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Online Gambling

Market Intelligence Report

Executive Insights

July to December 2011

Philip McGuin

Head of Insight

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About the Report

UK Online Gambling – Market Intelligence Report

Stickyeyes latest market intelligence report on the online gambling industry analyses who’s who in online gambling

across the main verticals of sports book, bingo, casino and poker between July – December 2011. Here, Stickyeyes

provides an overview of the findings which shows that few online gambling operators are leveraging social media

to develop an effective two way dialogue with customers.

What will you get from this report?

The online gambling market intelligence report pulls together over 50 individual pieces of key insight and over 50

individual pieces of statistical interpretation from Stickyeyes PPC market intelligence tool, Market Defender and

organic search analysis tool, Search Dash to analyse the search and social media strategies of the top 100 online

gambling operators. Questions answered in the report include:

• Who are the market leaders?

• Which keywords are driving market visibility?

• What are operators doing to achieve maximum market share?

• How are operators using social media to acquire customers?

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For more information and to obtain a free copy of Stickyeyes market intelligence report please email

hello@stickyeyes.com or visit stickyeyes.com.

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Despite the current economic climate online gambling is on an upward growth trend, growing from £1,690m in

2010 to £1,920m in 2011(1). This trend is set to continue in 2012 with consumer expenditure expected to pass £2

billion for the first time. Growth across the sector has mainly been driven by sports book (i.e. betting) with an

estimated market value of over £800 million in 2011 and mainly led by football and in-play betting growth.

The most rapid market growth has been seen in the vertical bingo which has grown by 318% since 2007 whilst

growth within online casino has been underpinned by slots and roulette. However, poker continues to lose market

share falling from 19% to 16% between 2009 and 2011.

Source – Mintel – Online Gaming and Betting – UK – October 2011

Market Overview

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Online gambling is very dependent on

brand related searches and traffic and

although a well implemented generic

search campaign can help brand searches it

is also a factor of brand legacy and

significant offline marketing activity.

Over 60% of all brand volume comes from

just six dominant operators - William Hill,

Ladbrokes, bet365, betfair, Paddy Power

and 888. Of these six operators bingo,

betting and sports betting operators lead

the field, with the traditional bricks and

mortar operator’s William Hill and

Ladbrokes emerging as the market leaders.

Dominance of these operators is

underpinned by heavy advertising spends in

television advertising and sports related

sponsorship which helps drive online

searches.

The Power of Brand

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• Market Cornered by 888 and Ladbrokes with high visibility across both Paid and Organic Listings.

• Although William Hill dominant in Paid lack of natural rankings affects overall reach.

Casino – Aggregated Click Share

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• 888 have developed a strategy of multiple brands in the natural listings giving them a dominant position (2 -

888 derivatives and Pacific Poker)

Poker – Aggregated Click Share

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• Of the top 20 bingo operators only two are actively leveraging both PPC and organic search as part of the

same strategy.

• This approach has enabled Tombola to be the most visible operator overall.

Bingo – Aggregated Click Share

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• William Hill and Ladbrokes dominate the Paid listings but those with a more holistic approach are having most

success

• Primarily Paddy Power and to a lesser extent Bet 365 and Betfair.

Betting – Aggregated Click Share

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• 888 dominates the casino and poker markets: 888 is the only operator who has successfully developed a

competitive organic and paid presence within all four gaming verticals - betting, bingo, casino and poker.

This has been achieved with the implementation of an aggressive strategy across both organic and paid

search.

• Surprisingly bingo market leader, Tombola, dominate neither PPC nor organic rankings for bingo:

Tombola dominate neither PPC nor organic rankings for bingo however, they have the best aggregated

click share of 11.90%. This can be attributed to the fact they are one of only two operators within the top

20 actively deploying significant PPC and organic strategies with the vertical bingo.

• PPC is a key focus for William Hill, Pokerstars and Party Poker : Market leader William Hill has a search

strategy that is almost entirely based on the tactical deployment of PPC, having no visible organic

presence for any of the top volume keywords. Pokerstars and Party Poker also adopt the same strategy

with evidence suggesting that this may be partly due to the historical impact of Google algorithm updates

such as Caffeine on their organic listings.

• Low social media adoption throughout the industry: Customers are starting to use social media platforms

in a variety of ways from a passive interest in humorous content through to actively seeking information

such as betting tips, odds and updates. However few online gambling operators are leveraging this

medium to develop an effective two way dialogue that stimulates integration and engagement. Despite

their success 888 has an imbalance within their search marketing strategy. While they are investing heavily

in traditional search marketing they have yet to replicate the same success within social media. However,

one of the exceptions to the rule is Paddy Power who has been the most successful in finding the balance

between the level of customer touch points across all the major social platforms as well as having a solid

volume and quality of interaction.

Takeaways

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• Stickyeyes is an international digital marketing agency with a pedigree in SEO, PPC and display, social, PR

and content provision, consulting and insight and design and development.

• A wide variety of blue chip companies and prestigious brands (including many household names) utilise

Stickyeyes expertise to provide innovative, effective and creative marketing solutions in incredibly

competitive sectors including retail, travel, gaming and professional and financial services amongst others.

• Stickyeyes was recently named as one of the fastest growing technology, media and telecoms companies

in the UK in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 and is the first agency in Europe to achieve Mobile

Marketing Association accreditation for its entire client-facing team.

• For more information and to obtain a free copy of Stickyeyes market intelligence report please email

hello@stickyeyes.com or visit stickyeyes.com.

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