Top 7 iGaming Partnership Verticals for Mutual Growth

With the high level of competition always characteristic of iGaming, mutually beneficial partnerships have all chances to become a key success factor for the gambling and betting business. With the ability to pool resources, learn from each other and innovate faster, partnerships help to improve the quality of services and increase revenues. However, cases like the one with 888, which received about £10 million fine from the UKGC, force operators to scrutinize the business of potential partners more carefully, even when it comes to major market players. 

Before deciding on an iGaming partnership, a careful weighing up of the risks is required, even if the upcoming deal promises to be a major success. After reading this article, you will learn about the importance and benefits of an online casino partnership as well as the 7 most promising verticals in iGaming partnerships helping operators achieve outstanding results. 

Partnership Aimed at iGaming Platform Optimization

At the heart of the iGaming business, the platforms allow players to interact with gambling and betting products on desktop devices or smartphones. Today, it is extremely difficult to stand out from the competition with an iGaming website or app with an outdated design, awkward interface and insufficient variety of games and features. Therefore, partnership with technology companies and SEO agencies is considered today as an important first step aimed at attracting players and increasing the engagement of existing ones. 

Joint Innovation in Platform Solutions

Practice shows that players are no longer thrilled just by being able to spin the reels of online slots and bet on sports from the comfort of their homes. Gamblers and bettors have become more demanding and expect exceptional convenience, high-quality games, promotions, competitive events, and more from iGaming operators. So, first of all, the operator should focus on the platform to offer its users something really special. Below are three important reasons why partnerships aimed at improving iGaming platforms are especially important:

·  It is necessary for faster market entry and adaptation to rapidly changing conditions.

·  It enables faster adoption of breakthrough technologies such as AI, blockchain and cloud computing aimed at improving the user experience.

·  This helps create truly unique products. The truth is that users want more than just to play games. They are now attracted by the ability to fully immerse themselves in the gameplay of more engaging games with the ability to interact with other players. 

For example, although the concept of live casino games was successfully brought to life back in 2006, not all operators still offer their users games with real croupiers. By partnering with advanced live dealer providers, operators can diversify their gaming portfolio to make their platform even more attractive to gamblers. 

Expanding User Base Through Partnerships with Affiliate Programs

As each operator receives a guaranteed profit due to the margin incorporated in the betting odds and the house advantage in casino games, the size of the user base and user activity play an important role. Although there are many strategies to promote iGaming business, operators prefer to cooperate with affiliate programs and solo affiliates as this model is based on performance. 

Collaborative Campaigns with iGaming Affiliates

Affiliate marketing partnership is the best option for most iGaming business owners for a simple reason: they pay affiliates only for referred players who spend money on the promoted platform. With a good understanding of the industry, iGaming affiliates use quality and relevant content that resonates with the target audience. 

By partnering with gambling affiliates, casino operators provide unique banners, landings, promo codes and other things that can interest people looking to gamble. Betting affiliates can also attract potential customers with special bonuses and offers designed for important events in the world of sports. 

Sharing Data Insights

Today, effective segmentation based on interests and gaming preferences as well as cost optimisation by directing budgets to the most effective channels are the most significant challenges for affiliate marketers. To increase the effectiveness of marketing efforts, affiliates prefer to share data and use analytics jointly with iGaming operators. Thanks to effective information sharing, affiliates can identify the most effective content formats and attractive promotions to adjust approaches for traffic attraction. 

Brand Partnership Marketing

Given the benefits of partnership marketing such as increasing user trust in the platform and boosting engagement, it is a powerful tool used by iGaming operators to significantly increase brand awareness. Below you will find two popular approaches to brand partnership marketing demonstrating its true strength for promoting iGaming businesses. 

Co-Branding for Expanding Reach

Feasible only between two non-competing companies, co-branding is one of the fastest-growing trends in affiliate marketing today. In a mutually beneficial collaboration, different brands co-create games (e.g., an exclusive title designed for a specific online casino brand) and launch branded promotions. In addition, as part of such initiatives, operators effectively use gamification tools or organise joint competitive events (such as slot tournaments for the release of a new title from a partner provider). 

Joint Media and Social Media Strategies

Content is still king in modern marketing. However, marketers are having to invent more and more new ways to distribute content. For example, instead of just publishing articles on their blog, iGaming operators are collaborating with other brands to co-create and distribute content. A good example is making videos featuring ambassadors from both brands. In addition, iGaming platforms use cross-promotion within a social media marketing partnership and launch interactive campaigns such as challenges and giveaways with the partner brand to increase engagement and reach. 

Payment Solution Partnerships

By registering with online casinos and sportsbooks, players entrust sensitive information about themselves to their operators. Many gamblers and bettors abandon iGaming platforms for two common reasons: concerns about the security of their data and delays in withdrawing winnings.  

Streamlining Transactions for Player Convenience

Although promotions are the first to catch the eye of players, experienced gamblers and bettors always take a closer look at iGaming platforms before opening a user account. They also pay attention to things like available payment methods, speed of withdrawal of winnings, transaction fees and withdrawal limits. The table below summarises the important problems solved by operators cooperating with providers of reliable payment solutions. 

 Data and Analytics Partnerships

While marketers continue to rely on intuition - that is, experience and gut - to make important decisions, data is now playing a bigger and bigger role. By analysing player behaviour based on a multitude of factors, marketers segment audiences for more targeted campaigns. Therefore, today iGaming operators are always on the lookout for the best solutions for iGaming promotion capable of analysing huge amounts of data and even predicting player preferences. 

Shared Data Insights to Understand Player Behavior

If a marketer does not understand the goals and interests of the target audience, they are likely to waste their promotional budget. By cooperating with analytical system providers, iGaming companies get access to important data allowing them to optimise their offers and increase profitability. For example, by choosing a well-established iGaming tracking solution, an operator can achieve the following:

·  The ability to analyse player preferences to understand which games, activities, bonuses and other things about the platform resonate most with different types of users.

·  Increase the impact of marketing strategies by developing personalised campaigns that can deliver higher engagement and conversions.

·  Effective management of risks associated with fraud, money laundering, incorrect calculation of betting odds and other risks that can be fraught with financial and reputational losses.

 According to Statista, the market for AI solutions could exceed $800 by 2030. Today, many marketers are actively using AI and ML-based solutions to process big data quickly and accurately. Given the rapid growth of the AI industry, to stay afloat, operators should partner with predictive analytics providers today. 

Sharing Expertise with iGaming Partners for Entering New Markets

Entering new markets is always a challenge for iGaming operators, so many of them focus on partners who already know the peculiarities of local legislation. Acquisitions and partnerships are becoming more and more popular in the iGaming environment. For example, to get more quickly into the very promising - but strictly regulated - Dutch market, Entain acquired BetCity, which had already reached the top in this country. 

In addition to understanding the legal aspects, working with local partners helps operators better understand the culture and preferences of players in new markets. Today, operators prefer to learn from each other, adopting best practices and solutions that have given them a competitive advantage. The good side of such partnerships is also the faster implementation of new technologies such as flexible payment solutions or personalised offers for players. 

Bottom Line

As iGaming is over-saturated today, it is difficult to succeed here as a result of just single endeavours. Having realised the importance of partnerships, today's iGaming operators use all 7 verticals of partnership to strengthen their position in a rapidly changing market. By creating strong ties with non-competing companies, iGaming business owners can not only react to changes on time but even become the very initiators of them.

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