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Bet365 Selects Optimove as CRM Marketing Solution to Maximize Player Lifetime Value
The world’s largest online bookmaker is set to partner with the retention marketing leader to scale marketing personalization and drive growth through AI-mapped CRM journeys
Optimove, the leading CRM Marketing solution, announced it has been selected by bet365, the world’s largest online sports betting brand, to orchestrate and optimize all CRM marketing activities. The powerhouse partnership between the two industry leaders demonstrates bet365’s strategic investment in scaling retention marketing efforts and maximizing player lifetime value as a growth driver for the business.
Optimove’s AI-mapped CRM journeys will allow bet365 to transform its CRM Marketing efforts empowering the sportsbook giant to scale and manage hundreds of player segments, orchestrate realtime and scheduled multichannel campaigns, and measure the incremental value of each player interaction. For the first time since its founding in 2000, the global iGaming leader has turned to a third-party vendor to support its CRM Marketing efforts.
With a Customer Data Platform (CDP) at its core, Optimove offers marketing teams direct access to their customer data to build, test, and optimize hundreds of CRM campaigns weekly. Optimove allows brands to reach their customers with the right message on the right channel by personalizing thousands of campaigns to hundreds of segments. Unlike other technologies that rely on common, rule-based orchestration, Optimove’s AI-driven solutions autonomously determine the next best action for each customer, eliminating marketers’ need to manually map every customer journey.
The scientific approach embedded in Optimove’s CRM Marketing platform will empower bet365 to measure the incremental value of each player interaction. bet365 will gain key capabilities via Optimove:
· Enriched customer profiles: Unifying all historical, predictive, and realtime customer data from sources such as CRM, service clouds, and data warehouses via Optimove to create a comprehensive single customer view.
· Multichannel personalization and orchestration: Orchestrating hundreds of campaigns seamlessly by leveraging Optimove’s AI-mapped CRM Journeys to deliver personalized customer communications across any channel.
· A continuous optimization loop: Leverage Optimove’s productized experimentation tools to measure the incremental uplift of each campaign, journey, and strategy to continuously optimize CRM Marketing performance.
Already working with one in three operators in the EGR Power 50 Ranking, the new partnership demonstrates Optimove’s continuous growth and strong momentum in recent months. In July 2022, the company announced the acquisition of Graphyte, a cloud-based personalization platform built for the sports betting and iGaming industry. In March 2022, Optimove acquired Kumulos, a personalized mobile marketing solution, following its September 2021 $75 million investment led by Summit Partners.
“bet365 continue to build an industry leading sports and gaming product, and the business believes the time is right to complement the platform with best of breed third party technology,” said Alex Sefton, Chief Marketing Officer at bet365. “With Optimove we have done just this. This deal heralds a change in direction for bet365, but also the start of a long-term partnership working with Optimove to grow our business. We are at the start of something genuinely exciting for bet365 and I don’t think we could have found a better partner.”
“We’re thrilled to be selected by bet365 as their CRM Marketing solution,” said Motti Colman, Senior Director of Sales at Optimove. “Working together, this is a true super team. As a company that is known for keeping most of its tech in-house, this is a huge move by bet365 to go out to a third-party provider. We’re proud to have been chosen and humbled by bet365’s belief in our ability to deliver. I am certain that the work we accomplish together over the coming years will be groundbreaking and will help catapult bet365 into a new era of growth.”
- How did this partnership come to be?
Motti Colman: “We’ve been speaking to bet365 on and off for 5 years, but they’ve always had other priorities and now the time is right.”
- What are the goals for bet365 working with Optimove? What are they looking to achieve?
Motti Colman: “Their primary driver was the desire to put their customer first. In doing so they are looking to learn more about their customers and improve all the related KPIs. The upshot of that will lead to increased customer loyalty.”
- Do you think this partnership will impact the iGaming space as a whole?
Motti Colman: “Clearly bet365 investing time and money into MarTech will definitely have an impact. Despite all the M&A activity around them, they still remain the biggest brand in the industry and other companies definitely take note when they make big strategic moves.”
- What’s next for Optimove in the industry? Is there room for growth still?
Motti Colman: “Despite our huge presence in the space, the area where we see the most opportunity is at the top end of the market. It’s the traditional Tier 1s that are often a lot slower to adopt advanced technologies, but as we have shown with this collaboration, if an operator is open minded to the possibilities that exist, we can dramatically enhance their customer marketing capabilities.”
Optimove will be exhibiting at SBC Barcelona, September 21-22, Stand F7.
Carlo Santarelli
Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. Names Carlo Santarelli Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations

Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. announced that Carlo Santarelli has been appointed Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations, a new position at the Company. Mr. Santarelli will begin his new position on August 18, 2025 and will report to GLPI President and Chief Operating Officer, Brandon Moore.
Mr. Santarelli brings over 25 years of Wall Street experience in Equity Research and Investment Banking to his new role and joins the Company from Deutsche Bank where he was Managing Director of Gaming & Lodging Equity Research. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Mr. Santarelli held similar positions at Bear Stearns, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo. He consistently ranked highly in Institutional Investor and other sell-side analyst research polls as a thought leader in the space, providing unique perspectives on industry events and trends with his data-driven approach and stock picking talent. Carlo Santarelli graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Economics in 2000.
Peter Carlino, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GLPI, said: “We’ve known and respected Carlo’s research work on the gaming, lodging and gaming REIT sectors for many years. Carlo brings to GLPI an in-depth knowledge of the industry and its participants, having experienced GLPI’s original formation of the gaming triple-net-REIT structure from a research analyst and capital markets perspective. We value his deep network of contacts among institutional investors, sell-side analysts and a wide range of gaming industry operators and we look forward to the value of his contributions.”
In his new role, Mr. Santarelli will work with Mr. Carlino and GLPI’s senior management to develop and evaluate growth opportunities and strategic relationships, and will oversee investor relations interactions.
The post Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. Names Carlo Santarelli Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
Industry News
VIP Play Announces Departure of Chief Financial Officer

VIP Play, a technology-driven leader in interactive consumer engagement, announced that Jim Mackey, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, will step down from his role, effective August 8, 2025.
The Company has initiated a transition process and is in the process of identifying a successor. Mackey will assist in an orderly transition over the coming weeks.
“We thank Jim for his contributions to the Company, particularly during a transformative period for our business. We remain focused on executing our strategic priorities, including financial visibility, operating efficiency, and delivering value to our stakeholders,” said Les Ottolenghi, CEO of VIP Play.
The post VIP Play Announces Departure of Chief Financial Officer appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
eSports
Esports Charts Becomes Official Viewership Analytics Partner of StarLadder Budapest Major 2025

Esports Charts, the leading esports viewership analytics provider, has partnered with StarLadder, a pioneering tournament organiser. The Budapest Major 2025 marks a highly anticipated comeback for StarLadder, as it is their first Counter-Strike Major since 2019 and a significant return to the top-tier esports arena.
As the official analytics partner of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, Esports Charts will provide comprehensive, real-time audience data and insights throughout the event. This will empower organisers, teams, sponsors and fans with unparalleled transparency and a deeper understanding of the tournament’s global reach.
Artyom Odintsov, Co-founder and CEO of Esports Charts, said: “We are thrilled and proud to provide viewership analytics for StarLadder for the Budapest Major 2025. Since both Esports Charts and StarLadder are Ukraine-born companies, we share similar values and deal with similar challenges, which brings us even closer.
“It’s genuinely exciting to follow how viewership will develop at this Major. But knowing the expertise, drive, and passion that the organizers are bringing, I have no doubt we’ll witness some incredible things happen in Budapest.
“Esports Charts has always been driven by a mission to provide the esports community with accurate, actionable data, and we look forward to showcasing the impact and audience engagement of this world-class event.”
StarLadder has been a driving force in global esports for almost 15 years now, since hosting its first tournaments in 2011. Renowned for its innovation and reliability, the company has organised some of the industry’s most iconic events. These include the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, which accumulated over 44 million hours watched and remains in the top 10 CS events by this metric, and the legendary StarSeries tournaments which started back in 2012.
Viacheslav Shcherbakov, Sales and Partnerships at StarLadder, said: “We’ve been working with Esports Charts since their founding and have always valued their professionalism and integrity. In a market where reliable data is essential, Esports Charts provides honest, transparent numbers, exactly the kind of insights sponsors and stakeholders rely on when assessing the potential reach of a World Championship event.
“We’re confident that this partnership will result in a high-quality analysis of our tournament’s performance and the audience data we’ll report to our partners. It’s a collaboration built on trust, shared values, and a deep understanding of what it takes to elevate esports to the next level.”
The Starladder Budapest Major 2025 will be held from November 24 to December 14 in Budapest, Hungary. The event will bring together the world’s top 32 Counter-Strike 2 teams to compete for a $1.25 million prize pool and one of the most prestigious titles in esports.
The post Esports Charts Becomes Official Viewership Analytics Partner of StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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