18 minute read
Marketing
by SBC Global
FROM WHERE I SIT: THE IMPORTANCE OF MICRO-COMMUNITIES
SBC’S VERY OWN KELLY KEHN reflects on her experiences of the global betting and gaming community and the power of building strong relationships
BY KELLY KEHN
My first regular column. What an honour! As someone who loves this industry and has personally learned so much from the people in it, I’m incredibly proud to have been asked to give my thoughts to the readers SBC Leaders on a regular basis. I’ll do my best to add value to your experience while you are here.
I sit in a very unique position both within SBC and as part of the global betting and gaming community overall. My role is to build relationships - relationships between businesses, across countries and certainly with the people who work here.
As someone who has been in this industry since 2004 both in North America and Europe, I’ve met a lot of people, I know a good amount of you fairly well and I’d love to get to know more of you better. I care deeply about people and will use this space to give my personal thoughts on the personal side of the industry. “From Where I Sit” will be about my personal perspective on topics that cover our industry’s people.
And I’ll welcome your personal thoughts as part of this column. Yes, that’s an open invite to call, connect or email me as and when you have a great idea, something weighing on your mind or just want to see more of a certain topic in our media. Let’s talk.
Before 2020, my job was about bringing people together at live events.
I don’t need to talk much about the power of connections, if the pandemic made us miss just one thing over everything else, it would be this.
But the question for me soon became about the ways we would fill the connection void when we weren’t able to be together... And the answer became what I now call microcommunities: smaller, tight-knit groups of like minded people who can engage in a much deeper way for a longer period of time.
As most of you know, when the pandemic hit, SBC worked extraordinarily hard and were the first to go to market with a digital conference model. Our first show, SBC Digital Summit had 140+ virtual speakers over five days.
We had a virtual expo where brands could showcase their products. We had a brand new platform and a brand new revenue stream in digital events.
We had good content, but one thing that was lacking was the connections
that we all got from industry events. The ability to see people we’ve known for a while and catch up, to meet new people and explore the possibility of doing business, to network with others across the world… So we added virtual networking to our digital events.
We did endless Zoom sessions; some very successful, others not so much. We planned specific conversations and we also invited our community in to speak freely about anything. We hosted speakers after their digital sessions to allow delegates to ask questions. Over the 18+ months, we tried just about every form of virtual connection.
We watched digital networking fatigue
set in fast. I personally built up a bigger network than I ever thought possible from being stuck in my house (and annoyed as many as I built a relationship with). We learned a lot about what’s important at any kind of event, live or digital: The connection with people and the community we are building.
Over the course of our 18+ months of working purely digitally, we started to build out micro-communities of people in our network. Our first was SBC Leaders, a group of leading global operators who we bring together to share ideas, collaborate on major issues, push innovation and elevate the overall image of our industry through the promotion of its achievements.
Then came Affiliate Leaders, a similar community but for global affiliates working across the industry. I also host a call every 6-8 weeks for female CEOs, MDs, NEDs and presidents in our industry to keep the power of connection going. And I’m very sure we won’t stop there.
The benefits of these microcommunities are vast both for us and our members and will remain a part of our value proposition as we get back to ‘normal’. 1. Members are engaged. Our microcommunities are made up of a small group of people with a shared goal or
purpose and can tap into each other’s experiences, and build relationships with each other.
2. Engagement drives value for
members. “Quality over quantity” as they say. Members may not know what information they will receive when they come, but they know it will be valuable.
3. Micro-communities are also
relatively easy to scale. We started small and simply where we can learn and adjust to the needs of the group. We are figuring out the shared goals and adding members who fit the profile.
We can now connect with the industry at large both on a stage and off. We are building relationships at live events but also now across the world via video chat. We are learning about what matters to this industry outside of what you read in the press. We are talking about meaningful stuff. I believe this can only make us better as a company, as members of the community and as an industry overall. •
WE ARE LIVING IN A MOBILE-FIRST WORLD
SOFASCORE: THE SECRET SAUCE TO THE BEST PERFORMING SPORTS APPS
DANIEL JURILJ explains why mobile app usage and data-driven strategies are becoming all the more important for those in the betting and gaming industry
BY TED ORME-CLAYE
In recent years, the betting and gaming industry has undergone significant growth and development. These changes have only been exacerbated by the milestones of 2020 and 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift towards online, new US states opened their doors to legalised gambling and esports continued to establish itself as a betting product.
Daniel Jurilj, SofaScore’s Ad Operations and Sales Manager, detailed his firm’s role in the betting and gaming industry and discussed the shifting trends as the industry continues to develop throughout 2021.
SBC: Can you tell us more about SofaScore and your role in the industry? How do you ensure that you stand out from the competition?
Daniel Jurilj: SofaScore is a premium sports app that provides live results and sports stats to its 20 million monthly active users worldwide. Although football is by far its most followed sport, SofaScore covers more than 20 sports and is translated into more than 30 languages.
Our secret sauce to being the bestrated app among the competition, both on the App Store (4.9), and on Google Play (4.8), are our constant efforts to turn raw data into valuable insights that help users immediately figure out what’s going on in the match.
That is, SofaScore is known to offer not only detailed stats for every single match, player and team, but also for its
visualisation of statistics in the form of insightful graphics.
SBC: In a world with so many different betting operators, how important are odds-comparison sites for streamlining the overall betting experience?
DJ: I would say that odds-comparison sites are more for a niche audience of semi-professional punters who are looking for best odds and who usually have a dozen accounts at the most popular betting sites.
An average punter is more focused on reliability of the site and consumer protection which guarantees him stress free thrill of playing. SofaScore is more tailored to the latter as we do not offer odds comparison, but we try to empower our users with knowledge to make the best possible bet on the most popular sites.
When a gambling brand is advertised in SofaScore, it is sort of “verified” by SofaScore given our users further confidence in the brand. We have seen this in collaboration with several industry veterans who launched new brands in the past two years.
SBC: How has SofaScore capitalised on this growth of mobile betting? And how can betting apps help elevate the overall betting experience?
DJ: We are living in a mobile-first world, and we have worked with several brands who have struggled with this switch to online betting, with many of them still heavily focused on retail. However, a seamless mobile experience is a must if you are going to survive in the ever-growing competitive landscape.
SofaScore has long realised that our users use the app as a second screen when watching the game on TV, or at the stadium for that matter, and punters expect the same from betting apps. Not just straight odds, but stats to help them place the bets. Many brands have recognised this and offered us collaborations for integrating our widgets in their sites/apps.
SBC: In the last 18 months, many bettors turned their attention towards more ‘unconventional’ sports and markets such as table tennis, marble racing and international football competitions. Was this significantly demonstrated in data collected by SofaScore?
DJ: Well, the past year has obviously been a very strange one and we have collected data that surely cannot serve as a benchmark for future strategies, but can offer some interesting insights. During the first COVID lockdown in 2020, table tennis has soared to the number one spot on SofaScore and stayed within the top five for some time.
We quickly introduced virtual football leagues which had significant following and our users voted on the outcome of these matches similar to real competitions. It just shows people enjoy sports and betting on them, and when the most popular sports are not available, people turn their attention to more fringe ones.
SBC: Data has become increasingly important for sports bettors, with more and more punters wanting to
know every detail about every match. But how important is it that data is correctly utilised when it comes to driving fan engagement?
DJ: SofaScore has enormous databases for every team, player, competition… but all that is just raw material you need to transform into something useful. This is what we do, and when we want to launch a new feature, we work on it for a long time to make it just right.
The final outcome must not be suggestive, but empower the user to interpret the data himself in a meaningful way, and what is really important is that you listen to users. We have a support team that is available 24/7 to our users and we make many changes according to the feedback we receive.
SBC: As more US states, and most recently Canada, begin to legalise betting, from a European perspective are sports fans looking towards markets on US sports at all? If so, which sports are proving to be the most popular?
DJ: Absolutely. US sports have always been very popular for betting, most notably NBA. I think it is fair to say US sports drove this data driven approach to sports and betting and punters nowadays rarely bet on the final outcome but look for individual player lines. This is clearly visible in our app where NBA individual player stats have the most views during and post-game.
SBC: Esports has grown exponentially in the last few years. Has SofaScore witnessed a rise in popularity of esports betting and do you see any future trends in this sector?
DJ: Esports is here to stay. There are whole new generations coming that will view esports on par with traditional sports and betting operators as well as sports publishers need to follow suit.
SofaScore has used the COVID period to introduce an esports section which has been growing ever since. Our plan for the long run is to have innovative features in this section as well as in traditional sports.
SBC: Concerns have been raised throughout the pandemic about the prospect of online sports betting activity increasing substantially. Has SofaScore encountered any data that would back this hypothesis?
THE SPORTS BETTING INDUSTRY SUFFERED A LOT DURING THE PANDEMIC BUT THE RECOVERY HAS BEEN REASONABLE
DJ: The sports betting industry suffered a lot during the pandemic with sports being cancelled, but the recovery has been reasonable. We have not seen any dramatic changes in the craving for sports or betting for that matter. One interesting thing though is that we have seen a decreased interest in Euro 2020, which is usually a heavy traffic driver.
We have received the same feedback from many brands. On the other hand, the casino industry is the one that really profited in the lockdown and there were some concerning numbers on a larger scale which again bring into question player protection. •
PARTNERMATRIX: KEEPING AFFILIATE FRAUDS AT BAY
LEVON NIKOGHOSYAN, CEO OF
PARTNERMATRIX, tackles the hot subject of affiliate marketing frauds, focusing on using up-to-date technology to effectively reduce scams
BY LUKE MASSEY
The recent years saw iGaming companies focusing more than ever on their security. As an affiliate software provider, we witnessed first-hand an enormous increase in inquiries about system security and anti fraud tools. And, while affiliate frauds have always represented a certain concern, the current boom of the industry also fuelled a rise in more sophisticated and harmful methods.
The stakes are high: the value of the online gambling market was estimated at around $60 billion in 2020, compared to $53 billion in the previous year. And it is expected that the number will soon double, reaching $127 billion by 2027. Not only didn’t the pandemic manage to slow this growth, but it actually encouraged it.
With so much money involved, it’s no wonder that affiliate frauds are on the rise. Especially since a big share of the incomes are generated via affiliate channels, with some casinos paying $50,000 to single affiliates monthly.
This makes us, as an affiliate software
provider, more aware than ever of our responsibility to help our clients filter out fraudulent activities and make sure their affiliate operations run smoothly. The first step of our efforts to fight scams is having and sharing a good understanding of their mechanisms.
Understanding affiliate frauds
Most affiliate fraud activities aim to obtain commissions from operators by using scams or breaking the rules of the affiliate programs. One way to do this is exploiting the weak points of the system, like it happened too often with the PPC affiliate commission model. Affiliates discovered how they could trick the system with browser extensions, fake or hidden links, or pop-under texts and images. As
a result, the PPC model has been replaced by less risky models, such as the Cost per Acquistion or the Revenue share.
However, not even these are without their risks: affiliate scammers can use deep bots to create fake traffic and even bogus actions such as placing a deposit or performing a game action. They’re so efficient that a single scammer can generate losses of tens of thousands of euros.
To grasp the size of the problem, it’s enough to take into account the hundreds of portals and forums for blacklisted casinos and affiliate scams. And let’s also take a look at some cases that require operators to be on alert in order to avoid fraud.
Red flags in affiliate marketing
Let’s assume that you are managing your casino affiliate program and running Cost per Action or/and Revenue Share programs. You pay $1 for every user who makes up to 10 deposits for the CPA program and you pay 10% for the Revenue Share program.
Affiliates get their commission after the players perform certain actions, such as placing a first deposit or generating a certain amount of revenue in a specified time interval. While this approach significantly lowers fraud risks, scammers don’t lose any time and they always search for new ways to obtain underserved commissions.
It’s a good idea to get to know a few types of activities that can suggest a possible scam: l At least one IP of the affiliate
matches at least one IP of one of its
players’ or sub-affiliates’ IP: this can indicate that your affiliate is trying to obtain commissions with their personal account. l The Active Players ratio of a single
affiliate is higher than 50% during
the calculation period: it means that
suspiciously too many active players performed activities during the selected calculation period. l Traffic comes from different sources
which are not mentioned in your
agreement or Affiliate System: if an affiliate commits to bring traffic from a certain blog, all the other traffic sources might be suspicious. l Players show suspiciously short lifetimes: these players might be bots who are visiting your platform to perform some actions and send bonus money to their creators. l Stake amount of a single bet is more
than X% of the amount of the total
bets: our Anti-Fraud Intelligence can detect unusual behaviours such as a difference in bets amounts among affiliates and players. l The affiliate’s login IP doesn’t match their country: this might mean that the affiliate is trying to get a commission by breaking the rules.
There are a lot of behaviours that need to be carefully monitored and checked. The good news though is that technology is catching up to fraudsters. Almost any risk can be automatically measured and prevented with the right tools and techniques, such as anti-fraud detection or real-time data reports. Let’s check out these two options in more detail.
Automatic anti-fraud detection tools
The variety of affiliate marketing fraud schemes and mechanisms has naturally triggered some countermeasures. For instance, for PartnerMatrix, our affiliate marketing platform, we developed the Anti-Fraud Intelligence tool, meant to automatically stop any type of affiliate fraud on the spot. It acts so smoothly that your affiliate manager won’t even know about it until he receives the system’s notification.
The Anti-Fraud Intelligence tool has several layers of fraud detection and prevention, and every module works independently, filtering certain types of fraud activity and reporting with detailed breakdown under the Fraud Reports. The system finds the risks, starting from simple IP checks (players vs affiliate, location, IPS match) to deep analytics that can prevent “sure bets”.
What’s more, its flexible software architecture allows adding new modules to filter new risks. The system
is constantly updated depending on the market’s needs and the operator’s requirements. The goal is very clear: to detect the scammer even before they try to hack your program.
Real-time data, a powerful anti fraud tool
The live data exchange between affiliates and operators is another powerful tool in the hands of affiliate managers. Having access to the data that was way larger than their earlier bets – and the reports showed that they were in fact trying to place a “safe bet”.
Building reputation with transparency
The topic of affiliate marketing frauds is not only a huge one to cover – it’s also constantly evolving. After all, it’s a natural consequence of working in one of the most valuable industries in the world. Where there is big money, there are also huge risks (it’s estimated that affiliate frauds might have amounted to $1.4 billion in 2020).
Mitigating those risks becomes part of the job for any affiliate marketing software that’s worth its salt and making sure you’re using such software
in real time means that operators and affiliates alike can act on the spot. They can either cut off traffic if they detect it’s coming from a bad source, or make sure they extend a well performing deal.
That is the idea we had in mind when building our API-based, real-time data reports into our affiliate platform. And the results didn’t take long to appear: one of our casinos used the reports to spot some suspicious betting activity. A player placed a bet is essential in building up an active protection for your business. APIbased, real-time data reports and automatic fraud detection come to the rescue of Affiliate Managers, making it possible to exclude risks for both sides of the business and ensure a secure infrastructure for the affiliate as well.
This essentially means putting in place a transparent partnership, which is invaluable regardless of the company’s size and market. Transparency is a great way to build market reputation and make sure it becomes known that your proposal is a fair partnership. That in itself will turn away scammers and attract affiliates that will help your brand in the long term. •
