The two gambling markets have been operating their own processes for years, with the casual mobile gaming industry made up of a different set of players. Their customers aren’t so sure.
Many of those who place a Champions League bet on Wednesday are also gamers who play a puzzle game on their commute. By Sunday afternoon, the market is buzzing with the person who spun the slot on Saturday morning. By Sunday afternoon, the man or woman who spun the slot is a regular visitor to Telegram. The same individual, another application, the same weekend.
There is no overlap in anecdotes. It’s structural, demographic, and it’s big enough that the industry silos are being stymied.
The Shared Phone
They have one device in common: the two categories. It’s a cell phone in one pocket that’s used by one person all day. Research from Northwestern’s Medill Spiegel Center on sports betting demographics has taken a comprehensive look at significant shared audiences among the sports betting, video game and fantasy sports markets, noting that more than 70 percent of sports gamblers also play fantasy sports, and that there has also been a steady increase in crossover with video game audiences year on year. Both types have similar demographic profiles with overlap in these areas, such as age, gender and time of day. It is not what customers do, it’s just the way the industries developed.
The same phone which is opened in the morning to make a bet is opened at lunchtime to play a puzzle game. These are all financial-adjacent, entertainment-first and used within the same short-window blocks.
What Actually Overlaps
It is important to spell out clearly the details of the overlap. The industry marketing hasn’t yet caught on to the fact that three factors – behaviour, demographics, timing and money flow – converge:
| Dimension | Football Bettors | Mobile Casual Gamers | Overlap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary device | Phone | Phone | The same phone |
| Peak session time | Match kickoffs and half-times | Downtime windows | Weekend evenings dominant for both |
| Session length | 5 to 15 minute bursts | 3 to 10 minute bursts | Almost identical |
| Age range | 18 to 40, skewed male | 18 to 45, broadly mixed | Substantial overlap 20 to 35 |
| Money model | Real-money stakes | Free-to-play with microtransactions | Both draw from the same wallet |
| Content discovery | Tipster channels and social | Store rankings and social | The same social channels |
The behaviours look different but are more alike. One individual could join a tipster group in the morning, be able to participate in the games that are played on mobile casino games during the lunch break and go in on an in-play position at the start of a match in the evening. It’s all on one device and in one afternoon.
Why the Industry Missed This
The industry silos are actually reflective of historical customer behaviour and not current. The operators of sports betting and the operators of gaming in the casino evolved independently, under separate regulations, under separate marketing campaigns and in most jurisdictions licensed separately.
This division was appropriate in the days of real locations. Gambling houses and casinos were not the same, had different regulators and were geared to different customers.
This seems to be a lot less logical now with an era of the shared phone. The use of the overlap has been adopted by Nigerians faster than the operators. Talking about the casino promotions and buying tips for football games are now a frequent occurrence in group chat, and the participants keep up with them both as part of their weekly routine.
What the Overlap Means for Bettors
If a bettor can identify the overlap, it will affect his or her odds. Using the same phone, wallet and time budget in more than one real-money and near-real-money category.
The disciplined bettor takes into account all of this. One of the most important aspects of bankroll management is knowing where the payouts of phone money are coming from. This means that the stylish graphics of the puzzle game, the spin in the slot during that drab mid-week game and the Saturday accumulator.
The unwary gambler looks at them as separate types of bets. Hence, there is a lot of missing money that goes on history. Just because purchases are “casual” doesn’t mean they’re not part of a real-money habit, and they’ll add up over the course of the month, which is a month. Purchase counts as a purchase when it’s part of a real-money habit that adds up over a month.
Where It Goes
The silos are beginning to fall in the industry. Today, operators are developing cross-category applications, sports and casino are marrying up in promotions, and tipster culture has paved the way for the combination of the two as one weekly attention economy.
The take-home message for Nigerian football fans is that it’s important to be honest about how much they spend on their phones. Both these types should be dealt with in the same manner, as they’re both from the same wallet.
It will be a gradual process for the industry to realise the overlap. It is already in the mind of the customer, it has been there or not and either consciously or not.
