Betting enthusiasts have long exchanged tips and picks among friends, but the landscape is shifting as these interactions, along with the betting process, increasingly occur within the same application.
From the days of ancient Romans wagering on chariot races to modern sports fans sharing bets in group chats, sports betting has always been a communal activity. In ancient Rome's Circus Maximus, spectators could cheer for one of four racing teams—Red, White, Green, or Blue—and place bets on their favorites.
Fast forward nearly 2,000 years, and while the environment has evolved, the essence of social betting remains intact. Friends continue to share picks in group chats, exchange bet slips, and follow fellow bettors on platforms like Discord, X, and Reddit.
However, in this contemporary version of social betting, the conversation and the act of wagering often take place separately. A member of the group might share their parlay, prompting a friend to navigate to a sportsbook, locate the same markets, and recreate the bet.
This separation can create a sense of community, even though placing a wager is primarily an individual endeavor.
Recognizing this gap, betting companies are beginning to merge the social aspects of betting with the wagering process within a single product. For instance, FanDuel’s Community Feed allows users to view other customers' wagers and easily add them to their own bet slip with a single tap.
DraftKings also offers Social Betting Groups, enabling users to form or join groups, monitor friends’ bets, engage in real-time chats, and compete on leaderboards.
These innovations do not inherently make sports betting more social; rather, they facilitate social interactions that previously occurred outside the app, now taking place within it.
Sportsbooks are continuously developing new methods to enhance user engagement and promote social betting. For example, FanDuel launched a limited-time promotion called Pass the Leg around Thanksgiving, allowing friends and family to collaboratively build multi-leg parlays. Each participant contributed a leg while deciding individually whether to place the final bet.
FanDuel's collaboration with the social sports app Real exemplifies its commitment to fostering a shared betting experience. Unlike traditional sportsbooks, Real integrates odds and betting markets into an app where fans are already engaged in discussions about games and plays.
Additionally, Slips, a peer-to-peer betting platform, has introduced a feature that enables friends to create their own bets, share them through an in-app group chat, and settle them within the same environment.
Gambling Insider spoke with Adam Bjorn, CEO of Plannatech, the company behind Prime Sports and Betcris Arizona, about the growing emphasis on social experiences in sportsbooks. He noted, “Everything today is about community.” He explained that outside the U.S., sharing bets and following other bettors has been ingrained in betting culture for years through forums and messaging apps. “The U.S. market is now bringing that inside the product.”
According to Bjorn, the objective is to create a space for the conversations already happening in group chats and on social media platforms, integrating them into the betting ecosystem.
These companies also have a commercial incentive to adopt this approach, as social engagement is crucial for retaining users and enhancing their experience.