Altenar has partnered with The Watchers, a community chat provider, to offer social betting.

Through the deal, the sports betting and igaming software provider looks to ‘open the doors’ to a betting community for players. 

This includes sharing tips, comparing strategies or celebrating wins – social betting adds an extra element of interest to the gambling experience and presents a modern way to boost retention.

Altenar said in a release: “Altenar’s external integration with The Watchers allows a separate channel to be created for every event within the sportsbook and authenticated users can chat with each other within the event page. 

“This function allows operators to use influencers to boost site traffic by sharing bets and insights in real time, with users able to copy their bets with one click.”

In further detail, users can be given the option to create avatars and share bets within the channel, while other players can click on the bet and have their betslips populated. 

An external back-office tool can be used to handle moderation and natural language recognition to ban words and expressions.

The provider has emphasised that operators can expect increased turnover due to bet prompts generated by other users while the biggest benefit is building a community of players which promotes brand loyalty.

Interestingly, Alex Dubin, Founder and CEO at BettorOff, spoke to SBC News in 2022 about the introduction of social betting and the effect it has on player engagement.

He said: “This trend of utilising community-building to grow and engage a user base has evolved from a clever marketing strategy into an industry all its own, one that has become an essential part of the online wagering ecosystem. 

“As demonstrated by PokerStars, social betting can be a highly effective tool to introduce people to sports betting without risk and therefore, without fear. 

“As a result, no longer is sports betting a solitary, self-contained experience. Rather, the social features of sports betting – sharing picks, debating matchups, bragging on victories and lamenting losses – have become nearly as much a part of sports betting as the books, the lines and the games themselves, transforming the betting process into a more interactive, more exciting, more rewarding experience.”

In further industry moves, last week Altenar rolled out an upgraded version of its Bet Builder sportsbook product for its clients across the Italian market.

It had been following the trend of Bet Builders’ growing popularity among both players and operators, leading to Altenar’s product team devoting additional resources towards the launch of its own version of the feature.

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