Interviews
Exclusive GAMING1 interview on Belgium, France and the Netherlands: “We must always remember this is an entertainment industry.”
In anticipation of the Belgian Royal Decree coming into effect on 1 July, we sat down with Emmanuel Mewissen, CEO at GAMING1, to talk about the operator’s commitment to responsible gaming, how it will be retaining customers in a ‘limitless’ digital landscape – as well as the company’s exciting future plans.
As one of Belgium, the Netherlands and France’s most exciting operators, can you tell us a bit about your business there and how are your brands Circus and 777 performing?
Thank you! Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Switzerland are our core markets – all of which offer some of Europe’s best opportunities. We want to focus on the areas in which we are currently present and see what we need to do to improve in these areas. Our mission is always to offer the best possible experience and for our customers to have fun and enjoy themselves in a responsible and controlled way.
Starting with land-based, our network across all three markets is very consistent. We own 12 casinos in Belgium, France and Switzerland. In Belgium, we have recently inaugurated our first resort, the Circus Casino Resort in Namur. This innovative formula combines casino activities with a wellness centre, restaurant, hotel and areas for receptions and conferences.
Of course, Circus and 777 are part of our multi-brand approach and they’re performing very well. In line with that, we are always looking to improve our service even more on the digital front, 777 is present in four countries (BE, CH, SP, NL) and Circus online in two countries (BE, NL). With Circus, we aim to offer a 360-degree customer experience with the combination of both our terrestrial and digital offerings.
As part of our approach to responsible gaming – which is a core brand ethos that we are truly committed to, we focus on the countries in which we are already present to solidify our value proposition. For a brand to perform well in a country, it’s like a mathematical equation. Setting up a local sales unit in the market where you are offering enables you to develop your local knowledge. This helps you to build a solid network and properly develop the business based on customer habits and needs.
With the advent of markedly strict advertising regulation coming into place in Belgium via the Royal Decree, how is GAMING1 preparing for such a major shift in market conditions?
Regulated Belgian operators like us agree with the desire to limit excessive advertising, but we must ensure that this decision does not drive players into the illegal industry – which is a real risk. We live in a limitless and ever-expanding digital world. As a result, independently to this Royal Decree, only legal operators will follow the law and, in doing so, they risk becoming weak and invisible, with the digital space offering plenty of opportunity for players to go offshore.
How can we protect consumers from illegal operators who do not respect these rules? It’s easy to observe illegal operators engaging in influence marketing on social media by promoting poker tournaments and celebrities with thousands of followers. This diverts the attention of players who go and play on unregulated sites. This is why visibility and competitiveness are important for a legal operator. The facts and figures will show in the future that these bans on marketing visibility will have the opposite effect, and that prevention will suffer as a result.
We, at GAMING1, didn’t wait for the Royal Decree to come into force to work actively on prevention and player protection. Prevention and protection are part of our corporate strategy. Years ago, we decided to develop a tool based on artificial intelligence that detects changes or risky behaviour at an early stage.
The detection tool is now operational and is based on indicators that were identified thanks to our collaboration with experts and university scientists specialising in addictive behaviour. In addition, we comply with legal measures such as the EPIS list, which is a legal protection list that bans certain types of customers (on the basis of certain functions, minors, debt mediation, etc.).
At a group level and for all our brands and partnered brands, we adopt a global approach to prevent addiction and make sure we only operate on regulated markets. In addition, we now comply with the Belgian Royal Decree, and we have adapted our websites, platforms, and marketing accordingly for our Belgian brands. This decree comes into force on 1st July 2023.
How do you believe this new set of regulations will affect the operating environment for local brands? Do you see it affecting the playing field significantly?
If you radically restrict advertising, including sponsorship, and lock the country into a narrow regulatory space, you will probably fail to see the desired result because you are out of touch with digital and international realities. Legal operators will become invisible with the next level of prohibition, and this will pave the way for the illegal market with all the risks associated with the absence of control. We can already see that 20% of Belgian players visit such sites.
This new law also tackles sponsorship. As far as this part is concerned, we have been sponsoring various associations, teams and sporting events for many years. This goes well beyond a commercial positioning and allows us, among other things, to convey messages about responsible play, as shown by our latest messages with the EGR-Award winning ‘Time To Play Responsibly’ campaign with former footballer Ronaldinho during the 2022 Qatar World Cup. The Royal Decree provides for a total ban on sports sponsorship from 2028 and we believe sports clubs, medias and events in Belgium will suffer as a result of this measure.
In short, I see the royal decree as a real obstacle for Belgium’s regulated private operators because, with these drastic constraints and restrictions, we will lack visibility and competitiveness compared to illegal operators who will continue to capture Belgian customers.
It’s also a bad political decision, because it completely misses the real challenge, which is customer protection. The debate is not about banning advertising as such, but about how to protect players and, above all, what to protect them against. The people who want to play will always find out a way to play.
This is why the worst dangers are illegal operators who have no regulation or form of prevention. This royal decree does not take account of the economic and digital reality of our modern consumption patterns, and this observation is independent of our industry since it is a general and societal fact.
Onto one very exciting area to keep an eye on – there’s talk of France regulating online casino for the first time. What’s your take on this possibility and will you have big plans for the market if this becomes a reality?
Developing our CIRCUS brand in France almost six years ago was obviously with some hope that one day, France would finally adapt its casino law to address the digital challenges. We have eight operations in France – seven casinos and one club in Paris. Our club in Paris performs well and is one of the poker market leaders in France. Having our origin outside France, we felt proud in 2019 to be granted a licence to operate in Paris. It demonstrates that we are very serious about accepting our responsibilities as a business.
Nevertheless, we’re surprised France does not to allow online casinos despite being Europe’s largest market. As a consequence, France has become a huge casino black market – and this is detrimental to player protection of course, but also to the country’s economy and employment opportunities. Giving that unfair competition, this is also detrimental to the existing casinos and the budget of the numerous localities that host these regulated land-based casinos.
Last but not least, with six months to go in 2023, what are GAMING1’s upcoming plans and what can we look forward to?
To look forward to – we will continue improving our responsible gambling software and prevention tools which will ensure we are in a position that meets the regulator’s request in terms of customers’ protection. Responsible gaming has always been a core part of our philosophy, and one we take great pride in.
With that – we want to appear trustworthy to regulators so that we can showcase that we truly believe in a safe and responsible entertainment experience. With that, we also want to show that the legal sector is an expert and is also the solution to create prevention. Also, as a work in progress, we want the customer journey to be a unique omnichannel experience in the next two years.
Last but not least, our plan will always be to ensure that our customers have fun and enjoy their experience, as after all, we must always remember that this is the entertainment industry. We consider our activities in a sustainable way, and this will continue to shape a large part of our approach.
Following his appointment as Chief Product Officer at iGaming software pioneer Tequity, industry veteran Alex Scott outlines his vision for the company’s expanding product suite. With over 20 years of leadership experience, including driving WPT Global to become the world’s second-largest online poker room, he shares his insights on how Tequity’s approach is redefining both the games players enjoy and the way they are distributed.
You have held senior leadership roles at major operators and suppliers. What convinced you to join Tequity, and what are your main priorities as CPO?
Tequity is a business that I’ve admired since I first became aware of it. In that time I’ve heard so many positive things about how the company is able to move very quickly and decisively, while still delivering ultra high quality products for its partners. When I started interviewing for the position and meeting the people involved, that only reinforced the positive impression I had. It was clear to me that this was a company that is at the forefront of innovation in the iGaming space, creating and delivering content that is fresh and exciting.
My priority as CPO is to further accelerate the development of top-quality products that are highly relevant to today’s players. I’m excited to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in – there are so many possibilities!
Tequity recently secured BMM Testlabs certification for its RNG and the first batch of Originals titles. How does that accelerate your product roadmap?
This certification will open up many more potential customers for Tequity, and therefore many more opportunities for businesses to take advantage of Tequity’s services, like our bespoke Exclusives and our top-performing Originals. Operators fighting for market share are always looking for those added-value elements that can set them apart from the competition and our fully brandable, customisable and feature-packed content offers that key point of difference.
It will also enable the studios using our RGS and Publishing solutions to widen their own distribution and reach many more potential customers as well – just another reason to choose our RGS. We have seen the strong demand for our games and solutions from partners all over the world, and we believe that this appetite will be more than matched by operators in the regulated market space.
Finally, it represents s a step towards a wider regulated market expansion which I am excited to be involved in.
Player preferences are moving decisively toward fast-paced, community-driven experiences. How do Tequity’s game divisions cater to this next generation of player engagement?
One of the things that sets Tequity apart is that the company truly understands what the modern generation of players are looking for. They are discovering online casino in a very different way to past generations, and require simpler, easier to understand, more socially-driven content if you want their full attention. Today’s players expect instant gratification and seamless, mobile-first experiences that fit into their fast-paced lifestyles. They also want gameplay to feel like less of a solitary activity and more of a shared event.
Having spent recent months immersed in casino game development for the crypto generation, I’m really looking forward to contributing to these efforts and having an impact of my own.
You will be joining the Tequity team at iGB Live in London next month. What is the key takeaway you want operators and studios to leave with?
As the newest Tequity signing, I’m looking forward to meeting the rest of the team and many of our partners and customers at iGB Live.
Tequity is an extremely fast and capable company that builds high-quality, interesting products at the cutting-edge of the industry. My hope is that operators and studios leave the event understanding our expertise and capabilities. But I also want them to leave with a sense of the enthusiasm and passion that we have for building great games that stand out from the crowd.
The post Q&A with Tequity’s new Chief Product Officer Alex Scott appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Check out our latest Q&A w/ Robert Miller, President, Kiron North America.
Everyone is talking about the opportunity presented to the North American market by the World Cup. Just how big an opportunity do you believe it is? And what is the size of this opportunity for virtual sports?
For live sports betting, the World Cup is one of the biggest opportunities available. It drives significant betting volume, attracts new customers and creates moments of engagement that few sporting events can match. For virtual sports, the opportunity is different. The World Cup can help introduce new players to a broader betting ecosystem, but virtual sports are not dependent on major tournaments to succeed. Their real strength is providing consistent engagement throughout the year. While the tournament creates a short term surge in activity, the long term opportunity lies in offering customers engaging experiences every day, not just during major events.
Events like the World Cup present a huge demand for content from operators. How can virtual sports help operators in North America during these times?
Live matches will always be the centrepiece of the World Cup experience and rightly so. However, operators also need ways to keep customers engaged between matches and throughout the wider tournament journey. Virtual sports complement live betting by providing continuous entertainment and additional touchpoints when there is no live action available. The greatest value comes when virtuals are integrated into a broader engagement strategy that keeps players connected to the platform before, during and after major sporting events.
The North American market has been maturing significantly in the last few years, does a tournament as big as the World Cup showcase the strength of the market? Or highlight the flaws in its set-up?
It does both. The strength of the market is clear in the scale of customer participation and the growing appetite for sports betting experiences. Major tournaments demonstrate just how much demand exists. At the same time, they highlight one of the industry’s biggest challenges: retention. Many operators are highly successful at attracting customers during major events, but maintaining engagement afterwards remains a key focus. Long term success will come from building experiences that keep players engaged throughout the year, not just during peak sporting moments.
North American sports fans have a very different relationship with football compared to European or Latin American audiences. How does that affect the way virtual football products need to be positioned or presented in this market?
Product positioning needs to reflect the realities of the local audience. Football continues to grow in North America, but it does not yet have the same cultural position it enjoys in many other regions. For that reason, virtual football products should focus on accessibility, entertainment and ease of engagement. Players respond to experiences that are intuitive, fast paced and easy to understand. The emphasis should be on delivering continuous action and a compelling user experience rather than relying solely on familiarity with the sport itself.
The World Cup has a jam-packed schedule and the North American sports calendar is one of the most packed in the world. With so much live content available, how do you make the case for virtual sports to operators who believe they already have enough sports action to offer?
The conversation is not about choosing between live sports and virtual sports. The most effective operators recognise that the two can work together. Live sports naturally create periods of inactivity between events, while different player segments engage with content in different ways. Virtual sports fill those gaps and create additional opportunities for interaction. When positioned correctly, they enhance the overall entertainment offering rather than compete with live sports.
When the World Cup has finished, what is the lasting impact on virtual sports in North America and how do providers ensure they do not lose any momentum they have gained?
The lasting impact comes from what operators do with the attention generated during the tournament. Major sporting events create opportunities to introduce new customers to products and experiences they may not have explored previously. Maintaining momentum requires strong operational integration, seamless customer journeys and products that continue to deliver value long after the tournament ends. Providers that focus on year round engagement rather than short term spikes will be best positioned to benefit.
The post How Virtual Sports Can Help Shape The North American Market During and After the World Cup appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
2026 FIFA World Cup
Roundtable – More than just a Match: How Can Online Casinos Benefit from Increased FIFA World Cup Traffic
Participants
David Nilsen, Editor-in-Chief, Kongebonus
Yoni Sidi, CEO at Winpot.mx
Edvardas Sadovskis, CPO at ICONIC21
Summary
The 2026 FIFA World Cup begins this June, and it is set to create one of the biggest acquisition opportunities the iGaming industry has witnessed. Naturally, all of the attention this summer will turn to sportsbooks, but with many operators also offering online casinos, how can they ensure that their casinos benefit from this football-driven traffic increase?
The opportunity is real, but so is the risk of missing it. Many casual bettors will be signing up for a summer of betting action, and this represents a new, untapped audience for online casinos. However, converting sports bettors into online casino players, and vice versa, is a notoriously difficult challenge, and it is one many operators will be hoping to overcome this summer.
For this roundtable, we’ve brought together a panel of experts from different sectors of the industry to explore how online casinos can take advantage of this opportunity, what kind of casino content interests sports bettors, and more.
With millions of new sports bettors expected to sign up, what can operators do to make the most of this window?
David Nilsen, Editor-in-Chief, Kongebonus
The goal is simple. Get people active and keep them active for the whole tournament, not just one match. The audience is genuinely there. Deutsche Bank reckons US handle alone lands somewhere between 2.5 and 4.1 billion dollars, more than double Qatar 2022. But a clean, fast sign-up is everything. These are casual punters.
They will abandon a long registration mid-game, so any friction at deposit, KYC or withdrawal costs you the customer on the spot. Once they are in, that is where you open up the cross-sell into a casino and live casino.
At Kongebonus we see this with our Norwegian audience every tournament. The mistake most operators make is treating the sign-up as the win. It is not. It is just the door. The actual work is giving someone a reason to come back for the next match day, and the one after that.
Yoni Sidi, CEO at Winpot.mx
The sign-up moment is everything. Onboarding flows need to surface casino products immediately, and welcome offers should reward exploration across both verticals from day one.
New registrants during a tournament are impulse-driven, and the window between matches is prime casino time. Operators need automated triggers that capitalise on those gaps. This means post-match lobby pushes, half-time promos, and next-day re-engagement.
KYC and payment friction will kill conversion faster than any competitor, so operators who have invested in fast verification and instant withdrawals will win the acquisition battle.
And don’t treat it as a pure volume play. Segmenting new users early allows for smarter casino cross-sell from the very start.
Edvardas Sadovskis, CPO at ICONIC21
The market will be saturated with promotions, that’s a given. Providers should go beyond the standard offer and think carefully about how they build their promotions to fit their operator partners needs: the mechanics, the timing, the creative execution, and crucially, how well it reflects the season.
At ICONIC21, personalization is at the core of what we offer, and the FIFA World Cup is exactly where that capability becomes a real competitive differentiator. We can move quickly to adapt games and content to a specific theme and audience profile. Football Cup Roulette, Football Cup Blackjack 360, Football Cup Gravity Blackjack are all examples of that in practice. Operators don’t need to rely on generic, off-the-shelf content during one of the biggest acquisition windows of the year. The technology and the partnerships exist to do something genuinely distinctive. The question is how operators choose to use them.
What have previous tournaments taught us about how sports bettors interact with casino products, and how can the industry prepare?
David Nilsen, Editor-in-Chief, Kongebonus
We have learned that cross-selling into casino is genuinely hard, and most operators reach for the easy route. Halftime free spins. You will see them everywhere this summer. There is nothing wrong with that. A free-spin offer while someone is already logged in is a sensible nudge. But be realistic about who these people are.
Most FIFA World Cup traffic is occasional punters who log in, stick a tenner on Norway or a correct score, and move on hoping for the best. Research shows this type often does not know the sector’s vocabulary and will not sit through a long process mid-match. So the lesson is straightforward. Do your retention work while they are actually active and engaged. That window is short. Once the match ends, the attention is gone, and no amount of clever follow-up brings it back.
Yoni Sidi, CEO at Winpot.mx
Euro 2020 and Qatar 2022 both showed the same pattern – casino engagement spikes on match days. The gap days are where operators lose people.
Live casino consistently outperforms slots during tournaments because it mirrors the event feeling of watching a match.
The clearest lesson is that operators who built cross-sell journeys before the tournament started outperformed those who reacted in real time.
Loyalty and gamification mechanics that ran across both verticals – a FIFA World Cup leaderboard rewarding sports and casino play alike – showed meaningful uplift.
It’s important to understand that the preparation window matters more than in-tournament creativity.
Edvardas Sadovskis, CPO at ICONIC21
What past tournaments consistently show is that the boundaries between verticals are more permeable than we sometimes assume. A player who arrives through sportsbook during a major tournament is not necessarily a sportsbook-only player forever. Context and theme play an enormous role in where attention goes.
Cross-sell remains one of the most valuable and underutilized levers in the industry. During this season, actually all verticals matter, and operators who maintain a healthy, well-curated mix of live casino, slots, and RNG content alongside their sportsbook offering, if available, are the ones best positioned to capture that wider engagement.
The theme itself does a lot of the work. Football enthusiasm creates a mood and that mood travels across verticals. Players who might not ordinarily gravitate toward a slot or a live table will engage with one that feels connected to the moment they’re already excited about. The industry’s job is to make that journey feel natural.
How do casino-first operators stay visible and relevant when sportsbook brands dominate the tournament?
David Nilsen, Editor-in-Chief, Kongebonus
Honestly, this worry is a little overblown. Casino-first players stay casino-first players. If they fancy a FIFA World Cup bet, they already know exactly where to find it, so you do not need to fight hard to cross-sell them. And here is what people forget. If a big operator runs a huge sportsbook campaign and that same player already uses their casino, the player is being reminded of the brand, not lost to it. Nobody suddenly forgets what an operator does just because the marketing went football-flavoured for a month. So, casino-first brands should not panic and try to out-shout the sportsbooks. Stay true to the product. Lean into what makes you different.
Trust that your audience knows you. The summer noise fades by July. Your core proposition should not move an inch while everyone else is shouting about Mbappé.
Yoni Sidi, CEO at Winpot.mx
Casino-first operators shouldn’t try to out-shout sportsbooks on football, because they’ll lose that battle on media spend.
The smarter play is owning the moments between matches and positioning casino as the entertainment layer around the tournament, not a competitor to it. Influencer and affiliate channels that are casino-native can carry the brand without getting drowned out in sports media noise.
But the real weapon is CRM. Direct-to-player communication doesn’t compete with broadcast budgets, and a well-timed push notification at 10pm after the final whistle will outperform a TV spot every time.
Edvardas Sadovskis, CPO at ICONIC21
Relevance comes from keeping content fresh, timely, and specific and that’s where well-structured promotions earn their place. They represent content engines and player acquisition tools. The entire technical setup of the promotion shapes how a provider’s portfolio feels to a player during a tournament window.
We’re running the ICONIC Showdown football cup tournament across 11 of our games, with a particular focus on our limited-time personalized titles: Football Cup Roulette, Football Cup Blackjack 360, Football Cup Gravity Blackjack and The Kickoff. Alongside the promotion, we’ve launched Soccer World Championship, a football-themed slot designed to encourage natural cross-play between verticals.
Casino-first operators don’t need to compete with sportsbook on sportsbook’s terms. They need to offer an experience that’s thematically connected to the season while playing to the strengths of their own offerings.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup spans three countries and multiple time zones. How does the fragmented schedule affect preparation, and can content counter it?
David Nilsen, Editor-in-Chief, Kongebonus
The schedule is the single biggest challenge for us in the Nordics, and also the biggest opportunity. With matches landing late at night or at odd hours, the Norwegian fan is often watching alone. Partner asleep, no one to react with. That gap is exactly what we built the Kongebonus World Cup hub around, what we are calling the home of the second screen. It centres on a live, moderated chat where fans follow the action together, share predictions and react in real time, alongside a free Pick’em game and a leaderboard. From a content angle, the answer to a fragmented schedule is not more odds. It is connection. Give people somewhere to actually be during those midnight kick-offs and the awkward time zones stop being a reason to switch off. They become a reason to show up.
Yoni Sidi, CEO at Winpot.mx
With matches running across the USA, Canada, and Mexico, there’s no clean primetime window. Kick-offs will be spread from early afternoon through late evening, depending on the market.
Honestly, this is an opportunity for casino. There will always be a gap in any time zone where no match is live, and smart promotion scheduling around local match times can fill those windows.
For operators serving Latin American markets – particularly relevant given Mexico’s co-hosting – the operational challenge is CRM.
Campaigns need to be time-zone aware. A blanket broadcast approach will underperform, which means timing localisation is as important as language localisation.
Edvardas Sadovskis, CPO at ICONIC21
The fragmented schedule is actually less of a constraint than it might appear because not everything needs to be tied directly to a specific match time or result. The atmosphere and the theme carry their own power, and content that captures that energy will perform regardless of which time zone a player is in.
Our approach with the ICONIC Showdown reflects that thinking. We’re running the promotion from the 9th to the 19th of July, aligning with the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final. Those are the moments that carry the most weight emotionally and commercially. That gives players a meaningful window to engage at their own pace, rather than chasing a narrow match-by-match timeline.
There’s also a practical advantage to this approach: a lot of providers are running activations across the entire tournament period, including the build-up. By focusing on the decisive phase, we’re competing on quality of moment rather than volume of coverage and giving the promotion room to breathe.
What casino content will perform best, and are operators treating casino and sportsbook players as one connected audience?
David Nilsen, Editor-in-Chief, Kongebonus
If your cross-sell strategy is a tired football-themed slot, it will not work. It is lazy and players see straight through it. And please, do not just default to Starburst either. The way to actually turn a football crowd into casino play is to put your best content in front of them. The most genuinely fun, highest-quality slots you have, football-themed or not. People do not engage with a mediocre game because it has a ball on the reels. They engage with a great game. So yes, treat them as one connected audience, but respect them as one.
The connected-audience thinking only pays off if the product on the other side is something a person would actually choose to play. Quality is the cross-sell. The theme is just decoration, and decoration has never retained anybody.
Yoni Sidi, CEO at Winpot.mx
Football-themed slots are the obvious answer, but the honest truth is most underdeliver.
The studios doing it well are building mechanic-first games that happen to carry a football skin, not the other way around.
Live casino, particularly game shows, is the format most likely to resonate with sports bettors, because they provide real-time, social, high-energy action that feels closest to watching a match.
The harder truth is that the industry remains largely siloed, with separate CRM journeys, separate bonus budgets, and separate teams. The player doesn’t see two products.
The ones who will win this summer are those with a unified player view who serve casino as a natural extension of the sports experience.
Edvardas Sadovskis, CPO at ICONIC21
Themed content will lead. Players respond to content that reflects the moment they’re living in, and football is one of the few cultural events that cuts across demographics broadly enough to work across all verticals simultaneously.
Our power lies in the breadth of what we offer: live casino, slots, and RNG games, representing three verticals that each bring something distinct to a player’s experience, and that together create a genuinely comprehensive product environment for operators. During the World Cup, we are using exactly that mix.
On the question of treating casino and sportsbook players as a connected audience, the reality is that the audiences will remain largely distinct in their primary behaviours. But they can absolutely be united by theme, by atmosphere, and by an experience that makes movement between verticals feel intuitive.
How can operators balance short-term acquisition with long-term retention after the tournament ends?
David Nilsen, Editor-in-Chief, Kongebonus
Be sober about this. Long-term retention is always the hard part at a mega-event. Huge numbers of occasional players come in, have two or three bets on their country, and they are gone. That is just the nature of it.
Spamming them afterwards genuinely does not work. The real strategy is to use the active window to show a product worth returning to, then plant a hook into the future. Get them to place a season-long outright on the next Premier League or Champions League, or a bet on the opening weekend with a small reward attached. Optimove found 65 percent of US bettors plan to keep wagering even after their team is knocked out, so the appetite to stay is there. You will not turn most occasional punters into casino regulars. That is a fantasy. But you can become the operator they instinctively return to next time.
Yoni Sidi, CEO at Winpot.mx
The biggest mistake is building welcome offers that are purely sports-focused – you acquire a sports bettor, and that’s all you ever have.
Structured onboarding that introduces casino in week one, not week five, is critical. First-session casino exposure, even light-touch, significantly improves 90-day retention across both verticals.
Retention mechanics also need to outlast the tournament itself. A World Cup loyalty campaign that ends after the final leaves players with nothing to stay for.
The programme needs a natural handover, such as seasonal sports, ongoing casino promotions and VIP pathways.
LTV modelling should reflect the reality that a player who touches both verticals in their first 30 days is worth multiples of a single-vertical player. That should be driving investment decisions, not treated as a nice-to-have.
Edvardas Sadovskis, CPO at ICONIC21
It’s worth broadening the frame. It’s equally about an operator’s existing, loyal casino audience, who arrive at a World Cup window expecting something seasonal and new players, maybe coming from competitors or sportsbook-only platforms to join a promotion.
Short-term promotional content that performs well during the tournament doesn’t have to disappear. A limited-edition live table can remain in the lobby after the promotion ends reverting to its standard theme and continuing to serve as a player favorite.
That thinking is what separates acquisition-focused operators from retention-focused ones. The FIFA World Cup creates the spike. Smart content strategy and a well-structured lobby are what convert that spike into sustained engagement across all the verticals.
The post Roundtable – More than just a Match: How Can Online Casinos Benefit from Increased FIFA World Cup Traffic appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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