Where to look for references?

One of the most interesting things we’ve been working on lately is ticketing mechanics for football clubs.

Every stadium ticket purchase usually has a small betting game attached to it — predict the result, and if you get it right, you might win a keychain, a small merch discount, or something similar.

We’re now trying to rethink this experience for a few clubs.

And when we started looking for references, the best ones came not from sports teams… but from betting platforms like FanDuel or DraftKings.

It makes sense. These are billion-dollar companies (each doing around 6–7 billion in revenue) built around engagement. FanDuel alone has around 25 million active weekly users. The level of interaction is insane.

And here’s the lesson.

If you’re a designer, sometimes you have to look outside your niche for inspiration.

We don’t work in gambling or casinos — but we studied them anyway. Because if something is that engaging, there’s probably a reason.

Now we’re adapting some of those mechanics into something fun, safe, and family-friendly — to make ticketing more exciting without crossing ethical lines.

For designers, it’s a reminder: don’t stay in your lane.

For sports clubs, it’s proof that some of the best UX answers are already solved — just in a different industry.