The online casino market has seen significant growth so far in 2026, with the highest number of clicks per month having increased by 50,000, while the top 10 casino competitors has undergone a transformation. At the head of the list is William Hill, which has surged up from sixth place in October 2025, with a calculated increase of 225% in monthly clicks.
FDJ United’s 32Red has remained steadily in second, with a similar number of monthly clicks to October, albeit fewer ranking keywords. MrQ, 888casino, Ladbrokes and Buzz Bingo have dropped out of the top 10 altogether to be replaced by Betfair – straight into third spot – as well as Parimatch, BetGoodwin and BOYLE Sports lower down the ranks. In the middle, Unibet, NetBet, Grosvenor and Paddy Power have all slipped down the list by a mean average of 2.75 places.
William Hill on top after successfully branching out
William Hill’s rise to first place can be explained by a consolidation of already-strong rankings and trust ratings with a broadening keyword footprint, as well as the evoke-owned brand’s even balance among several facets of the casino market (such as slots and roulette), which is unique in this competitor group. What this has meant, in practice, is that William Hill has been able to leverage its high position in core searches, eg ‘casino’, to effectively branch out into adjacent keywords, eg ‘casino welcome bonus’, with the result being significant gains in rankings for lower-traffic keywords.
This has been especially beneficial given the enormous overall market increase in ranked long-tail keywords such as ‘match odds’ and ‘how-to’ queries. Moreover, because William Hill already has a high trust score for core keywords, the operator has an increased click-through rate (CTR) for additional ones. As a trusted site, William Hill is now placed higher up the search engine results pages (SERPs) and is therefore a known brand to the consumer, better able to convert these high SERP placings into clicks. This is an increasing trend with multi-vertical competitors across the igaming sector. More on that below.
In contrast to William Hill’s broad-brush approach, Betfair has been able to enter the top 10 in third place due to selective expansion into high-impact ranked keywords. Whereas previously it had been focusing on core sports-related keywords, the Flutter-owned operator now ranks highly for more slot and slot-adjacent keywords, as well as generic casino search terms. While this means ranking for fewer keywords overall than William Hill and 32Red, Betfair has a higher individual keyword efficiency, which has enabled the brand to climb the rankings.
Multi-product operators expand igaming market dominance
The growing dominance of multi-vertical operators in the top 10 has, as previously mentioned, been visible across the igaming market during the first months of 2026. This is largely down to the sites in question having high experience, expertise, authority and trust (EEAT) scores in other areas and thus being positioned favourably in SERPs when they expand their keyword footprints, as we see with William Hill.
In addition, the casino dataset has seen an 80% increase in odds-based searches, often for specific events such as horseraces and football matches. This lends multi-vertical operators a natural advantage given they often specialise in these searches and their results. Bearing this in mind, gaming-only competitors such as 888casino and MrQ falling off the list is not the result of a loss in traffic but rather these competitors have simply stagnated and been overtaken in visibility.
Both have focused mostly on core casino keywords and thus been unable to take advantage of the growing interest in odds- and bonus-related searches. This is also true of Buzz Bingo, which has dropped out entirely as a result of keywords in its niche ranking even fewer and further between.
Not all multi-faceted operators, however, are benefitting from the surge in odds- and bonus-related searches. Ladbrokes and Paddy Power have both attempted to widen their footprints, but they lack focus on any particular set of keywords. Paddy Power has struggled to convert new breadth into traffic, consistently ranking between fourth and eighth in overall CTR tables and losing an estimated 10,000 clicks. NetBet, while having a strong mid-tier presence, also suffers from the same stagnation as 888 and MrQ.
In contrast, Grosvenor is unique in its successful retention of a core focus: unlike MrQ and 888casino, the Rank Group-owned casino operator has concentrated on high, core-keyword efficiency rather than expansion, with the result being that, while it may have missed the uptick in odds- and bonus-related searches, it was also well-protected against the downside.
New keywords reflect market changes and trends
In general, the online casino market is seeing growth, with more rankings on average for more keywords overall. The addition of several low-volume keywords increases the total keyword count in the dataset to over 900 from 260 in the second half of 2025.
The biggest changes seem to be the aforementioned surge in odds-related searches for certain sporting events, as well as an explosion in slots-related keywords and queries. The latter are heavily influenced by a significant increase in search terms such as ‘bonus’ and ‘free spins’, with the highest-ranking competitors for slots naturally able to capitalise on ‘spin’ queries.
We have also seen a significant decrease in money- (transactional) and brand-adjacent keyword searches, with consumers preferring informational terms such as ‘how to play blackjack’ or ‘football odds this week’. While these are the most significant gains, online blackjack growth continues steadily, if somewhat overshadowed by the slots boom, with roulette remaining further down the keyword ranks.
Here are three key takeaways from what we have seen in the casino market:
- Multi-vertical operators such as William Hill and Betfair are taking advantage of their high EEAT scores in other areas to successfully expand into the online casino sector and rank for a growing number of keywords.
- Balance is key; too much focus on one keyword subset can be perilous for visibility in a multi-vertical-dominated market, but broader keyword expansion must translate to a good click-through rate with a good choice of keywords.
- Slots and odds are the primary growth drivers, dominating volume and expansion potential, especially when combined with searches for bonuses as trends move away from money- and core casino-related keywords.
To find out more about how Stickyeyes could help your brand to establish and maintain organic growth in the casino market and beyond, please reach out to William Conboy, director of igaming at William.conboy@stickyeyes.com
The post Stickyeyes: Multi-vertical operators drive shakeup in growing casino sector first appeared on EGR Intel.
William Hill and Betfair leverage their high EEAT scores in other areas to successfully expand into icasino and rank for a growing number of keywords
The post Stickyeyes: Multi-vertical operators drive shakeup in growing casino sector first appeared on EGR Intel.