Casino Market explains how to use multi-vertical partnerships to expand a gambling platform’s audience, increase brand awareness, and create unusual promotion cases.
What Is a Cross-Industry Collaboration?
It is a cooperation between an online casino or a bookmaker’s office and a company from another sphere. Gaming organisations most often focus on representatives from the worlds of fashion, pop culture, music, cinema, and eSports.
Key goals of such collaborations:
- audience expansion;
- broadening recognition;
- creating unique user experiences.
These partnerships help blur the boundaries between gambling and other entertainment fields, making RMG offers more widespread and attractive.
Gaming and Other Spheres: History of Cooperation
The 1st deals between wagering brands and companies of different profiles appeared around the 2000s. They were a quick response to fierce competition and the growing restrictions in traditional advertising. Initially, online casino owners and bookmakers used standard methods (banners, TV commercials, sponsorships, etc.) but, over time, began to integrate into popular culture.
A striking example from the 2000s is the support of football clubs. It was the 1st model of collaboration with non-profile brands since sports naturally intersected with gaming and betting. The largest deal of that period was the interaction between Bwin and Real Madrid. The bookmaker proved itself to be a significant part of the football culture and increased its recognition among a broad audience.
The agreement also legitimised the RMG sphere in the eyes of the masses and became the starting point for bolder partnerships in the future.
Why Cross-Industry Collaborations Work
Let us look at the main advantages of such alliances:
- Going beyond the standard audience. Gambling attracts a specific segment of users, but through music, fashion, or sports, entrepreneurs can interest even more clients. Usually, these people have not previously interacted with casinos or betting.
- Emotional connection with the brand. Collaborations with famous artists, designers, or eSports teams create additional value and enhance audience loyalty.
- PR effect and virality. Unusual partnerships attract the attention of the media and messengers, delivering a “wow effect”, which ensures an influx of new organic (maximum interested) traffic and increases trust in the gambling company.
- Positive image of iGaming. In some countries and social circles, the sphere is perceived rather negatively. Cooperation with popular brands ruins stereotypes and makes the segment’s offerings more lifestyle products.
Examples of Successful Multi-Vertical Partnerships
Let us explore how major gambling brands expand their audience through music, cinema, and other fields:
Fashion and Lifestyle
Bookmakers and online casinos often collaborate with companies in these niches. Together, they release limited collections of accessories, items with exclusive merchandise, and other interesting solutions.
Famous collaborations:
- PokerStars and Balenciaga. The fashion house released a limited collection of clothing for players. The line included laconic T-shirts, hoodies, caps with the operator’s logo, and designer suits for tournaments.
- Betway and Nike. The international store presented exclusive sneakers with the bookmaker’s merch for sports wagering enthusiasts.
- Stake and Bored Ape Yacht Club. The internet casino used NFTs and digital art to attract an audience.
- Betsson and Philipp Plein. The fashion house launched an exclusive line of clothing and accessories for VIP clients, using the partner’s style.
Interaction with representatives of the beauty industry and similar verticals increases the status of iGaming brands and creates a clear association with lifestyle, exclusivity, and luxury living.
Music and Artists
Famous creative people collaborate with casinos to design unique gaming slots and other exclusive items. Fans of such celebrities are attracted to gambling platforms through their favourite soundtracks, which gives RMG portals an additional PR effect.
One striking example is the partnership between the famous rapper Drake and the cryptocurrency gaming platform Stake. In 2022, the musician launched his casino streams with exclusive raffles and valuable prizes. The broadcasts were accompanied by songs from the artist’s latest studio album, "Certified Lover Boy."
In 2016, the Swedish developer NetEnt released the Guns N’ Roses slot machine dedicated to the iconic rock band. Popular musicians appeared on the digital reels, and the group’s world-known hits accompanied the spins.
Movies and TV series
Casinos and bookmakers often create products inspired by cinematography:
- Peaky Blinders by Pragmatic Play. The slot machine is based on the eponymous American TV series. The title takes participants to the heart of Small Heath and tells about the adventures of the Shelby family.
- Game of Thrones by Microgaming. The title features the main characters of the extra popular TV masterpiece, their adventures, and life’s twists and turns. Although the video slot was released in 2015, it is still popular with gamblers today.
Successful partnerships of this kind also include the following:
- Betway and Netflix. The bookmaker launched a promotion dedicated to the release of Peaky Blinders’ new season. The operator used the series’ style to design the website and ads, which attracted a new audience to the wagering platform.
- PokerStars and Marvel Studios. The gaming brand held card tournaments to celebrate the rollout of the film Avengers: Infinity War. The marketing campaign included exclusive prizes, branded tables, and superhero-themed promotions.
- Unibet and Jean-Claude Van Damme. The bookmaker filmed and launched a special commercial with the action legend as the main star, which attracted numerous fans of retro movies.
eSports and Video Games
This type of cooperation has become one of the most popular due to the similarity of entertainment topics and a vast audience.
Examples of collaborations:
- GG.Bet and Navi, Team Vitality, Evil Geniuses. The bookmaker’s office has been working with top eSports teams for many years, offering bonuses for CS:GO, Dota 2, and Valorant tournaments. The company also creates exclusive content with professional punters, thus expanding its audience reach.
- Rivalry and Streamers (Twitch and YouTube). The wagering organisation actively cooperates with broadcasters, such as Gaules (CS:GO), Ludwig (entertainment content), and others. Together, they develop exclusive promotions, viral commercials, and eSports challenges.
- 1xBet and Call of Duty (Activision). The video military-themed shooter featured branded advertisements from the bookmaker. This move helped partners attract young users from the gamer community to sportsbooks.
These examples clearly demonstrate that gambling companies are going beyond traditional popularisation methods and channels. They successfully collaborate with related industries (for instance, eSports), thereby attracting a new and active audience.
How to Launch a Cross-Industry Partnership
Let us look at the main stages of initiating such mutually beneficial alliances:
Defining Goals
The main objectives of cooperation:
- Increasing reach. These deals attract new users to a gambling website or a mobile application.
- Enhancing engagement. Actions are aimed at retaining current gaming platform clients.
- Improving the image. Agreements strengthen the position of the brand and help it expand beyond the RMG market.
- Monetisation. The main focus here is on creating exclusive offers correlated with the partner and its operational niche.
Choosing an Affiliate
It is good if the potential ally intersects with the gambling company’s audience. In pop culture (cinema, music, TV series), such unions can generate themed slots, tournaments, and advertising integrations. In fashion, exclusive merchandise. In technology, innovative payment methods and digital content.
Owners of land-based casinos often cooperate with fast food, alcohol, and energy drink manufacturers. Entrepreneurs offer players bonuses if they buy treats and drinks from partner companies.
Development of the Concept
Popular interaction formats:
- Advertising cooperation. An affiliate becomes the face of a popularisation campaign and appears in its marketing content.
- Joint products. This variant includes releasing exclusive slots and NFT bonuses, accepting bets on eSports, organising thematic events, etc.
- Cross-promotion. Thanks to such options, clients of a company (for instance, a web casino) can receive bonuses from its ally (like a designer of fashion accessories).
- Sponsorship. Invested funds are used to support dedicated social activities, such as tournaments and shows.
- Collaborative content. The parties present joint streams, challenges, and other types of exclusive videos.
Legal Preparation and PR strategy
Cooperation must comply with the laws regarding gambling advertising (on TV, radio, in the media, and on social networks), age limits, and the principles of responsible play.
Operators should understand that different countries have unique marketing rules and restrictions. Sponsorship, for instance, is prohibited in many European jurisdictions (France, Spain) but remains a legal method of promotion for gambling companies from the USA.
Entrepreneurs also need to consider the mechanics of engagement (contests, sweepstakes, exclusive content, etc.) and develop an effective PR campaign to announce events. For this purpose, business people often use media partners, influencers, and social networks.
Program Launch and Monitoring
Key recommendations:
- continuous tracking of audience response and engagement levels;
- quick adjustment of the current strategy as it is being conducted;
- detailed analyses of reach, registrations, ROI, and other KPIs.
The Main Things About Multi-Vertical Cooperation
Such partnerships are a great way to attract a new, solvent audience:
- The advantages include rapid revenue growth, greater involvement of regular customers, and strengthening the image and trust in the RMG company. Unusual collaborations attract media attention and create a “wow effect”.
- Gambling studios often interact with representatives of the fashion industry, pop culture, music, and cinema. Cooperation between iGaming portals and eSports brands has a good impact since both areas are well known to the target audience.
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