Soft2Bet Chief Product Officer Yoel Zuckerberg outlined the company’s approach to player retention through gamification during a panel last week, arguing that operators can build stronger loyalty by creating emotional connections rather than relying solely on traditional CRM tools.
Speaking during the Player Experience Academy at SBC Summit Lisbon, Zuckerberg said the industry has increasingly focused on retention but that operators need to look beyond bonuses, notifications and other conventional engagement tools to create experiences that players genuinely connect with.
The half-day Player Experience Academy formed part of SBC Summit’s Education+ track and brought together senior industry decision-makers to discuss engagement, retention and compliance.
Zuckerberg opened his presentation by highlighting the role of familiarity, comfort, connection and belonging in creating trust and loyalty.
“These are emotions. These are familiarities. These are things that stay in your mind forever,” he said, linking those concepts to brand awareness and player experience.
From retention to emotional design
Zuckerberg said Soft2Bet’s approach has evolved since he presented the company’s retention strategy at the previous edition of SBC Summit.
Rather than simply building new features for players, he said Soft2Bet began focusing on “designing emotions” and creating an additional layer around the traditional casino lifecycle.
In a conventional casino experience, players deposit, play, win or lose, and eventually leave. Soft2Bet’s gamified approach adds a separate layer in which players earn a metacurrency through their normal activity and can then use it across gamification experiences to unlock rewards.
According to Zuckerberg, Soft2Bet’s A/B testing showed significant differences between players exposed to the gamified experience and those who were not. He said average session duration doubled from around 20 minutes, while weekly gaming sessions increased from 3.3 to 14.1.
He also argued that the approach can reduce the need for operators to rely on costly re-engagement campaigns.
“Bringing a customer back after they have left costs a lot,” Zuckerberg said. “When you re-engage the customer through dedicated emotional gamification, they come back naturally because they feel an emotion, they feel a connection, they feel loyalty and trust.”
Building a gamified casino lifecycle
Soft2Bet’s gamification strategy incorporates several experiences designed to extend engagement beyond the initial casino or sportsbook session.
One example allows players to earn energy through slot play before transferring it into a metagame, where they can earn coins, unlock islands, compete against other players, and claim rewards.
Zuckerberg said the strategy also relies on familiar gaming mechanics. Soft2Bet has incorporated concepts including match-three games and virtual penalty shootouts, using mechanics that players may already understand from other gaming experiences.
The company has also developed MEGA11, a football-focused gamification experience in which players can customize teams, unlock players, train their squads and compete against other players for rewards.
MEGA Shoot, a virtual penalty shootout, was launched ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, while Soft2Bet also presented other gamification concepts including MEGA Touchdown and MEGA Lock Target.
Zuckerberg stressed that these experiences are not intended to turn a gambling product into a social gaming platform, but rather to provide an additional engagement layer around the existing casino and sportsbook experience.
“We are in the gambling industry, not the gaming or social industry,” he said. “These tools are just there to bring back the customers as a retention tool and extend their lifecycle.”
Business and player impact
Zuckerberg presented performance figures from Soft2Bet’s gamification products as evidence of the potential business impact.
According to the company, initial performance for MEGA 11 included a 114% increase in daily activity, an 80% deposit conversion rate and a close to 39% increase in NGR per user.
MEGA Shoot generated retention increases of up to 13%, while 32% of Soft2Bet’s total player database engaged with the gamification experience during the World Cup. Zuckerberg said 71% of those customers subsequently played a second game.
He also pointed to a 45% increase in ARPU, a 65% increase in net gaming revenue and a 30% increase in deposit frequency as indicators of the wider impact of the strategy.
For Zuckerberg, the figures demonstrate the connection between player experience and business performance. The objective, he said, is to create a cycle in which players finish a casino or sportsbook session with additional rewards and activities available to them, encouraging them to continue engaging with the platform rather than simply leaving.
Innovation as the competitive edge
Zuckerberg argued that gamification can also help operators differentiate themselves in an increasingly commoditized market.
Operators often rely on the same game providers, sportsbook suppliers and payment providers, he noted, making the additional touchpoints around the core product increasingly important.
“Yes, you all have the same game providers, the same sportsbook provider, the same payment provider,” he said. “But when you bring new touchpoints into the experience, that brings you an edge.”
He also pointed to Soft2Bet’s ongoing investment in developing and testing new gamification concepts as part of its broader approach to innovation.
Asked after the presentation what had changed most in player experience over the past year, Zuckerberg said more operators were beginning to follow Soft2Bet’s approach and integrate gamification more deeply into their products.
Looking ahead, his advice to operators was straightforward. “Only one word: innovation,” he said. “Strive to innovate and push the boundaries further in our industry.”
For Zuckerberg, the wider objective is to make retention a consequence of a better player experience rather than something operators have to constantly manufacture through promotional activity.
“Players don’t want gimmicks,” he concluded. “They want an emotion.”