The Share of Wallet War: Redefining UK Betting Loyalty

Gener8's data sheds light on user behaviour across multiple apps and websites

In the competitive UK gambling market, brand loyalty is the ultimate prize. But what if the concept of a truly loyal customer is a myth?Our new data analysis uncovers a crucial, counter-intuitive insight: your most active users are also the most likely to be using your competitors. Forget building walled gardens; the real battle is for the largest "share of wallet." Dive in as we dissect the app and web data that reveals the true, fluid nature of customer behaviour in the modern betting world.

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The Battle for Shared Customers

Our data highlighted that UK gamblers rarely stick to a single app, with significant user overlaps varying by platform. The strongest connection is between William Hill and Sky Bet, with 43% of William Hill users also using Sky Bet. This trend holds for Ladbrokes users, 38% of whom also use Sky Bet. For Sky Bet's own audience, however, Bet365 is the most popular alternative, highlighting the fluid and competitive nature of customer loyalty in the market.

Ladbrokes sees 1.2x more user crossover from Sky Bet than from William Hill. This difference appears to be driven primarily by market share. The data shows that within this group of app users, Sky Bet has the largest footprint (58%), compared to William Hill (42%) and Ladbrokes (34%). Sky Bet's larger user base naturally creates a bigger pool of customers for potential overlap.

The analysis also highlights distinct user segments:

• Brand Loyalists: Sky Bet has a very strong core of exclusive users, with 40% of its base using their app alone. William Hill and Ladbrokes have smaller, but equal, loyalist bases at 18% each.
• The Power Users: A small but highly competitive segment of 4% of customers use all three apps, representing the most engaged and potentially most valuable prize for these competing platforms.

Comparatively, web browsing data showed that website overlap rates are slightly higher than app overlaps, partly because Sky Bet’s larger web share increases crossover between gambling sites.

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High-Frequency Users are Power Users of the Whole Category

The analysis takes a compelling turn when focusing on the most active customers. The data shows that a platform's high-frequency users, defined as the top 33% based on app opens, are significantly more likely to use competitor apps than the average user. Far from being brand-exclusive, these power users are enthusiasts of the entire category.

This trend is especially pronounced among Sky Bet's user base. For their most active customers, the crossover with William Hill and Ladbrokes jumps by 1.5x. Specifically, overlap with William Hill rises from 20% to 31%, and with Coral, it leaps by 1.6x from 11% to 18%. A similar pattern holds for Ladbrokes. The crossover of their power users with both Sky Bet and Paddy Power increases to 47%, a considerable jump from 38% and 36% respectively for the average user.

This "power user" behaviour isn't confined to mobile apps; it's just as prevalent, if not more so, in web browsing. An analysis of website visits confirms that the most frequent visitors to one betting site are also the most likely to visit its competitors, reinforcing the idea that these users are loyal to the category, not a single brand.

The data for Ladbrokes' website users shows a massive crossover. For their most active visitors, the overlap with both William Hill and Coral skyrockets to 53%. This means more than half of Ladbrokes' most engaged web customers are also actively browsing these key competitors. The pattern for Sky Bet's web users is even more striking. While their baseline crossover on the web is slightly lower than on apps, the multiplier effect for their most engaged users is immense. For these high-frequency visitors, the crossover with the Ladbrokes website shoots up by 1.7x, and with Coral by an incredible 1.8x.

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Across both app and web platforms, the data tells a consistent story. The most valuable customers—those who engage the most—are not exclusive to a single service. They are savvy consumers who operate across a portfolio of brands to suit their needs, whether it's finding the best odds, a specific feature, or a new promotion.

This fundamentally challenges the traditional definition of loyalty in the gambling sector. Success hinges not on trying to build a walled garden for an exclusive user base, but on consistently winning the largest "share of wallet" from a customer's total betting activity. The most valuable players are on everyone's turf, and the brands that understand and cater to this fluid behaviour will be the ones who ultimately win the biggest prize.

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How can I access this data?

Gener8's Consumer Browsing and App Usage datasets were used to examine crossover behaviour between gambling apps and websites.

Gener8 Labs’ complete data and insights solution empowers media and marketing businesses to find actionable consumer and market insights, using our unique, consented, first party panel data sets that are all connected around one user ID.

Discover how you can power your decisions and gain a competitive edge from our behavioural truth set by contacting us today!

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