Virgin Bet targeting market share gains as South Africa launch gathers pace

Odgers previously held senior marketing roles with Sportpesa, Sportingbet and Greatodds before joining Virgin Bet as its head of marketing in July 2025.

With the Livescore Group-operated Virgin Bet brand launching in South Africa in March this year, Odgers has now stepped up to the role of general manager, in which she will spearhead the company’s efforts to make its mark on Africa’s largest market.

Odgers brings a unique perspective to the role thanks to her marketing background, one that she believes will set both her and Virgin Bet apart.

“I think many people will echo the sentiment that our business has largely become a marketing business,” she tells iGB. “In iGaming as an operator, marketing is a cornerstone to the success or failure of your operations, and oftentimes having a non-marketing background can hold you back from that investment.

“I think with a brand like Virgin Bet, you do need someone who’s going to be quite brand focused and a bit more courageous in their strategy to capitalise on that early brand equity.”

Marketing opens the door, product keeps it open

But while Odgers says Virgin Bet’s early stages in South Africa have exceeded expectations, she is also aware that further progress will require more than just marketing expertise.

“At some point, obviously, your product has to be good enough to retain customers, but for now, the brand is something that’s going to attract South Africans to us,” she continues. “So being marketing focused I think does assist, but also wearing a marketing hat is just one element of it.

“I’ve been in the industry for long enough and worked with multiple operators long enough to have a very financially sound background as well, to have a very product-focused experience. So, yes, marketing is the cornerstone. I think it will set me apart, but I certainly am very compliance, finance, customer satisfaction focused [also].”

Winning trust in a crowded South African market

Expanding on her comment that Virgin Bet’s launch had exceeded expectations, Odgers highlights that the South African market is receptive to operators with well-known brands such as Virgin.

“My initial reservations were that it’s a brand new brand,” she explains. “Everyone knows Virgin, but Virgin Bet is an unknown in South Africa, so we were relatively conservative in our target setting for our first quarter of being operational.

“But I think that if you go in with a trusted brand and a good product, South Africans in particular are willing to give you a shot, and I think that’s really exciting, because in this market that’s so saturated with heavy hitters that have been around for a while and have a lot of brand equity, for a new player to come to the market and for players to say, ‘Oh, actually I’m going to give you a try’. That’s exciting.”

When asked what measures of success she hopes Virgin Bet will have achieved in a year’s time, Odgers points to market share without explicitly outlining what the objective is.

“I think market share is a target for all tier-two operators at the moment in South Africa, trying to gain traction, trying to compete with each other,” she declares. “We would love to get to a place where I can fundamentally say we’re in the top percentage of the tier-two operators, and then crack on from there.

“So, market share is really important for us. But at the same time, I’m really focused on building that retention base. So, I think retention rate is a big sign of success for us. That means our product is working, we’re making the right changes and developments to that product. I’d say a healthy retention rate is very important for me as well.”

World Cup marketing spend

The ongoing World Cup has raised questions over whether operators spend too much on marketing for major sporting events.

H2 Gambling Capital Managing Director Ed Birkin previously told iGB that while it could be argued that the industry spends too much on marketing as a whole, failing to do so could lead to operators losing share of voice.

Odgers believes it depends on where an operator’s customer base is at and specifically how casino-heavy it is, although she also feels a company’s annual marketing plan shouldn’t revolve entirely around events such as the World Cup.

“I don’t really believe in a four-week tournament defining your whole marketing strategy for that year,” Odgers explains. “You certainly should have an uplift in your focus, but to create a whole campaign around a four-week tournament, I think, is maybe short-term visionary.

“It also can burn out really fast, because if you’re spending a big budget creating an ad, for example, your frequency on that ad during a four-week period is going to be so high that by the end of it, your customer is burnt out and you won’t get the same kind of impact or cut through with your performance.

“And then you have a whole [league] season in August that begins. I guarantee you, your CFO or your CEO is going to want you to repurpose that ad for the season, and you will have had ad fatigue in a very short span of time. So no, I don’t think that you should focus your whole budget or the majority of your budget on this big tournament, but I also do think that you do need to apportion an uplift of your acquisition spending for it.”