In California, the 29 Palms Band of Mission Indians saw the two sports betting props go down to a flaming defeat last November. They picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and offered social betting.
The recently launched platform gives bettors the chance to participate in free-to-play wagers and redeem credits for either of the tribe’s casinos.
Created in partnership with Sparket, the platform allows bettors to pick winners of sporting events, reality TV show competitions, esports and more.
But the casinos are thinking ahead. If and when sports betting is approved the thought is that the tribes will be ahead of the game in preparing for the real thing.
Because the free-to-play games function as a sweepstakes contest, the tribal app does not involve real money, so there is no violation of state law. The app enters the market following another sweepstakes sportsbook, Fliff.
The Sparket-built app uses a pari-mutuel model where bets are placed in a pool. Odds are not fixed in advance and are determined by the amount wagered on each outcome. Fliff is based on traditional fixed-odds betting.
“It’s literally just a pure, free-to-play platform,” Evan Fisher, Sparket COO and president, told PlayCA.
29 Palms offered customers a chance to predict the outcome of the men’s Final Four via its new platform. It was a boon, as San Diego State made it to the Final Four and the title game.
Winners then redeemed their credits in person. Both casinos offer slot machines, table games, dining and live entertainment, and credits can be used on all of these activities.
“We experienced a little over 50 percent on-site prize redemption rate, which means we had the contest online, and then the winners of the contest would win slot credit or other prizes at 29 Palms casino locations,” Fisher told PlayCA. “The industry average is about 20-25 percent for those type of promotions to result in on-site redemption.”
The Sparket executive was pleased with the redemption rate and indicated it would provide valuable information for 29 Palms.
“So those are all incremental visits to the casino location, and I think that data for them was really valuable going forward,” Fisher said. “Our type of product enables tribal casino groups to upskill their sports betting experience, engage users and then convert them to on-site casino customers.”
Sparket aims to diversify its content offerings and demographic base, according to Fisher. Founded in 2019, the company and 29 Palms are preparing for the future in California as other states continue to give sports wagering the green light.
Both entities now have a head start on building a database of people interested in sports-related social gaming. Because of that, they now have an eye on converting them to sports betting customers if the industry becomes legalized in California in the future.
