Rebuilding acquisition around first deposits, in licensed markets only
- Client
- Licensed iGaming operator
- Industry
- iGaming
- Year
- 2025
- Services
- Meta & Google Ads, Community Building, Conversion Tracking
The challenge
An operator scaling across licensed markets with no reliable view of deposit economics. We moved the conversion event to first-time deposit, exited two unlicensed markets, and held retention at 82%.
Reporting stopped at registration, which meant the campaigns were optimising for the cheapest possible signup rather than a depositing player. Two of the highest-volume markets turned out to be outside the operator's licensing footprint entirely — a compliance exposure nobody had flagged because geo-targeting had never been audited against the licence schedule.
What we did
- 01
Audited geo against the licence schedule
Every active market was checked against the actual licences held. Two were switched off immediately; the spend moved to markets where the operator could legally take a deposit.
- 02
Optimised to first-time deposit
FTD became the conversion event, with responsible-gambling messaging built into the creative rather than appended as a footer. Cost per registration rose; cost per depositing player fell by more than half.
- 03
Held players with community, not bonuses
Tournaments, VIP tiering, and an active Discord took over the retention work that bonus spend had been doing badly. Retention settled at 82% without the margin cost.
Results
- 5.2×
- Return on ad spend
- 4,820
- First-time deposits
- 82%
- Player retention
- 2
- Markets exited on licensing