Smarkets CEO: Product the key to US market success
Jason Trost criticises industry’s marketing blitz and insists focusing on UX and product accelerates market share
Smarkets CEO Jason Trost has insisted product will ultimately be the defining factor in the US sports betting gold rush amid a slew of cash-burning marketing activity.
Speaking to EGR, the American was bullish in his assessment of the future of the market, and that perfecting the product is the way forward to standing out in the crowd.
Smarkets in live in the US with its SBK sportsbook app in Colorado via its Full House Resorts partnership, with launches in Indiana and Iowa set to follow.
The London-headquartered operator named former Nike senior executive Sheldon Hanai as its new US general manager in June, with the group also set to open new US office space in Washington DC.
Trost said that while its betting exchange product continues to drive a majority of Smarkets’ revenue, the future plans are firmly set on the SBK product’s shoulders.
Trost said: “Smarkets still drives most of our revenue, but we believe that the long-term opportunity is going after the casual punter in the UK and the US.
“The casual punter still wants a sportsbook interface and that we will have more success taking exchange prices in a sportsbook content rather than trying to push an exchange.”
Touching on the state of play in the US, which has seen operators battling for market share with extravagant marketing campaigns and sign-up bonuses, including Caesars’ previous $3,000 sign-up offer in New York, Trost said a more measured approach would be key to eventual success.
He continued: “I think the money machine is coming to an end. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realise that maybe if you’re giving a new customer $3,000 to sign up you might be losing money.
“I think that era is going to come to an end, and they’ll have to get more responsible as they do in the UK.
“Once you use the sign-up bonus, you’ll want to use the product you want to use. So, if we have a better price and product, people might go get the bonus somewhere else but they come back to us,” Trost added.