The momentum the esports gambling sector created in 2022 looks set to continue this year, at least that is what January’s developments show. With data deals taking centre stage, January’s round-up also features multifaceted partnerships, agreements with local esports teams and major personnel stories.
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Spotlighted story:
Evgeniy Bekker, Esports General Manager for betting content and odds provider BETER, discusses why CS:GO has continued to show signs of growth and development as a game, esport and betting offering.
Brazilian esports organisation RED Canids has secured a one-year partnership with esports and sports betting company Rivalry.
The agreement will be centred around RED Canids’ CS:GO roster and fanbase, with the two parties collaborating on various physical and digital campaigns. One of the activations already announced includes a 12-episode documentary that highlights RED Canids’ professional players.
Stattrak, a fantasy esports company that utilises bitcoin, has expanded its product to launch a web platform, as well as add more titles, tournaments and a new game mode.
The expansion is due to a continued partnership between Stattrak and FinTech payment processor ZEBEDEE. Originally, Stattrak started out as a mobile app in 2022 that allowed users to create fantasy teams in professional League of Legends and CS:GO esports tournaments.
Game data company GRID has expanded its partnership with tournament organiser PGL to become the official game data partner of three Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) regions in 2023.
The data rights deal will include the DPC regions of North America, West Europe and China. According to the release, GRID will fully own the rights to DPC data to provide integrity services, data security services and an additional monetisation channel for the circuit.
Asian betting company M88 Mansion has partnered with Vietnamese esports organisation 335CauGiay (335CG).
M88 Mansion has become the biggest sponsor of the esports team with 335CG announcing that it plans to use M88’s reach to further increase its digital presence. 335CG is a small-scale Vietnamese esports organisation that mainly focuses on CS:GO. The team was founded in 2020 and has primarily found success at the regional level.
German esports data company Bayes Esports has strengthened its C-Level management team by bringing in York Scheunemann, formerly of Google, as its new Chief Operating Officer.
In his new role, Scheunemann will be responsible for accelerating the growth of Bayes. This includes leading its sales, marketing, communication, and people & culture activations. Scheunemann has accumulated over 20 years of management experience in digital business with a focus on sales, digital education and business development.
Thomas Rosander, the CEO of esports betting platform Luckbox, has claimed that the company is on track to be profitable in 2023 following its growth last year.
In an announcement to shareholders, Rosander stated that the company’s shift to its player acquisition phase in October helped Luckbox go from a virtual ‘standing start’ in Q3 2022 to recording CAD$3m (~£1.84m) in betting handle by the end of Q4.
Betting and gaming solutions provider BETER has expanded its esports portfolio by including Dota 2 tournaments.
The events will be created through the company’s own in-house tournament brand ESportsBattle. According to the release, each event will run for 11 days, with five teams consisting of five 7,000-8,000 MMR members.
Former Esports Entertainment Group CEO Grant Johnson has filed a lawsuit against his former company for alleged breach of contract.
According to court documents from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Johnson is suing for damages that equate to over $3m (~£2.45m). The documents claim that the esports betting and entertainment company terminated Johnson’s contract “for contrived reasons” that did not justify ‘for cause’, and has failed to pay contractually-agreed wages, bonuses and severance.
Esports betting data provider DATA.BET has secured a partnership with esports data supplier Bayes Esports.
The partnership will see DATA.BET secure official live game data provided by Bayes Esports. Moreover, the company will use the data to improve the services DATA.BET offers to clients. Bayes Esports is a company that specialises in gathering and providing esports data. Bayes Esports has secured a number of important partnerships in the past, which includes deals with the likes of ESL Gaming and Riot Games.