Retention goals: How gamification is bringing a new dimension to sports betting

Players who have grown up with social media and entertainment offerings at their fingertips are increasingly bringing their digital habits into the iGaming space.

Social feeds, creator channels, mobile games and sports communities are more prevalent than ever, providing digital natives – and increasingly older players – with interactive experiences and, above all, reasons to return.

Deloitte’s 2025 Digital Media Trends report shows that younger audiences are spreading their entertainment time across streaming, social platforms, gaming and other digital media. This helps to explain why these audiences have become accustomed to progress-led experiences.

Changing the retention model

For operators, those expectations are changing the retention model, according to Soft2Bet’s chief product officer Yoel Zuckerberg. Whereas classic tiered VIP programmes still have a place, they do not match how many younger players behave online, he argues.

Instead, when players come in to place a bet or start a session, the surrounding product experience needs to provide them with the progress, feedback and status they have grown to expect – and a reason to return.

In this context, Soft2Bet’s MEGA (Motivational Engineering Gaming Application) portfolio gives casino and sportsbook brands a standalone gamification solution.

At its heart, MEGA provides a range of gamification engines that operators can customise by reward type, bonus trigger, user segmentation and difficulty level. Launched in early 2026, the latest addition to the MEGA portfolio – MEGA11 – brings that approach to the sportsbook experience through a football manager game focused on squad building, competition and progression.

MEGA11 keeps players engaged between bets and fixtures. Players can build squads, manage line-ups, compete in leagues and match-ups and progress through football-manager-style levels.

Qualifying bets can earn points that advance the football manager journey, with progress unlocking sportsbook bonuses. The engine uses a free-to-play core and soft-currency model. According to Zuckerberg, this provides operators with a format built for long-term engagement across a variety of markets.

Market analytics: Retention now drives payback

Acquisition costs in iGaming have made customer retention a bigger priority for operators.

Zuckerberg points out that when a player is expensive to acquire, the operator’s payback depends on the quality of repeat visits, session depth, deposit frequency and gross gaming revenue over time.

Although estimates vary, customer acquisition costs (CACs) for iGaming operators can often range between $280 and $1,400 per first-time depositor depending on the market, channel and product mix. A common target is for player lifetime value (LTV) to be around three times higher than CAC.

Within that payback model, Soft2Bet’s own CAC and LTV analysis uses a more disciplined way to measure both metrics, Zuckerberg explains.

“CAC covers the full cost of bringing in one qualified depositing player, including advertising, agency or platform fees, creative work, tracking, technology and incentives,” he says. “LTV measures the net gaming revenue generated by a group of players after deducting operating and incentive costs. Higher acquisition costs make MEGA’s results easier for leadership teams to assess.”

The results speak for themselves. Soft2Bet reports that the MEGA portfolio has delivered on average a 65% uplift in net gaming revenue, a 45% rise in average revenue per user, a fourfold increase in screen time, 50% higher deposit amounts and a 30% rise in deposit frequency.

Leaders’ vision: Why MEGA11 was created

Player activity inevitably rises around fixtures, major tournaments and high-profile matches before dropping when a match is over, a favourite team exits, or the tournament moves on. A fan who opens an app for a World Cup run may place a bet, check the result and not return until the next major fixture.

At that point, CRM pushes, bon