Influencer Marketing for Sports Betting Brands

Posted by Somedia on in Gaming & Betting Brands

Influencers filming a product promotion at a table at Yebisu Garden Place, Tokyo
Influencers filming a product promotion at a table at Yebisu Garden Place, Tokyo. Photo: Syced, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sports fans trust the people they watch every week: the podcaster who breaks down the fixtures, the analyst with the spreadsheets, the former player who explains what happened on the pitch. For a sportsbook, a well-chosen creator partnership can earn the kind of credibility that display ads never will. It also comes with more rules than almost any other kind of influencer marketing.

Start with the audience, not the follower count

Ask every creator for their audience data from the platform's own analytics: age ranges, countries and, where available, states. A partner whose followers are mostly adults in places where your brand is licensed is worth far more than a bigger account with a young or international audience. In the UK, advertising rules introduced in 2022 bar gambling ads that are likely to have strong appeal to under-18s, and that has ruled out many athletes and youth-focused creators altogether.

Disclosure is not optional

Paid posts must say they are paid. In the United States, the FTC's endorsement guides require a clear disclosure of any material connection, and the UK and many other countries have similar rules. Use the platform's paid partnership label and a plain "#ad" at the start of the caption, not buried among twenty hashtags.

Write a brief that protects both sides

  • List the claims the creator may make and the ones they may not, such as "guaranteed wins" or "easy money".
  • Include the exact terms wording for any offer and where it must appear.
  • Agree an approval step for scripts and captions before anything goes live.
  • Keep the creator's own voice: fans can tell when someone is reading a press release.

Measure what matters

Give each partner a unique tracking link or code so you can see sign-ups and first deposits per creator, not just views. Compare cost per new customer across partners at the end of each season and keep the ones whose audiences actually convert.

Influencer deals are only one part of a betting brand's social presence. Our guide to real-time social media on game day covers the owned channels that creators should point their followers to.