Bets use 'rocket text' and restricted promotions to retain players and capture loyal customers

"They are the tip of the iceberg", says George Valença, professor of computer science at UFRPE (Federal Rural University of Pernambuco), whose research focuses on manipulative marketing patterns, the so-called "dark patterns".

Anyone who registers with a bet starts to receive newsletters via emails and SMSs called 'rocket texts', with loyalty programs for bettors and other promotions prohibited for the public who are not registered, in accordance with law no. 14,790 of 2023.

Data from SimilarWeb shows that the strategy worked. The bets that advertised on CazéTV saw an increase of more than 115% in the number of downloads of their applications during the tournament.

An email from Betnacional received by the reporter, for example, shows promotional conditions prepared with CazéTV for a limited time. The KTO and Bet365 campaigns, in turn, offer loyalty clubs in which those who bet more are rewarded.

Furthermore, players who arrive on these platforms interested in sports predictions are faced with online casino offers, such as live roulette broadcasts and electronic games such as Fortune Tiger, the so-called tiger game.

This targeted marketing is not the target of the government's investigation for the "illegible alerts" nor of the Conar (National Advertising Self-Regulation Council) injunction that suspended advertising pieces shown during the FIFA World Cup broadcast, but researchers interviewed by the report see misleading marketing patterns in the interaction between bets and players.

When contacted by the report, the companies Betnacional, KTO and Bet365 declined to comment. The IBJR (Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming), an association that represents the three brands, said that Brazilian laws are already strict and declared itself in favor of investigation by the authorities.

In a statement, the YouTube channel stated that the changes implemented in recent days in the display of betting brands respond to the concerns of the government and Conar. The company said that the sports betting market in Brazil is still in the process of maturing and that the debate contributes to the evolution of the sector.

Researchers call these features manipulative design patterns: interface and communication mechanisms created to induce platform-friendly decisions.

Valença, from UFRPE, explains that tactics involving bonuses under restricted conditions, such as bets valid only for the opening minutes of a match or with low value ceilings, are based on psychological manipulation mechanisms known as "false urgency", "false scarcity" or "pay to skip".

An example of this is the Betnacional advertising piece shown at the game between England and Ghana on June 23rd in which "an exclusive opportunity for this game" was offered. This pattern is repeated over and over again when communicating with bettors through a closed channel, although sports betting regulations prohibit this type of incentive.

Furthermore, while deposits are completed in a few clicks, withdrawals often require additional steps, such as facial recognition and sending documents.

A survey by digital rights entity Ctrl+Z concluded that, of the 149 promotional odds shown on CazéTV during the World Cup, 91 resulted in losing bets, 53 in winning bets and five were returned. However, it is not possible to say that the bookmakers made money only on these bids, considering that the prizes are proportional to the risks.

According to the director for Brazil of the Swedish betting site Betsson, André Gelfi, promotions tend to offer a more attractive price for the consumer, which usually implies lower margins. "In an environment of fierce competition, the search for differentiation via price can, in theory, lead to margins going to zero and even result in loss-making operations."

That's why bets limit the amounts that can be bet on these promotional events, says statistics professor at UFCG (Federal University of Campina Grande) Alexsandro Bezerra Cavalcanti, who studies the mathematics of bets.

"They are not stupid. The objective is to get new customers, minimizing losses", says Cavalcanti.

According to researcher Esther Morel, a doctoral student at UFF (Universidade Federal Fluminense), advertisements in sports broadcasts actually function as the bait of a "manipulative marketing" strategy.

Once captured by registration, the user enters a closed circuit of personalized communication (via WhatsApp, SMS and daily emails), more opaque to state supervision than the monitoring of traditional open media.

On betting websites or applications, users agree to comply with the conditions stipulated by the companies. Morel says that the interface of these sites is structured under the concepts of "persuasive technology", a field that studies how computers can be programmed to alter human behavior.

The platforms automate personalized marketing stimuli to trigger visual notifications exactly at the player's most sensitive moments.

THE EFFECT OF THE CUP ON BETS

The Brazilian team's debut in the World Cup against Morocco caused a jump in digital audiences on the main betting platforms operating in the country. The bet365 website led the volume of accesses on the web, recording its daily peaks in the period with more than 5.3 million visits. In the same period as the start of the world tournament, Betnacional surpassed the mark of 1.8 million visits in a single day, while KTO exceeded 530 thousand daily accesses.

The movement on mobile platforms focused on decisive dates for the advancement of the selections. Shortly after Brazil's first game, bet365 registered 73,000 new daily downloads. The biggest peak in installations of the month occurred on the eve of Brazil's clash against Japan in the knockout phase: bet365 reached 79 thousand downloads in a single day, accompanied by Betnacional, which achieved its monthly record with 40 thousand installations on the same date.

The time users dedicate to betting platforms varies depending on the channel chosen. In the mobile segment, retention tends to be longer: KTO, for example, retains its users for an average of 9 minutes and 56 seconds per session. Confirmshaming: Notification texts written to generate guilt or emotional discomfort in the user who tries to refuse an offer or close the session.- Creative readings of regulation: Maneuvers in responsible gaming requirements. When forced to provide time-limiting tools, companies often set system defaults suggesting ceilings of 8, 12, or even 16 hours of continuous gameplay. The minimum possible ceiling is 1 hour. Likewise, the minimum deposit ceiling indicated is R$50,000.

By closely monitoring users' financial data and browsing habits under the justification of anti-fraud security, companies convert these bases into inputs for new attraction algorithms. A cycle is created in which permanence is stimulated by the euphoria of gain or the psychological urgency of recovering losses. In addition to the debate about addiction, analysts point out that the architecture of these platforms masks relationships of economic exploitation under an aesthetic of entertainment and individual autonomy.

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