Motivation for Social Casino Play
Research Goal
Approach & Methodology
Approach
Methodology
Key Takeaways
Stigma & Safe Spaces
Players value casino gaming privacy due to stigmas around slots betting.
Players socialize off platform (e.g. Reddit) with other like-minded players reduces judgment
User demand for camaraderie
Players like social play where they work towards a common goal; creating camaraderie.
Spectator Appeal
Users like watching celebrities play slots because (i) they make large wagers, (ii) celebs often engage in back and forth, giving users a chance to weigh in on betting decisions, and (iii) the energy and community around big celebrities creates a fun micro-community
Recognition
Players are motivated to play socially for recognition when they succeed.
Project: Social Gaming
Role: Lead Researcher
Business Context
FanDuel was considering social play features but did not know where to start.
Which users? Which features? Where on this app?
When would users want to play games together versus alone, and why?
Generative Research
Interviews
Focus Group
Impact
Directly influenced Community Development investment strategy
Casino marketing impact: Marketing team followed up with their own research and led to bringing Sportsbook partner Rob Gronkowski into Casino to host events for slots community building.
Privacy & Stigma control. New feature for sharing game play without revealing time played or amount spent. Saw an 8% lift in sharing among our core Slots cohort.
Recognition features for playing success were added into user loyalty feature as a result of this research. In Benchmarking surveys, saw a 14% increase in user satisfaction YoY among users who actively participate in loyalty program.