Sun Bets plans Dream Team integration to drive customer growth

Sun Bets will look to tap into The Sun’s captive customer-base this football season by integrating live odds and widgets into the newspaper’s Dream Team fantasy football site.

The sportsbook operator, which last week reported losses of £28m, admitted it need to make better use of the “powerful News UK brand” .

Director of Betting & Gaming at News UK, Tom Ustunel, told EGR: “The product is going to have integrated live odds and widgets to drag people over the line from fantasy football and into Sun Bets.

“Our strengths are that we have a fantasy football product played by 1.2 million people and all our research shows that those customers hold betting accounts, there is a pull there for us to work with.

“We have a wealth of knowledge on our Dream Team customer base and will be looking to build tailored offers around the teams they support plus the players they are picking on a weekly basis.”

The benchmark in the arena is Sky Betting & Gaming which has enjoyed massive success from cross-selling with its free-to-play predictor game, Super 6.

After making predictions on the Super 6 app, for instance, users are asked whether they’d like to place an accumulator as well.

“Sky is another big media brand so we will always draw comparisons,” said Ustunel. “They have great free football content and it brings customers in to bet so we know that it’s a proven model.”

The Tabcorp-powered Sun Bets brand reported a £28m loss in its first year of operation and the Australian wagering giant last week pinpointed customer acquisition as the key to an upturn in fortunes.