Bet St George is seeking to leverage a very data-heavy approach to player marketing, taking learnings from the pharmaceutical sector, to bring a new player experience to betting in the UK.
The brand enters the market in time for the Cheltenham festival and plans to focus on and promote British sports to engage a British audience.
Speaking to iGB, chairman and founder Nic Brereton notes the challenging outlook for the UK sector, amid incoming tax hikes, but highlights the opportunity for a new approach in the market.
“It’s a challenging time for bookmakers in terms of launching, but we still feel that if you’ve got the right brand, the right cost of service, you’re willing to try and take a bet, there’s still opportunities to have a successful business.
He acknowledges the operator will have a much smaller marketing budget than the current incumbents and expects to see profitability before the April 2027 remote betting tax hike comes into force.
Leveraging advanced data models
Brereton brings experience in using advanced data models to improve quality of life for medical patients and he believes he can replicate that experience to improve bonusing in betting.
“We were very medical driven; my previous career was about looking at medical data and trying to associate medical outcomes with human behaviours. It was taking very real medical data and trying to turn that into something that relates to quality of life for the patient,” he explains.
“The whole challenge of health economics was [taking an] ambiguous measure and turning that into some quantifiable economic measure.
“I think the problem is, there’s so much knowledge and experience in the sector, that people trust that more than what they tell you,” he says of the betting sector utilising player data to personalise their experiences.
“Sometimes what data tells you is uncomfortable because it’s challenging the norm. For me [it’s about] where we can make some marginal differences by using player data and challenging the perspectives of what the industry thinks should and does happen.”
A really British brand in a politically-charged environment
Elsewhere he is expecting the Bet St George brand to stand out in the market as an option for British bettors. It will feature a knight as its mascot across all marketing for the brand.
Brereton is, however, aware that the branding could play into a currently politically charged environment in the UK.
“It’s not about what’s happening from a [political perspective] or anything like that. That’s not who we are,” he insists.
“We’re very much about championing the diversity and the joys of what England looks like [from a sports perspective]. The heart of Bet St George is a celebration of modern England and the nation’s rich multicultural diversity.”
The operator has up to 15 employees currently and expects to scale the team as the product grows.
“The first year is going be about trying lots of different kinds of offers and customer angles, to work out what resonates with people. What the tax rise has done is force us to be so careful with marketing spend,” Brereton says of the operator’s strategy.
“We’re so cost conscious now. It’s all about testing the market, working out what really works for us and then, from an expansion perspective, it’s pumping all the money into whatever it is that’s already working.”
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/strategy/bet-st-george-braves-tax-hike-brings-learnings-from-medical-sector/
