The must-have game mechanics driving engagement in iGaming apps

Christie Crable, Director of Global Sales at GameRefinery, and Kalle Heikkinen, Senior Chief Market Analyst & Team Lead at Liftoff, reveal the secret sauce behind iGaming apps’ success. In this exclusive article, they explore the game mechanics that captivate players, keep them coming back, and drive industry innovation. Dive into their expert insights to discover how to level up engagement and retention like never before!

The world of iGaming is experiencing an unprecedented boom, not just in pockets but across global markets. The perfect storm of increased mobile device proliferation, softening regulatory restrictions, and engagement feature innovation within top apps have made real-money gaming an integral part of the mobile entertainment landscape. In 2023, the online gambling market was valued at USD 70.64 billion, and developers are vying for their share of that market.

With millions of players engaging in sports betting, online casinos, and fantasy sports leagues, successful apps incorporate innovative features and gameplay mechanics to work in tandem with their ad campaigns. An emphasis on social engagement features, fostering competition with leaderboards, and rewarding loyal players with virtual and real-life prizes has helped a select few iGaming apps climb to the top of the charts. 

Below, Liftoff—which provides performance marketing, monetization, and creative solutions for mobile businesses through its next-gen ML platform—takes a closer look at the specific features driving engagement in the top-performing iGaming apps, and how some of these features can even be incorporated into ad campaigns. 

Promotions

Promotions are the cornerstone of successful iGaming apps. They not only attract new players but also keep existing ones engaged. This is why promotions are so frequently highlighted in ad creative, marketing materials, and in-app. When familiarizing yourself with the iGaming industry, there are a few key offer types to be aware of:

• New Customer Offers: Promotions like free bets or deposit bonuses attract new players across the majority of iGaming apps. They serve a dual purpose: driving user acquisition and accelerating customer onboarding and first-time deposits (FTDs).
• Parlay Boosts: Parlay Boosts increase the potential payout for parlay bets. These boosts encourage players to make riskier multi-leg bets, increasing overall betting volume.
• Bet/Odds Boosts: Similar to Parlay Boosts, iGaming apps often offer enhanced odds for specific bets, enticing players with higher potential winnings. Again, these boosts keep players engaged and drive increased betting activity.
• Deposit Matching: Many iGaming apps offer deposit matching, where the app matches a percentage of a player’s deposit. The percentage match increases with the amount a player deposits, incentivizing players to make larger deposits, ultimately increasing the app’s revenue potential.
• Referral Bonuses: These bonuses reward players for inviting friends, with both parties receiving some sort of benefit. This helps to expand the user base organically through word-of-mouth marketing.

Successful iGaming apps are innovating with wider game mechanics 

Some iGaming apps have innovated on these traditional promotions by adding a unique spin designed to engage high-value players. BetRiver’s PropPacks, introduced specifically for the NBA season, are a great example of this innovation. These PropPacks combine collectable player card mechanics with prop betting.

When a bettor places a qualifying Same Game Parlay (SGP) wager of $10 or more, they receive up to three PropPacks containing digital player cards of NBA athletes. These cards come in Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers, with Gold being the rarest and offering the highest rewards. If the NBA player on the card scores over a designated point threshold in the game, the bettor wins a prize. Higher thresholds yield bigger rewards, including a potential $10,000 in Bonus Credits.  

PropPacks are effective because they add an extra layer of excitement and interactivity for the players. Tapping into player’s desire for entertainment, the digital player cards add an element of surprise and enrich the betting experience by giving players more chances to win bonuses and prizes beyond their original wagers. In the future, we expect to see more iGaming apps taking inspiration from mobile gaming with similar collection systems or gacha mechanics to make systems like this even more compelling.

First-Time Deposit Offers: The Pivotal Promotion 

When players decide between various betting platforms, the quality and attractiveness of a welcome offer can heavily influence their choice. These offers not only provide a financial incentive to try the platform but also lower the perceived risk of betting for the first time. By giving new players a safety net or bonus funds to explore the app, companies are effectively enhancing the onboarding experience and increasing the likelihood of continued engagement. This is why we see such a focus on first-time deposit offers in marketing and user acquisition campaigns.

There are two main strategies that iGaming apps use to entice new players: 

• they offer bonus bets for a deposit
• they offer a first bet “safety net.”

Many iGaming platforms opt to incentivize new players with a bonus, where players are rewarded with a percentage of bonus bets based on their first deposit. For example, if a player deposits $100, they might receive $50 in bonus bets, giving them extra funds to place wagers. These bonuses drive FTDs and improve first-time user experience by allowing new players to enjoy extended play and increasing betting opportunities.

The other popular first-time incentive offers players a safety net for their first bet. If a player loses their initial wager, the app compensates them with bonus bets, giving them a second chance to win and mitigating player churn. Several major iGaming platforms offer this safety net, including ESPN Bet, BetMGM, Caesars, and BetRivers.

Bet365 stands out by giving players the flexibility to choose between bonus bets for a deposit or a first-bet safety net, catering to a wider range of preferences.

A Unique Take: FanDuel’s Enticing New Customer Offer

FanDuel has taken a creative approach to attracting sports fans with its new customer promotion. It offers a $150 bonus for a successful first bet, along with a three-month subscription to the NBA League Pass, a subscription service providing live and on-demand access to NBA games. This not only appeals to betting enthusiasts but also targets sports fans who value access to premium content, adding a unique and highly attractive element to FanDuel’s welcome offer.

Social Engagement

Consumers are motivated by connection and competition, and iGaming is no exception. That is why social features have become so pervasive across these apps. Adding the element of social engagement not only enhances user experience but also drives user retention. From community-based interactions to competitive engagements, these features create a more immersive and enjoyable platform for players and keep them coming back.

Community Features

When it comes to community engagement, DraftKings has set itself apart from its top competitors. Their Betfeed acts like a social media feed, allowing players to share content, comment, chat, and follow each other. Feeds like this are familiar to players from other app verticals, making it an easily accessible way for DraftKings to satisfy their users’ desire for both connection and social status.

DraftKings takes community engagement a step further with their Betting Groups. Players can create or join groups, where they can share bets, discuss strategies, and engage in friendly competition. Group members can view and “tail” each other’s wagers. These Betting Groups are a nod to guilds from the gaming world, which have proven extremely effective in retaining core players by catering to their need for connection. 

Competitive Features

DraftKings has also successfully tapped into another key social motivator – competition. Their Pools feature allows players to make predictions on various sports games and tournaments and compete against others for a share of the prize pool. Players can join pre-existing pools or create private pools for their friends. These pools enhance user engagement and drive repeat usage by channelling their desire for social connection and competition.

When appealing to the player’s desire for competition, leaderboards are an effective tool to increase engagement by allowing players to vie for rankings and prizes. In casino apps like DraftKings Casino, a player’s leaderboard ranking is dictated by the amount wagered on eligible casino games. For example, players might earn a specific number of points per dollar wagered on a particular game. Thus, these leaderboards are fueling not only repeat app engagement but also increased betting activity.

Betting Tools

Some of the top iGaming apps emphasize making the betting process smoother and more engaging for their players. Features that aid in bet discovery and decision-making fuel user engagement and de-mystify the betting experience. This ultimately leads to higher retention and drives increased betting activity.

One of the most interesting of these bet discovery features is Betting Trends. Found in apps like BetRviers and DraftKings, Betting Trends gives players access to data on how other players have made their bets. By providing insights into public betting patterns, the feature helps players make more confident betting decisions and adds an element of social confirmation.

BetRivers’ Genius predictor is a unique example of these bet optimization tools. Players input the factors that they feel will impact the outcome of a bet and assign a weight to each factor. For example, players might input factors such as ‘Team Form’ and ‘Home Field Advantage,’ assigning more weight to ‘Team Form’ if they believe the current performance of the team is a stronger predictor of success, or to ‘Home Field Advantage’ if they think the team’s familiarity with the venue will have a significant impact on the outcome.

This personalized betting system is so effective because it tailors betting insights to individual preferences, making the experience more engaging and user-centric. It empowers players with structured and relevant data, helping them make more informed bets based on a comprehensive analysis of key variables. The tool organizes and presents complex sports data intuitively, making it accessible even for casual bettors, which broadens the app’s appeal. In addition, the interactive nature of adjusting factors and the option to take a “mystery bet” keeps users engaged and encourages them to explore different betting strategies.

Another notable bet decision-making tool is DraftKing’s Statshub. Statushub is a dashboard that consolidates essential betting data, like line movements, player and team splits, and mashup details into one easy-to-use interface. This allows players to feel more informed and strategic when making their bets and elevates the betting experience. Daily players have access to advanced data typically reserved for the pros, giving the player more confidence. With Statshub, DraftKings is appealing to those who are motivated by planning and efficiency improvement.  

Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs are key to retaining iGaming players. They offer consistent value and provide incentives for continued activity. Beyond tangible rewards, these programs tap into users’ desire for recognition and achievement, creating a sense of progress and belonging within the platform. This emotional connection encourages players to stay engaged and loyal over time.

Many iGaming apps integrate loyalty stores into their player experience to add an extra layer of value and engagement for their most devoted players. For example, in DraftKings’ loyalty program, players collect Crowns – DraftKings’ loyalty currency – through betting, daily fantasy sports, or casino games. These Crowns can then be redeemed in the Dynasty Rewards Store for rewards like free bets, contest entries, or exclusive experiences. BetRivers also has its own loyalty store. These apps have discovered that rewarding players for their activity gives them a tangible secondary incentive to keep playing and exploring different parts of the platform. 

BetMGM takes loyalty further by tying betting activities to the physical MGM Resorts properties. Players in their app earn tier credits, which allow them to unlock rewards. Their Daily Tier Status Accelerator allows members to quickly boost their tier status by earning bonus Tier Credits when they reach specific daily spending milestones at participating MGM properties. Gaming, hotel stays, dining, and entertainment earn players these credits.

Hitting higher credit thresholds unlocks substantial bonuses, accelerating the path to better rewards. This feature motivates players to engage more frequently with MGM Resorts properties, creating a sense of urgency and rewarding them for high-spending days. It also plays directly into the player’s motivation for achievement.

Daily Engagement Systems

Daily rewards and tasks have been essential for driving growth and player retention in the mobile gaming space. iGaming apps have taken a page from the mobile gaming playbook by implementing their own version of these daily tasks, and they are seeing the benefits in increased engagement and the creation of loyal customers.

FanDuel’s Daily Shuffle is a great example of a daily reward system that not only brings players back to the app each day but also plays to key user motivations. This feature appeals to players looking to satisfy their desire for entertainment and love an element of surprise. The Daily Shuffle lets players build a 5-leg weekly parlay by selecting random props each weekday, with up to 10 shuffles available per day to change their pick. Winning the parlay can earn prizes like Profit Boost Tokens or bonus bet shares. 

Changing available promotions daily can also be a simple way for iGaming apps to entice players to log in regularly. Fanatics’ Daily Rewards, which typically include bonus bets and profit boosts, are updated daily. By offering these daily incentives, Fanatics is making logging into the app a habit for their players. 

How App Features Can (and Should) Support Your Ad Campaigns 

While all of the gamification elements and features we’ve explored above help keep players engaged, one of the key challenges for ANY iGaming app is capturing their attention in the first place. The last thing you want to do is farm resources into perfecting specific gameplay features and mechanics if you can’t build enough players to make your app sustainable in the long run. 

With that in mind, ad campaigns should always work in tangent to highlight your app’s key features. By leveraging the expertise of a trusted partner like Liftoff, there are several ways iGaming apps can stand out from the crowd:

• Showcase your app’s stand-out features, whether community features like chat boards and messaging groups or competitive elements like leaderboards, in your UA campaigns with UGC ads. If you’re working with a trusted ad partner, they’ll be able to work with you to determine which in-app features are worth highlighting through UGC according to your target audience. 
• If your app’s main selling point is promotional offers rather than specific gameplay mechanics or elements, your ad partner should be able to highlight these promotions in ad campaigns without cannibalizing your evergreen campaigns. Similarly, depending on your UA goals, ad campaigns can also be optimized for first-time deposits. 
• Finally, if your app is struggling with retention, make sure your UA campaigns are created with the specific aim of re-engaging players rather than trying to attract new ones. Again, a trusted ad partner can help you choose the best creative and targeting that will draw players back into your app.

At Liftoff, we can help you to unlock your iGaming app’s full potential, and create optimized campaigns that drive growth, boost retention, and deliver results.