Entain has launched Seven in the UK, a free-to-play football app targeting younger fans. Players select seven footballers each game week, including three forwards and four other players. Picks earn rewards when they score the first or last goal in their matches.
Three or more successful selections unlock prizes, including a weekly £100,000 jackpot. The app sits with Ladbrokes and will add more leagues and social features from October, giving Entain another route into football engagement and acquisition.
Ross Jarvis, director of strategy at Angstrom, said the team wanted a format between fantasy football and short prediction games.
“What’s that middle line between needing a second full-time job to play and do well at Fantasy Premier League, and games that are just two minutes of wasted time? We wanted to find that five to 10 minute game in the middle, one that taps into the weekend rituals football fans already have.”
Player-led fandom shapes Seven’s engagement strategy
Entain is targeting fans aged 25 to 35, which it believes existing free-to-play products have underserved. Jarvis said many competing products lacked innovation.
“A lot of the games out there were either redos of games which already existed, or they were baked into one of the gambling operators themselves, which puts guardrails around how much real innovation you can have.”
Jarvis said Seven also suits fans who follow football through clips or shorter viewing windows. “Even if you join the game at 75 minutes and you’ve got a player in that match, you’ve still got about 15 minutes where, if that player scores the last goal, that’s all that matters to you.”
Entain sees potential beyond the Premier League
Bejay Patel, UK managing director at Entain, said Seven showed the group could develop new formats quickly.
“Seven is a great example of how Entain can innovate at pace. By empowering a dedicated team to think differently and move quickly, we have built a genuinely distinctive product that broadens our portfolio.”
Seven launches around the Premier League, but Entain sees potential in other leagues and sports. Jarvis highlighted the NFL as one possible future market.
“If you think about a sport like NFL, it’s perfectly suited to this mechanic. We’re averaging about 2.8 goals a game in the Premier League, but when you transport that onto NFL, potentially it’s even more exciting, with an average of about 5.56 touchdowns a game.”
Entain is showing its commitment to protecting younger fans with the free-to-play Seven To Target program. The initiative will enable them to focus on individual players and claim rewards for their picks. If Entain can focus more on an entertaining experience over player acquisition, this move might open up an entirely new market.
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