including both sports betting users and poker players, others do not seem to try business opportunities for bringing their platform to a new level.

The European market, having a locus on transparency, regularly makes the figures public. As in France, for example, the online gambling market marks a 35% year-on-year (YoY) increase in total revenue in Q1 2021. Sports betting, horse racing betting, and poker all show a surge. Stats from French regulator ANJ demonstrated that the Q1 total revenue of €435m in 2020 increased to €587m in Q1 2021.

According to recent data, in most European markets the tendency is similar. So, can an operator enrich players’ experience by adding poker to their sportsbook or by getting an online poker room with sportsbook integrated? The answer is yes, and here’s why.

Sports Betting and Poker Users Common Skills

Whether speaking about poker players or bettors, it’s feasible to highlight the audiences’ key similarities.

  • Self-control and ability to accept or tolerate. While activating different types of thinking, the ability to be disciplined works for both groups. In poker as in betting, one can sometimes fold a hand or pass a match until the game situation becomes favorable.
  • Analytical mindset. Both bettors and poker players are likely to regularly analyze win-loss balance, tactics, and overall gambling behavior.
  • Entertainment and social activity. Playing poker and betting on sports can be a fun and social occupation if enjoyed in moderation. The exception goes to those, who have a proven track record and keep upgrading professional skills in these activities.
  • Short-run and long-run. In the short run, so-called luck or randomness will have a bigger impact on the result of the game or betting, rather than skill. In the long run, a real pro will defeat a rookie.
  • Activity similarity. Betting and poker are both zero-sum games, where an operator takes a margin (rake in poker) for hosting a game.

Sports Betting and Poker Users Common Skills

Differences Between the Two Major iGaming Vertical Users

The basic difference between sports betting and poker vertical users lies in the strategy sector, but a few more contrasts can be emphasized.

  • Different tactics. Bettors mostly seek pricing mistakes assumed from their models and calculations on the true odds of a specific sports event or match. Poker players majorly look for fine games with either weaker users or players who make more mistakes than they.
  • Winning options. Going online for poker makes users dramatically increase their final winning sums due to a variety of promotions, e.i. tournaments or cash game leaderboards.
  • Competitors. In betting, a user usually competes against other users. Sometimes a bookmaker can not get an even number of bets placed on teams in smaller games or sports events limited in coverage. Then, a user competes against a bookmaker. In poker, a user competes against players only.
  • Odds. Various bookmakers propose different odds on the same game. In comparison, in poker, if a user understands the opponents’ cards, they can work out the right probability of each player winning the hands. Bookmakers are not aware of game probabilities.

Successful Cases Study

At EvenBet Gaming, we have a rather optimistic experience of poker integration into the sports betting and casino platforms. It’s hardly possible to find any specific data on how the revenue increases with poker integrated, so we have decided to complete the gap with our cases.

Successful Cases Study

Chart

Market

Initial vertical

Poker integration

Rake (EUR)

Georgia

Betting and casino platform

2018

359 076

Latin America

Betting and casino platform

2020

1 979 033

India

Aggregator + fantasy sport

2020

19 709 392

India

Aggregator + fantasy sport

2020

2 819 476

Find a Perfect Solution for Maximum Player Retention and Engagement

If you are operating in the iGaming industry as a bookmaker, the following scenarios for running your business are common:

  • Add poker into your platform. The online poker vertical trend is going up. Bettors and poker players have a lot in common, and traditionally these audiences match. It can become a beneficial source for your business development due to its high cross-sell potential.
  • Consider different poker software providers. If you already have poker integrated, check whether it meets all your and your players’ needs. If not, search for software that provides all demanded and trending features both for your users and your easy management.
  • Leave everything as it is. Perhaps, you already have some sort of revenue, why crave for more? Maybe your very players do not even want to play a few hands while waiting for the match results.

If you are not operating in the iGaming industry, but dreaming of it, the following scenarios for launching your business are common:

  • Find a reliable software developer and vendor. Before operating, make sure that you offer a nice product and service to your audience. Choose poker, don’t forget to add a sportsbook, and various casino games as a cherry on top. Leave your users doubtless on the various ways to entertain themselves.
  • Join a poker network. If you are not yet willing to have big marketing spendings and need to get overall experience in the sphere, begin with joining a network. It is a legitimate and licensed solution with low entry risks and guaranteed liquidity.

At EvenBet Gaming we provide our customers with a turnkey solution, expanding our offer with new partnerships tailored at different markets.

Conclusion

Sports betting and poker audiences have a proven cross-sell potential due to the similar skills required for the activities. The differences between bettors and poker players are not as considerable and do not spread the audience to the sides. In Europe, the data shows regular growth in total revenue of these two verticals. The trend is alike in the markets worldwide. For that reason, those operators, who have both gaming offers for the users, win.

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    Victoria Sopko

    Article by Victoria

    Victoria Sopko

    Ex-Head of PR at EvenBet Gaming