According to the UK Gambling Commission (a Government body), the total gross gambling yield (GGY) of the Great Britain gambling industry was £13.8 bn for (Apr 2016 – Mar 2017), a 1.8% increase from Apr 2015 – Mar 2016.
That’s a lot of spend to play for, and when it comes to gambling, brand is a huge purchase driver.
When you’re going to deposit money to a service online, trust that their gameplay and outcomes really are randomly driven, or that you’ll be paid out what you’re owed – it’s often going to be a brand you know and already trust that ticks those boxes, not just the one who’s bid the most to appear at the top of Google paid listings.
This is why gaming and gambling brands plough hundreds of millions of pounds into ‘above the line’ advertising campaigns across TV, radio and billboards as well as digital. According to Nielsen, they spent £456 million on advertising since 2012, recording a 46% rise in annual spending.
Clearly to capture a share of this lucrative market, it’s essential to be well known, and well regarded.
So which brands are winning across those two major criteria, and what else can we learn about the gaming and gambling industry from Attest’s 2018 Gaming & Gambling Industry Brands Report?
A consolidated field
In total there were just 50 individual brands named in our test of unprompted brand recall. Every other industry generally features 120-200 individual brands, so there is considerable consolidation in this sector.
A brand had to have just .5% of unprompted brand recall to be in the Top 16 brands, and 1.5% to be in the Top 10.
Overall, unprompted brand recall in the gaming and gambling market is led by Betfred, with an unprompted recall of 12.5%. Unusually for most markets (but not surprising given the consolidated playing field), 3 other brands all break the 10% unprompted recall mark: Ladbrokes, Bet365 and William Hill.
Within the gaming and gambling brand leadership matrix (made up of all brands with a .5% recall or above), we can see that sports betting brands make up most of the numbers (9 of 16), followed by bingo (4), lottery (2) and with just a single (online) casino brand represented. No poker brands feature, and neither do any offline casinos.
NPS not a favourable metric for this industry
While Net Promoter Score (NPS), is a well regarded measure of how well a brand is doing in keeping its customers happy, all indications are that this does not correlate as well for gaming and gambling firms as it does in every other sector.
Why?
Well we see the industry’s average Net Promoter Score (NPS) is negative (the first time we’ve seen this across an industry), standing at – 27.7, and even the average amongst the Top 15 is not much stronger at 26.6.
In fact amongst the Top 16 brands by unprompted recall, just one – Ladbrokes – has a positive NPS score (an impressive 37.5).
The industry’s NPS score is quite different amongst males (rising to -15), then dropping dramatically to -40 amongst females.
Looking at different age groups, it’s even worse (across genders) for Gen Z (21 and under) at -53, this rises to 25 for Millennials (22-35), and further again to 19 for Gen X (36-55). It drops hugely again amongst Boomers (55+), at 54.
Weaker than usual purchase intent
Another key takeaway from the data is the much weaker-than-usual correlation between knowing a brand and the likelihood of consumers considering purchasing it.
Just 24% of consumers are ‘very likely’ to purchase from a brand they could name, with a further 22% ‘likely’ to do so.
As in all other sectors, the major factor affecting purchase intent is Net Promoter Score (NPS).
For brands with an NPS of 6 or below, a ‘very likely’ to purchase intent reduces to just 3% while ‘very unlikely’ grows from 18% to 32% (and unlikely from 9% to 16%). On the opposite end of the spectrum, those giving a 9 or a 10 in NPS were 74% ‘very likely’ to purchase that brand.
So while NPS is not particularly flattering for the industry as a whole, including many individual brands, it does show what an important role it plays in forming purchase intent amongst consumers.
Key attributes
What do consumers want in a top brand in gaming and gambling? As you can see from our wordcloud, the top attributes are: good/great odds; easy to use websites; and excellent customer service.
Gaming & Gambling Brand Index Leaders
The overall leaders of our first Gaming & GamblingBrand Index were as follows (ranked by Total Brand Equity, on the far right):
| Brand name | Recall | Purchase Intent | NPS | Brand Strength | Total Brand Equity |
| Ladbrokes | 11.60 | 18.10 | 37.50 | 55.60 | 645.00 |
| Sky Bet | 5.30 | 47.17 | 0.00 | 47.17 | 250.00 |
| Coral | 5.90 | 35.59 | -6.78 | 28.81 | 170.00 |
| Bet365 | 11.50 | 26.09 | -15.65 | 10.43 | 120.00 |
| Gala | 1.80 | 33.33 | -5.56 | 27.78 | 50.00 |
| Mecca Bingo | 0.50 | 40.00 | 0.00 | 40.00 | 20.00 |
| National Lottery | 1.50 | 26.67 | -20.00 | 6.67 | 10.00 |
| Jackpot Joy | 0.80 | 50.00 | -50.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Betway | 0.60 | 33.33 | -33.33 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 888 casino | 0.80 | 25.00 | -50.00 | -25.00 | -20.00 |
| Lotto | 1.00 | 10.00 | -48.28 | -38.28 | -38.28 |
| Foxy bingo | 0.70 | 14.29 | -71.43 | -57.14 | -40.00 |
| Betfair | 3.50 | 22.86 | -40.00 | -17.14 | -60.00 |
| Paddy Power | 6.90 | 20.29 | -33.33 | -13.04 | -90.00 |
| William Hill | 10.80 | 22.22 | -35.60 | -13.38 | -144.50 |
| Betfred | 12.50 | 16.80 | -53.60 | -36.80 | -460.00 |
| Ladbrokes | 11.60 | 18.10 | 37.50 | 55.60 | 645.00 |
| Average | 4.73 | 27.61 | -26.63 | 0.98 | 25.76 |
| Median | 1.50 | 25.00 | -33.33 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
You can see how this looks plotted as both Total Brand Equity (TBE) and against the matrix of ‘well known and well liked.’
A few quick takeaways
Almost every brand in our Top 16 have negative NPS – which is a situation that would cause alarm in most businesses.
Negative NPS means more people are likely to say negative things about the brand than positive things, which can be damaging for their reputation.
Given how much money is spent on above the line advertising and promotion by gambling companies, there may be a good argument to consider stronger corporate messaging around how they’re protecting against addition (a frequent comment driving negative consumer NPS).
Looking at what people were saying about Ladbrokes, the only betting firm with a positive NPS, here’s what their promoters have to say about what they’re getting right:
“Reputable, traditional and widely available.”
“Ladbrokes are always reliable and trusted.”
“Good odds”
“Fun”
“Quality”
“Easy to use”
”Great services”
This chimes with the same themes coming up across any promoters in the industry, and should provide a strong signal to all the other gambling brands which messages are going to be most effective in appealing to new customers…and what experiences they must deliver to keep them happy.
In conclusion
The gaming and gambling sector is a highly competitive one, but the rewards are huge. Ladbrokes, who sit on top of our index, made revenues of £1.5 billion in 2016, with William Hill and Bet365 (both in the Top 15) enjoying similar revenues.
While recall is somewhat correlated to purchase intent, NPS is most important factor.
Measuring these key metrics will help you to figure out which aspects of your brand need to be worked on so you can stay (or break into) the top echelons.
And if your brand wasn’t featured, we can help you run a tailored brand equity matrix specific to your category or target consumer (e.g. just for poker, or just for offline gaming).