Threats As Mobile Gaming Popularity Rises: On-the-go Betting Hit by Bots

Advances in mobile technology have led to a considerable shift in the sports betting industry, with mobile quickly becoming the dominant platform. This shift influences game development, with operators choosing to focus on mobile-optimised experiences.

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Mobile gaming’s rapid growth is a significant trend in 2024. As more people use smartphones, mobile gaming is becoming increasingly popular, with the market expected to reach $189.5 billion by 2032 globally according to Market Research Future.

The booming success of the mobile gaming market has unfortunately caught the attention of fraudsters. Mobile platforms are now a prime target for bad actors looking to make easy money at the expense of operators. Many operators haven’t fully optimised their mobile security to guard against advertising fraud, leaving a gap that these fraudsters are quick to exploit.

As fraudsters continue to develop more sophisticated tactics to infiltrate systems, it’s vital to have a solid strategy in place to protect mobile platforms and safeguard both bettors and operators from potential harm.

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The Bigger the Market, the Bigger the Target

The convenience provided by mobiles and on-the-go betting has driven the growth of the market considerably. With expansions to mobile networks and decreases in data plan costs meaning more people than ever can enjoy online gaming. This growth attracts attention from fraudsters.

These fraudsters are capable of draining advertising budgets by leveraging invalid traffic (IVT). IVT is any activity that doesn’t come from a real user with genuine interest. Fraudsters can use this non-genuine engagement to interfere with digital ad campaigns by artificially inflating impressions. This significantly skews campaign data, leading operators to falsely believe the campaign is performing well. Operators then mistakenly divert ad spend to underperforming projects in the future, wasting resources while fraudsters profit behind the scenes. Juniper Research found that 22% of global ad spend was lost to ad fraud in 2023, and this percentage is likely to increase as methods of fraud develop further.

Another major challenge sportsbooks face from fraudsters is mobile app install attribution stealing. This is a deceitful tactic that allows fraudsters to falsely claim credit for mobile user installs that should have been attributed to legitimate marketing partners. Fraudsters can then siphon ad budgets while the campaign’s effectiveness is hampered. Common tactics employed by fraudsters also include click spamming, which involves generating false clicks to create a false attribution trail, and SDK spoofing, where they simulate legitimate app installations.

Mobile systems are unable to identify these more advanced forms of fraud as they typically only deploy conventional anti-fraud tools. These tools can’t identify IVT as they don’t analyse traffic at the impression or click level, leaving systems wide open to ad fraud. Without the right strategy in place to control their traffic, operators face increased losses.

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Stopping Fraud in its Tracks

By taking steps to ensure they have full transparency and visibility into their traffic, operators can mitigate the damage done to their campaigns and stop ad fraud in its tracks. Mobile betting is only getting more popular, so by bolstering mobile defence, operators can thrive in a growing market.

One of IVT’s biggest advantages over operators is its ability to slip by security systems unnoticed. To take this strength away from fraudsters, operators can regularly monitor their traffic to try spot any irregularities. These irregularities could be signs of fraudulent activity, such as suspiciously high pageviews or a sudden spike in traffic. Once potential fraud is identified, the appropriate security measures can be put in place to remove it.

Innovations in technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) have made it much simpler for fraudsters to launch their attacks frequently against underprepared systems. Bots powered by AI can be utilised in large volumes to overwhelm operators. To combat this, operators can leverage ad-verification platforms to compensate for any gaps in security. These tools can verify traffic in real-time, reporting and blocking any malicious engagement before it can harm budgets.

An additional step operators can take is to set custom verification rules. These rules allow operators to control and limit fraudulent engagement by creating a limit to how many times an ad campaign can be interacted with by a particular user. This is especially helpful against methods of ad fraud such as bots or click spamming as they can no longer repeatedly attempt to engage with campaigns and drive-up Cost per Click rates (CPC). Fraudsters are then unable to drain ad budgets as once they meet the click threshold set by the operator, they are blocked from seeing the ad.

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Providing Operators with the Tools to Combat Threats

The mobile betting market has provided operators with the chance to excel in a new market. With these rewards come risks, and mobiles have been left vulnerable to evolving threats from fraudsters. To maximise campaign value while mitigating threats to profits, operators need to be prepared.

Operators can combat this threat by taking an active role in their defence. Monitoring and verifying traffic before it enters a campaign can block fraudsters from harming budgets. With greater transparency into their systems, operators can ensure future successes.

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