Devon is a South West county with a lot of promise in the gambling industry

Sarah Parker
Authored by Sarah Parker
Posted: Thursday, September 23, 2021 - 12:06

Devon, England, is universally recognised for its wooded hillside landscapes and hotel rental cottages with rural charm. It's a great location to escape normality and spend time outdoors. The county also has significant reach and business prospects, similar to Leeds in demonstrating its potentials within marketing and Manchester in finance.

Devon Isn't Just A Pretty Face

The county has already made a name for itself in several industries, including financial services and retail. In 2003, the Met Office, the national and international weather service in the UK, moved to Exeter, and Plymouth is home to the head office of The Range, a major multi-channel retailer. One industry Devon has untapped potential in is the UK's online gambling industry.

The industry is constantly expanding its consumer base due to platforms offering unique innovations like live games. A prime example of such is Paddy Power’s Live Casino, which offers live blackjack, bingo, and roulette. In live blackjack, players bets are taken by a real dealer working in a casino and streamed to an individual via their playing device, be it a smartphone, tablet, or computer. This real-time, immersive experience has allowed players to engage with the games they love from the comfort of their own homes. Through this convenient medium, live games have attracted new generations of players.

However, in Devon, there's also still very much a traditional gambling culture. 

Tradition Means Something In Devon

Devon county is a promising asset to the UK's gambling industry because it remains loyal to traditional gambling methods and land-based establishments that remain popular even during the digital era, in which online gambling has become the norm.

Devon has several land-based bingo halls and casinos situated throughout the county, including in locations like Plymouth and Exeter. These establishments are still frequented and have garnered a great reputation as firm favourites among punters as they boast diverse and vibrant decor, and offer slot machines as well as the likes of roulette, poker, and blackjack tables. In addition, there are also bingo games, fruit machines, darts, and snooker tables available.

Devon's flexibility to adapt to the gambling industry’s transition online while remaining true to conventional methods could prove a valuable marketing tactic in the coming years. Companies recently have been reminded that nostalgia marketing works; if online casino platforms are looking to expand or enter partnerships, it may not be wise to go with the most popular entity but rather the one that remembers and still uses traditional forms of gambling today. 

After all, Brafton's nostalgia marketing tactics only work if the target audience remembers. For example, if an online gambling company creates a video exploring how blackjack has changed because of technology, the campaign could be pushed in counties like Devon. Due to its active land-based casinos, Devon would remember the changes. Resonating with this crowd, as Logo Creative suggests in their article on how to increase brand awareness, can improve campaign figures and drive growth. 

Like many areas in the UK, Devon is a county that has considerable potential in driving the national gambling economy in the future simply due to its loyalty to traditional forms of gambling. Even though online gambling has its advantages, knowing land-based casinos are still running puts Devon in a unique position that platforms might want to utilise when they are looking for new ways to attract and maintain consumers.