Gaming operators in Pennsylvania now have another way to retain bettors. Malta-based company Enteractive Ltd. has been awarded a service license in the state.
Pennsylvania online casinos and sportsbooks launched in 2019. Three years later, the Keystone State continues to add new retail casinos, iGaming services, sports wagering operators, and video gaming terminals. The expansion has brought a 37% boost in gaming revenue, comparing the most recent fiscal year (ending June 30, 2022) to the one before. At the same time, it has fueled a rise in self-exclusions and problem gambling helpline calls.
A series of news headlines over the past few months have highlighted concerns over customer acquisition costs. US operators are facing an increasingly crowded sports betting and iGaming market.
By engaging with inactive US players, Enteractive believes it can help operators reduce those costs by retaining existing customers. It offers its services in New Jersey, Illinois, and now Pennsylvania. The new license allows Enteractive to engage with its largest US market yet, with an adult population of 9.5 million (13 million residents in total).
Its focus is on sports betting, but the states it has been targeting are those where online casinos are or may soon be legal. The most valuable customers, of course, are those who engage with both verticals.
Reactivation Cloud
The company will use its Reactivation Cloud platform to target two broad categories of users. The first is those who have completed the signup process but have not yet deposited. The second is users who have previously made a deposit but whose activity level has dropped. Gaming operators can deploy database segments to Enteractive’s teams for personalized one-to-one engagement with players.
In a press release, Andrew Foster, Chief Business Officer at Enteractive, said:
After the early success Enteractive has seen in the U.S. market and the positive way players are responding to our one-to-one personal approach, we’re proud to announce that we are expanding our reach into Pennsylvania state. It’s encouraging to see that the US audience is as appreciative of a personal, qualitative approach as the other global audiences we engage with on behalf of operator brands.
Mikael Hansson, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, added:
With this Pennsylvania license in addition to our license in New Jersey, we’re available to support player retention for sportsbooks in the two largest online gambling states of the U.S. With some leading U.S. brands already working with our stateside teams, our journey across the pond gets more exciting each day.
Enteractive can also act as frontline protection against problem gambling, again through one-on-one conversations with players.
Market Congestion
Concerns over customer acquisition cost and player retention are essential in an already congested gambling sector.
Over 30 US states, plus the District of Columbia, have legalized some form of sports betting, either online or in-person retail.
Conversely, only six states (NJ, MI, PA, CT, WV and DE) have online casinos so far. Likely candidates for online gambling bills next year include New York, Indiana, and Illinois online casinos. There is also a chance that others like Iowa or Colorado could make an attempt.
Online casino revenue far exceeds sportsbook revenue in states where both are legal. That has turned those few iGaming states into intense battlefields (minus Delaware, a lottery monopoly, and Connecticut, which allows only two operators).
Early on, a wave of mergers and acquisitions helped consolidate the market somewhat, though this has begun to slow down. More recently, smaller sportsbooks have started shutting down, and some brands now under the same roof have reduced the extent to which they compete.
Here’s a partial timeline of those events:
- May 2020: FanDuel owner Flutter completes its acquisition of The Stars Group. The latter’s expansion of the Fox Bet brand slows down.
- Oct 2021: Penn Entertainment announces the acquisition of Score Media and Gaming.
- May 2022: DraftKings completes its acquisition of Golden Nugget Online Gaming. The latter discontinues its Virginia online sports betting operations as a result.
- July 2022: Now under Penn ownership, TheScore Bet discontinues sports wagering in the US.
- Oct 2022: Fubo discontinues its sports betting product to focus on its streaming service.
- Nov 2022: Esports Entertainment Group shutters its esports-focused online gambling product Vie.gg.
- Nov 2022: Unibet owner Kindred Group exits Iowa and sets very modest targets for the North American market going forward.
For the operators that remain, especially the smaller ones, hanging on to market share will be particularly important now that we’ve seemingly entered the attrition phase. Customer retention will be a big part of that.
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