In the competitive in-venue entertainment industry, customer retention is a key factor for success. Venues often seek effective ways to encourage patrons to return. While broadcasting popular sports like AFL or NRL attracts initial visitors, additional engagement strategies can help create a more loyal customer base. One such strategy is in-venue tipping. This activity adds an interactive element to sports viewing, potentially increasing customer engagement. Sports tipping is accessible to many venue operators, as it is straightforward to understand and can greatly impact ROI. This broad appeal makes it a consideration for venues looking to enhance their sports-watching experience.

This blog will explore in-venue tipping, its potential benefits for venues, and how it can be implemented as a tool for customer attraction and retention throughout the year.

What is Tipping?

Sports tipping is a popular form of engagement that adds an extra layer of excitement to watching sports. At its core, tipping involves predicting the outcomes of multiple matches within a specific sports competition.

Here's how it typically works:

• Participants are presented with a list of upcoming matches for a particular round in a sports competition.
• For each match, they predict the winning team.
• To enhance interest, many tipping competitions also include predicting the winning margin (the number of points by which the chosen team will win.)

These predictions, or "tips", are then compared against the actual results. Correct tips can earn points, with participants often competing for prizes, bragging rights, or simply for the thrill of the game.

This simple yet engaging format makes tipping accessible to both casual viewers and die-hard fans alike. It encourages deeper involvement with the sport, as participants often find themselves more invested in the outcomes of matches they've tipped on. For venues, offering tipping competitions can transform passive viewers into active participants, potentially increasing both engagement and return visits.

Operators can choose to make tipping competitions free to enter or charge an entry fee. Generally, the entry fees are pooled together and offered as an end-of-season prize for the participant(s) with the highest number of correct tips in a sporting season.  Once a round ends, each participant's number of correct tips is tallied, and a leaderboard ranks the participants.

The best tipping competitions will often have rewards provided for the best players of a round, and a grand prize on offer for the person at the end of a season with the most successful number of tips.

Benefits of In-Venue Tipping for Your Venue

Implementing a sports tipping competition in your venue offers several advantages

1. Broad Appeal: Sports tipping has a low barrier to entry and simple mechanics, making it accessible to a wide range of patrons. From newcomers to seasoned fans, anyone can participate and enjoy the experience.
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2. Increased Customer Retention: A tipping competition can create a feedback loop that encourages patrons to return regularly. This recurring engagement helps build stronger relationships between your venue and its customers.
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3. Community Building: As participants return week after week, your venue can become a more integral part of the local community. This increased sense of belonging can lead to more frequent visits and a more loyal customer base.
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4. Social Catalyst: Tipping competitions can spark conversations and friendly rivalries among patrons, enhancing the social atmosphere of your venue. This improved social environment can make your establishment more attractive to both new and returning customers.
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5. Increased Dwell Time: Patrons engaged in tipping competitions may spend more time in your venue, potentially leading to increased food and beverage sales.
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6. Regular Attendance: The ongoing nature of sports seasons and tipping competitions can drive regular, predictable attendance, helping to stabilize your venue's customer flow.

By fostering this engaging and social atmosphere, sports tipping can help transform your venue into a destination where people not only come to watch sports but also to connect, compete, and enjoy a ore interactive entertainment experience.

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Why Choose SportsPick For In-Venue Tipping

SportsPick is the all-inclusive Sports and Race engagement platform designed to help you attract and retain patrons across a variety of channels. Unlike other services, our approach is venue-focused with a focus on driving patron visitation to your venue. SportsPick’s Tipping Solution gives venues access to the SportsPick terminal, a touchscreen designed for tip entry and engaging competitions, a digital screen for venue and competition promotions, and a mobile app offering a streamlined tipping process to get patrons returning to your venue.

As a SportsPick Venue, you will have access to weekly tipping comps across a variety of sports and racing services. Our tipping product is all year-round*, enabling your patrons access to the thrill of tipping each week at their local.

SportsPick provides all venues participating in tipping competitions access to SportsPick-funded National Prize Pools, valued at more than $1 Million. This promotional headline helps you attract and engage patrons with life-changing prizes that can be won by playing in your venue.

Managing a tipping competition in-house can be time-consuming and potentially contentious. This is where SportsPick comes in as a trusted third-party facilitator for your venue's tipping competitions.

Our automated platform eliminates the need for manual tip collection and tracking, freeing up your time to focus on other aspects of venue management. By outsourcing the tipping process, you can ensure fairness and transparency, reducing the likelihood of disputes or questions about the integrity of the competition.

Key benefits of using SportsPick include:

1. Automated tip collection and processing

2. Impartial management of the competition

3. Time savings for venue staff

4. Increased credibility of the tipping competition

Moreover, our dedicated support team is always on standby to assist with any issues or questions that may arise, ensuring a smooth experience for both your venue and your patrons. By leveraging SportsPick's expertise and technology, you can offer a professional, hassle-free tipping experience that enhances your venue's appeal and keeps patrons coming back for more.

How to get started with SportsPick

Whether you are looking to refresh along-standing tipping competition or introduce a new one for the upcoming season, SportsPick offers a comprehensive solution designed to increase patronage and encourage repeat visits. SportsPick enhances sports and racing entertainment available in your venues with our all-inclusive simple-to-use venue tipping product.

With additional marketing to get people in your venue, a best-in-class mobile app for users, and massive national prize pools. By incorporating SportsPick into your venue's entertainment lineup, you can offer patrons an additional reason to choose your establishment for their sports viewing and social gatherings – with the goal of making your venue a go-to destination for those looking to enjoy friendly tipping competitions alongside meals and drinks.

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Discover how SportsPick can work for your venue!