Author: May Thawdar Oo
Easter is a popular holiday – for chocaholics as well as Christians – that presents an opportunity for online casinos and sportsbooks to create a seasonal marketing campaign to attract new customers and retain existing players.
While thematically, there’s not a lot to play with aside from low-hanging fruit wordplay (please see headline) and rabbit/egg-themed slots, some operators have absolutely nailed Easter marketing ideas for online casinos.
In this article, we’ll explore seven of the very best Easter-themed promotions and highlight why the creative campaigns have been successful. Also, we’ll offer our Translation Royale – and sister agency WeGotGame – tips and best practices for creating effective iGaming Easter marketing promos.
It’s time to hatch an Easter marketing master plan. Let’s go.
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Easter-Themed Promotions 101
Online casinos can run several Easter-themed promotions to attract new customers and retain existing ones. For example, you can offer egg hunts, where players search for eggs hidden within the casino’s website and/or games.
The eggs can contain prizes, such as free spins or bonus funds. Another popular Easter promotion is prize draws, where players earn entries for every deposit made.
The more deposits made, the more entries earned, and the higher their chances of winning a prize. This is a superb way of increasing wagering levels if you hit a bit of a dip in deposits and playthrough.
Bonuses are also a tried-and-tested way to attract new players and reward existing players. For example, online casinos can offer reload bonuses or cashback bonuses during the Easter holiday. Additionally, you can offer exclusive Easter-themed slot games with boosted payout rates and special features.
Well, we could bang on about how to create the best Easter marketing ideas but thought it probably wise to learn from casino marketing teams that have run the Easter promo gauntlet. Here, without further ado, are seven of the most successful Easter iGaming marketing campaigns ever.
1. 32Red’s Easter Leaderboard
32Red ran an Easter Leaderboard promotion back in 2021. The promotion included a leaderboard competition, where players earned points for every €10 wagered on selected Easter-themed slot games. The top 100 players on the leaderboard won a share of the €10,000 prize pool. The promotion was successful in increasing engagement among existing players and attracting new players alike.
✔️ What’s cracking: Slots are the most popular of all casino games – but slowly making way for live casino – so it’s a decent bet that this promo mechanic would be engaged with. This also allows the Casino product team to dig out a few Easter-themed titles that had been gathering dust at the bottom of their game collection.
❌ What’s rotten: Leaderboards are one of the most overused Easter marketing ideas for online casinos. A little more creativity could have been injected into the campaign by employing a crossover vertical mechanic (cross-selling) that could convert sportsbook players to casino and vice versa.
2. LeoVegas’ Easter Egg Hunt
LeoVegas ran an Easter Egg Hunt promo back in 2019. The campaign encouraged customers to collect Easter eggs by playing across a game collection. Each egg contained a prize, such as free spins or bonus funds.
✔️ What’s cracking: ‘Free spins’ are the two most powerful words in any online casino’s marketing dictionary. Well, aside from ‘free money’.
❌ What’s rotten: Free spins were the holy grail of slot bonuses for both players and operators for years but things have changed. Due to the no-wagering free spin revolution pioneered by operators throughout the industry, wagering levels applied to free spin promos no longer fly.
3. Betsson’s Easter Challenge
Betsson’s Easter Challenge promotion from 2020 was another benchmark for iGaming marketing campaigns. The promotion included daily challenges, such as playing selected slot games or making deposits.
Players who completed the challenges earned entries into a prize draw for a share of the €10,000 prize pool. The promotion was a hit with players by increasing deposit levels and playthroughs on slots that usually wouldn’t be utilized.
✔️ What’s cracking: The ‘daily’ mechanic of the promo is an excellent way of stimulating log-ins and wagering over a specified period. Also, data can be gathered by BI for iGaming marketing campaigns as to which slot attracted the most wagering. This Easter info can then be applied to future Easter promos.
❌ What’s rotten: Today, players have sacked off slots and are now loco for live casino. This means that instead of Casino being the focus of any promo designed to increase wagering, effort should now be focused on live dealer games.
4. bet365’s Easter Cashback
In 2021, bet365 debuted an Easter Cashback promotion. The promotion allowed customers to receive a 10% cashback on any losses incurred during selected horse races. The promotion was successful in increasing engagement among existing customers and attracting new ones.
✔️ What’s cracking: An Easter promo for sportsbook players. Too often sportsbook players are left out in the cold when it comes to promos and are instead inundated with free bet offers, which lacks creativity, to say the least.
❌ What’s rotten: Cashback promos are the same as ‘biggest loser’ offers. Players are fully aware of this and while it’s fantastic that they glimpse self-reflection in their gambling habits, it serves to highlight the fact that they’re chucking money down the drain.
5. Casumo’s Easter Challenge
The graphically generous Casumo ran an Easter Challenge promotion in 2018 and the promotion included daily challenges, such as playing selected slot games or depositing. Players who completed the challenges earned entries into a prize draw for a share of the €10,000 prize pool.
✔️ What’s cracking: Seasonal campaigns not only get players in the holiday spirit, but they also expose players to new games that they may not usually play. This won’t convert a die-hard fruities fan to playing, say, Greek god-themed slots, but it may expose them to new in-game features that they’d otherwise be uninformed about.
❌ What’s rotten: Viewed through a UKGC lens, the online casino marketing language used is problematic. The wording of ‘prize pools’ is reportedly to see the chop because this is often interpreted as ‘top prize’. Sure, T&Cs are in place to clarify the rules of engagement but promo headlines need to reflect the true nature of the campaign.
6. SkyBet’s Easter Prize Draw
In 2020, SkyBet taught us all a lesson on how to run an Easter Prize Draw. The promotion allowed customers to earn entries into a prize draw for every €10 wagered on selected horse races. The top prize was a trip for two to Dubai.
✔️ What’s cracking: The top prize. Too many online casino marketing promo prizes are funds that will potentially be funneled back into the operator’s bank account. Here, not only is there an attractive prize but also the potential to create a memory of a lifetime. Well, two lifetimes to be precise. Sportsbook marketing’s finest hour.
What’s rotten: Sportsbook marketing promos that aim to increase wagering are walking a very fine line when it comes to responsible gambling. Due to limits imposed on casino games; waiting for player decisions, reel spin times, table limits, and more, it’s a financially safer offer than a prize draw entry based on a deposit/wager for sportsbook punters.
7. Gala Casino’s Easter Eggstravaganza
The Gala Casino Easter Eggstravaganza promotion went live in 2019. The promotion included daily challenges to win a piece of the prize pool. Players who completed the challenges earned entries into a prize draw for a share of the €20,000 prize pool.
✔️ What’s cracking: The campaign budget. It’s rare to see a casino stretch to €20,000 for an Easter campaign. This is usually reserved for when wagering is at its lowest, such as during the summer period when casino marketing minds seemingly shut down completely.
❌ What’s rotten: Seasonally-themed slots are rarely created with the player in mind. Even the most vehement religious gamblers aren’t seeking out Easter-styled slots unless offered during a campaign period. Most players being offered an Easter slot are wise enough to twig that Easter slots are nothing more than a seasonal marketing tool, and often suck.
Best Practices for Creating Effective iGaming Easter Marketing Campaigns
Creating effective iGaming Easter marketing campaigns can be a challenging task but they don’t have to be a thorn in your side. It’s important to create campaigns that stand out, appeal to the target audience, and achieve the desired goals.
Let’s take a look at some best practices to consider when creating an effective iGaming Easter marketing campaign.
🎯 Set Clear Goals
Setting clear goals is the first step to creating an effective iGaming Easter marketing campaign. Goals can be to attract new customers, retain existing ones, increase wagering, or promote a new game or product. Once the goals are set, the campaign mechanic can be created to achieve them.
🧑🏽 Target the Right Audience
It’s important to laser target your demographic when creating an iGaming Easter marketing campaign. The target audience can be existing customers, new customers, or a specific group. The campaign can be designed to appeal to your audience’s interests and preferences.
🖼️ Use Engaging Visuals
Using engaging visuals is crucial when creating an iGaming Easter marketing campaign. The visuals can be Easter-themed or related to the specific promotion. They should be eye-catching and attention-grabbing. The use of videos, animations, and GIFs can also make the campaign more engaging.
⌛ Create a Sense of Urgency
Creating a sense of urgency can be an effective way to encourage customers to participate in the promotion. For example, limited-time offers or promotions with a deadline can create a sense of urgency and motivate customers to take action.
📱 Use Social Media
Using social media is an effective way to promote an iGaming Easter marketing campaign. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can be used to reach a large audience. The campaign can be promoted through posts, stories, and ads.
📊 Measure and Analyze
Measuring and analyzing the results of an iGaming Easter marketing campaign is important to determine its effectiveness. Key performance indicators such as engagement, conversion rate, and ROI can be used to evaluate the success of the campaign. The insights gained can be used to improve future campaigns.
Cracked – iGaming Easter Marketing Campaigns
Easter is a great opportunity for online casinos and sportsbooks to create festive marketing campaigns that attract new customers and retain existing players. The problem is that iGaming campaigns – and not those just limited to Easter – are stuck in a quagmire of uncreativity.
Technically, many online casinos’ marketing department hands are tied, to an extent but this doesn’t mean that you can’t create a campaign that’s going to cut through the noise of yet another free bet or free spin offer.
By implementing these best practices, iGaming operators can create effective Easter marketing campaigns that stand out, appeal to the target audience, and achieve the desired goals – but they need to be original and not recycled campaigns. The reason for casinos to reuse campaigns is obvious but not advisable.
The campaign mechanic is dependent on the KPIs you need to influence and although today these fit snuggly into the handful of promos we offer, the truth is that players have long glazed over at the sight of Rabbit-themed slot collections and wager races.
Now’s the time to sit down with both front and back-end devs and meet minds concerning what is technically possible for an Easter campaign.
In true Easter style, online casinos need to get creative and resurrect their marketing spirit.
Header Image Source: Photo by Yves Cedric Schulze on Unsplash
How did you like May Thawdar Oo’s blog post “The 7 Most Egg-cellent iGaming Easter Marketing Campaigns”? Let us know in the comments if you have anything to add, have another content idea for iGaming blog posts, or just want to say “hello.” 🙂
