How to use this playbook

This is a toolkit, not an ebook. Each module is a working system: a framework to think with, a scorecard or audit to grade your current state, an SOP to run the process, a checklist so nothing gets missed, and a template you can copy and fill in. Several modules also include an AI workflow to automate the repetitive parts.

Use it three ways.

Diagnose: run the audits and scorecards against your current operation — they surface where you're leaking money, usually in registration-to-FTD and retention, not in top-of-funnel spend.

Build: use the frameworks and templates to design the systems you're missing.

Operate: hand the SOPs and checklists to your team so the process runs the same way every time.

Who this is for

Heads of Growth, UA managers, CMOs, performance marketers, CRM managers, and founders at casino operators, sportsbooks, sweepstakes and crypto casinos, and game providers.

It assumes you know the business. It won't explain what an FTD is. It'll show you how to move the number.

The six operating principles this is built on

1. Economics before tactics. No channel is good or bad — it's a payback period. You acquire against LTV, not CPA. A €200 CPA is cheap if the segment returns €600 net; a €40 CPA is a loss if the player churns after one deposit.
2. The funnel leaks in the middle, not the top. Most operators over-invest in acquisition and under-invest in registration-to-FTD and FTD-to-second-deposit. That's where the money is recovered.
3. Retention is the business. Acquisition fills the bucket; NGR is made in CRM, VIP, and reactivation. A 5-point lift in 90-day retention beats a 20% cut in CPA.
4. Compliance is a growth constraint, not a footnote. Your licence, payment rails, and ad accounts are existential. A tactic that risks any of the three is negative-EV no matter how well it converts.
5. Measure to the cohort, report to the executive. Operate on cohort LTV, payback curves, and segment retention. Report up in three numbers: CAC payback, NGR per active, and net revenue retention.
6. Repeatable beats clever. A documented average process run consistently beats a brilliant one that depends on a specific person being in the room.

The growth lifecycle this covers

Acquire: 1. Market Research, 2. Competitor Analysis, 3. User Acquisition, 4. Organic Growth, 5. Paid + Organic, 6. Creator Marketing.

Convert: 7. Landing Pages, 8. Conversion Optimisation, 9. Registration to First Deposit.

Monetise and retain: 10. CRM and Retention, 11. VIP Growth, 12. Reactivation.