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With the announcement of a brand new CS:GO title to maintain the popularity of the game, we spoke to Ivan Sazanov (Project Coordinator at BETBY) to learn more about the importance of esports in the strategy of the brand.
What is the importance of esports to your brand?
There is no way that gambling brands can have a sportsbook with a competitive offering and not offer esports.
Brands should also take advantage of the growing popularity of esports and create content that will improve their product portfolio.
Esports are a major part of our modern sportsbook. BETBY’s full-featured product suite is designed to meet the needs of a diverse audience for esports. It currently contains about 20 sports including mobile games such as Mobile Legends and Wild Rift alongside classics like Starcraft III and Warcraft III.
To be able to offer esports that is high quality and appealing to users, an esports package must include more than just the most popular titles, such as CS:GO Dota 2, League Of Legends FIFA, Overwatch, and Dota 2. BETBY, in order to strengthen and broaden the esports offer, created Betby.Games – a proprietary offering.
The AI in this collection organizes tournaments for popular sports like Football, Cricket and Basketball. Betby.Games’ popular gaming titles are controlled entirely by AI. This eliminates the need for human interaction in order to maintain tournaments. This ensures the longevity of our collection and makes it an important asset for our sportsbook.
Has the perception about esports changed over time?
I believe it is fair to say esports have evolved from a niche industry into a competitive and strong industry.
The budgets for the largest esports events, the size of the audiences, the amount of broadcast coverage and other indicators continue to increase from year to year.
One thing is important. As esports grew in popularity, the audience of esports was continually replenished by young people. As they grew older, the audience continued to play these games.
This following has made the esports industry more reliable financially and solvent.
Esports betting is no longer perceived as a low-profit activity. Online bookmakers who are experienced understand that the likelihood of a user signing up for their sportsbook depends on the quality of the esports content.
What future developments are you expecting in esports betting
Esports will continue to grow in terms of both the number of bets placed and the total turnover compared to other sports. Esports is already a major part of the betting market, but will continue to grow.
I anticipate that technological advances will make esports a more professional and sought-after form of online gambling.
It could include agreements with additional data operators that would enable real-time trades without delay. This is a major obstacle to making esports more appealing to players.
Even though it’s common for people to wager on “Player Props” in popular tournaments, the market size of esports does not reach that of classic sporting events.
There is a lot of information within the games that can be used in order to create unique markets. The first company to implement this successfully will be able to make a big splash in the esports industry.
The global community has shown a lot of interest in CS:GO 2. The release of a new and updated version in this popular series is not only going to attract new viewers and players, but will also bring back old ones. This will increase the demand on the market.
We anticipate an increase in semi-professional teams and tournaments that are not created to create interest but rather to profit from dishonesty and ensure matchups are competitive.
It is a common occurrence, and both tournament organizers and risk management departments at betting companies will need to pay more attention in order to curb this type of activity.
Does your in-house product allow you to stand out on the market?
The Betby.Games that we developed during the pandemic is our competitive advantage.
Despite predictions that the traffic of the channel would decline with the return to real sports and the relevance of the content would diminish, the channel continues to grow and attract a growing audience. Its flexibility and customer-oriented attitude are largely responsible for this.
Betby.Games is now a standalone product that has become a popular part of our sportsbook. It generates a lot of traffic and is a great benefit to both our customers, who use the entire sportsbook, as well as to companies that are not BETBY. Betby.Games provides its product to them.
What do operators need to know in order to convince them that the gap between sports bettors who bet on traditional sports and esports betting can be closed?
I think that CS:GO betting and soccer betting are almost the same.
The Super Bowl and The International, the final tournament of the Dota 2 Circuit, will draw millions of viewers from around the globe. You must find a way to appeal to the audiences of both events.
To attract players and compete with other betting firms, an operator must offer a quality offering of both traditional sports and esports.
Numbers don’t lie. Esports has already taken a large share of the betting market. Bookmakers who do not pay attention to their esports product are already losing money and will find it more difficult to compete in future.
