5 Strategies to Boost User Acquisition and Spike Engagement for Sports Betting Apps

September is here again, and we’re kicking off another NFL season. As football fans mull over their fantasy draft picks and place their opening bets, sportsbooks eying the American market will be aiming to maximize new signups, reactivate idle users, and drive more engagement from seasoned bettors on their platforms.

To achieve their goals, marketers and developers will need a sophisticated programmatic strategy to drive steady performance throughout the season and take advantage of key game days. This means taking a smart approach to campaign spending and finding the right ad creative to drive engagement. It also means balancing promotions, offers, and incentives with other retention strategies.

As the sports betting field grows more consolidated and competitive, relying on tried-and-true tactics from two or three years ago—flashy signup bonuses and one-size-fits-all promotions—is no longer enough. To help sports betting apps attract new users and improve retention in 2025, we’ve put together a few innovative strategies proven to boost conversions.

1. Tap into FOMO: Offer Tailored, Time-Limited Opportunities in Your Ad Creative

Users are flooded with ads promising sign-up bonuses at the start of a new season. Instead of relying on generic offers, opt for a tailored approach. Most sports bettors already know game schedules and top lineups. They also know the kinds of bets they’d like to place—they’re looking for a reason to bet with a specific platform. Speak to them with ads that showcase live, time-limited bets tailored to their needs.

For example, Liftoff Product Ads are ad experiences designed explicitly for gameday creatives. They list upcoming schedules, live betting odds, and eye-catching matchups. Users are prompted to engage when they see attractive time-limited bets or exclusive odds. These creatives can also be combined with an offer to maximize conversions.

As a bonus, you can use the ads to showcase your easy-to-use UI. Users who click through to install the app will already know what to expect, making their first bets frictionless.

2. Focus on Maximizing Engagement With Your UGC Campaigns

Most top Sportsbooks run a variety of celebrity and influencer-led campaigns to build credibility and expand their audience. While reaching for big names is tempting, programmatic campaigns benefit more from finding the right influencer for your audience. Working with content creators with niche audiences that match high-engagement segments will often drive higher engagement and more ROI. 

To boost engagement, experiment with different formats. For example, we found that formats like a two-person skit work best for betting apps. They allow you to communicate your top features and differentiators in a relatable and absorbing way.

Make sure to hit your top value props in the script, whether it’s betting during the game, the variety of sports you can access, or just how easy your app is to use. To maximize impact, combine it with an app walkthrough to showcase your UI.

Get more tips on running high-performing UGC campaigns in Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index.

3. Improve Retention Rates With Daily Engagement Systems

While users are reliably active during major sporting events like the Super Bowl or the Champions League Final, drop-offs are common during and after the season. Many top DFS and sports betting apps keep users active through daily engagement systems.

Daily engagement systems provide users with daily or weekly tasks, rewards, and benefits. A good example is FanDuel’s Daily Shuffle. This daily engagement system enables users to build up a 5-leg parlay (which turns an initial stake or winnings from a previous bet into a greater amount) by selecting a random prop (bet) each day.

The more legs the user builds up, the better the parlay and associated rewards, providing incentives to keep betting. Plus, the random prop element helps to keep things interesting, as users never know what they’ll be offered.

In short, daily engagement systems motivate users to explore more of an app’s features. They’re a proven way to boost retention rates and improve LTV by creating a sense of progress.

4. Introduce Social Engagement Features to Keep Users Active

Introducing social features to your app is a reliable way to elevate the user experience and improve engagement rates. Sportsbook social features typically come in one of two forms. Community-based features, such as social media feeds, foster a sense of connection among users by getting them to share their accomplishments and interact. Competitive features, such as leaderboards, drive engagement through rivalry and push users to compete with their friends.

One popular and effective social engagement feature is betting groups. As the name suggests, these are groups that users create and/or join to share bets, discuss their strategies to win, and more. DraftKings, for example, encourages individual bettors to join groups with their friends and showcases promoted betting groups.

In each group, individual members can view and “tail” each other’s wagers, encouraging them to make similar or competing bets. Some groups may start forming friendly rivalries as they try to outperform their team members, boosting engagement even further.

Curious to learn more about driving in-app engagement? Check out Liftoff’s new intelligence platform, AppRefinery.

5. Be Flexible With Ad Spend, and Diversify Your Ad Mix

Finally, we recommend adhering to best practices when planning your ad spend, but always leave room to be flexible. We recommend increasing spend leading into the event and monitoring real-time performance to stay agile as costs fluctuate or returns spike. We also recommend reserving some of your budget for post-game retargeting. Retargeting often delivers better returns as ad spend from competitors drops off.

Most top sportsbooks diversify their channels to reach users across multiple touch points. We think it’s equally important to diversify your ad formats and content in programmatic campaigns. Justin Warshavksy, the Senior Manager of Growth Marketing at DraftKings, a leading daily fantasy sports app, recommends testing a variety of formats and content. “Our approach is all about diversity,” Warshavksy says in his Mobile Heroes interview. “We run a healthy mix of display, video, dynamic, and interactive ads, which gives us the flexibility to meet users across different touchpoints and moments. We’ve also invested heavily in UGC and influencer content, which has been a major driver in keeping us connected with our core demographic.” 

Want to find out how Liftoff can help improve programmatic performance for your app? Get in touch with us today.