The head of digital media for a European online betting operator said sportsbooks should do more to engage women customers, including having female brand ambassadors and tipsters.
Kirsten Openshaw, the marketing executive with Mr. Green, part of William Hill, said she played sports when she was younger and recalls women athletes were quickly dismissed. The same is true when it comes to engaging women in sports betting and focusing on women sports, according to Openshaw during a panel discussion today on Women in Gaming at the SBC Barcelona Summit Digital.
“I don’t think we engage women enough in the sportsbooks,” Openshaw said. “We push the male side way too much. I think there are ways we can start changing that. It’s not just operators that need to change our perception, but the sports environment needs to change as well.”
Openshaw said there are no Formula 1 female drivers, which is a missed opportunity for the sport. She asked participants to imagine from a marketing and sportsbook perspective globally that odds could be posted on a woman racer.
The attitudes of some men aren’t helpful in encouraging women to have an interest in sports, Openshaw said. You can have a conversation with a man about sports and another might jump in and dismiss you because your knowledge isn’t good enough or you don’t know as much as he does. That attitude pushes women out of an interest in sports and wanting to wager on it, she said.
“In our marketing, we focus predominantly on men, but there’s such a growth on the female side and those just watching the football (soccer) match. Some countries have more female fans than male, but we’re not targeting that side. It’s a missed opportunity.”
During the panel discussion, moderator Christiana Thakar-Rankin pointed out that in the U.S., the women’s national soccer team has far outperformed the men’s team in the World Cup and international competitions.
Openshaw said women need to be put forward as a way to draw interest and attract other women to sports betting. Their woman sportsbook writer for Irish social media does an amazing job, but no one knows she’s female.
Casinos and betting operators should include women touting sports and betting and have female influencers to add to that conversation, Openshaw said.
“We’re not doing it as a company on the sports side,” Openshaw said. “No operators are using female ambassadors. Why not bring female stars into the conversation? There are highly educated women out there when it comes to sports, so put them on the front line.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, people have spent even more time on their phones and social media has skyrocketed as a result, Openshaw said. Sportsbooks should take advantage of that with female tipsters.
“Having a female tipster on the front line of sportsbooks is where we need to be,” Openshaw said. “It needs to be put in posters, acquisition images and retention emails. Women need to be put out there more.”
