INDUSTRY INSIDER: MARK MCGUINNESS
Polymarket recently secured up to $2 billion in investment from
Intercontinental Exchange, valuing it at $8 billion
ecosystems that extend beyond pure gaming. The future of engagement lives between industries and where culture, speculation and play overlap. And remember, connection isn’t decoration, it’s strategy. Emotional resonance builds defensibility, loyalty and brand equity in ways pure promotion never can.
THE WAKE-UP CALL
The market is already voting with capital and attention. The $2 billion investment into Polymarket at an $8 billion valuation isn’t an anomaly. It’s a blueprint for the fusion of finance, culture and play. Other prediction platforms like Kalshi are expanding for the same reason: audiences want experiences that let them interact with the world in real time. For iGaming leaders, the decision is clear. Stay trapped in the transaction, or evolve into an ecosystem where players live stories, not just sessions.
wagered, but only one connected. That emotional gap defines where much of the industry still lags.
For years, we’ve obsessed over acquisition metrics namely CPA, ARPU, LTV – but neglected the variable that actually sustains them: how the experience makes people feel. Emotional design is the next competitive edge.
CLOSING THE GAP: DESIGNING FOR EMOTION
The operators beginning to win this race are reimagining gameplay through narrative, social energy and live immersion.
Narrative-driven experiences build tension and payoff, like the cultural speculation loops within prediction markets. Social architecture turns gameplay into conversation, think of
Stake.com’s vibrant live chat or the social- sharing mechanics that keep Crash games like Aviator at the top of casino charts. Those titles work because they fuse anticipation, peer validation and spectacle.
Meanwhile, personalisation through AI can shape play around context and not just history, but emotion, timing and intent. And immersive live formats, where hosts or creators drive event-based interaction, are already converting passive bettors into active participants. When emotion, community and relevance combine, lifetime value follows naturally.
THE STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE FOR IGAMING LEADERS
This isn’t a passing fad. It’s a structural change in how audiences experience entertainment. Start with an experience audit: identify the silent, transactional moments in your customer journey, the places where curiosity fades. Then fix them with story, interaction and feedback. Bring in people who understand how emotions move markets: storytellers, behavioural
scientists, creative technologists.
Partnerships will be crucial. Collaborating with content creators, data providers and prediction- market innovators allows operators to build
The brands that take this leap first won’t just capture engagement. They’ll define what entertainment means for the next generation of players and not games to be played, but worlds to be experienced.
The next generation of players, especially Gen Zs, want to feel involved and belong to something bigger
About the author
Mark McGuinness is an ‘architect of high-impact iGaming marketing.’ He is currently fractional CMO at
Devilfish.com and brings over 24 years of elite digital marketing leadership to the role, advising top-tier iGaming operators across diverse regulated landscapes. He translates deep analytical power, honed from his scientific background, into breakthrough strategies for affiliate marketing, Web3, social poker, and casino gaming. McGuinness champions the game-changing integration of neuroscience and behavioural economics to skyrocket customer engagement and conversion.
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