SunBet's CEO Simon Gregory asserts that the extensive land-based presence of parent company Sun International gives it a significant edge in the competition with established online rivals in South Africa.
The online gaming operator, which also operates in Namibia and Botswana, has ambitious plans to double its market share in South Africa, where it faces stiff competition from major players like Super Group's Betway and Hollywoodbets.
"We’re not as big as Betway or Hollywoodbets, but we have a solution that is highly competitive with those, and we can offer more rewards and harmonize their gambling play between the casinos online," Gregory explained during a post-H1 earnings interview.
He estimates that SunBet ranks as the third or fourth largest online gaming provider in South Africa, following the established Betway, which has been active in the market since 2017, and Hollywoodbets, which launched its online operations in 2006.
Despite not being among the top two, Gregory believes that SunBet’s integrated services provide a solid foundation to challenge the leaders. The company’s strategy includes capitalizing on its well-developed land-based loyalty program.
Sun International holds about 50% of the South African land-based market, operating 11 casinos across eight of the nine provinces. Gregory characterizes the partnership between SunBet and Sun International as mutually reinforcing, enhancing each other’s offerings through various omnichannel capabilities.
"We have certainly benefitted, or both of us have benefitted from an omnichannel solution. We’re able to trade off the strong cultural heritage that Sun International has in the gaming space.
We have nearly 50% of the casino industry in South Africa, which enables us to provide a trusted, branded solution online and encourage land-based customers to play with us, get the same rewards, and harmonize that with our online offerings," Gregory stated.
His remarks echo those made by Sun International's CEO, Ulrik Bengtsson, in May, highlighting a vision for a unified customer ecosystem where both segments of the business support each other.
Sun International reported a 7.4% growth in group income to R6.58 billion ($400.4 million) in its recent H1 earnings, largely driven by a 35.5% year-on-year increase in SunBet revenues to R1.18 billion. The land-based sector showed growth for the first time in three years.
On a recent earnings call, Bengtsson pointed out the potential for converting more of Sun International’s land-based clientele into SunBet users. Gregory added that the strategy for this conversion relies heavily on Sun International’s extensive customer database and its long-standing loyalty program.
"We’re fortunate to have a large database of gamblers. We’ve got the oldest loyalty program in the country, I think, of any industry.
So we’ve been ensuring that Sun International’s land-based customers are aware of the attractive and competitive online offerings available through SunBet," Gregory said.
