Esports tournament organiser BLAST has signed a multi-year global partnership with esports betting platform unikrn.
The multi-faceted deal will notably see unikrn partner with BLAST Premier and the BLAST.tv Paris Major, the latter of which is CS:GO’s final ever major.
unikrn and BLAST said they would collaborate on multiple activations, including broadcast integrations, social giveaways, physical and digital branding during BLAST Premier and the Major, as well as other ‘fan-led’ activations.
One of the broadcast integrations unikrn will be integrated into includes the ‘BLAST Picks’ segment, which sees the organiser’s broadcast team predict match winners. The betting platform will also gain branding across BLAST.tv PickEms, a challenge which sees the CS:GO community make their own match predictions.
In the announcement, unikrn highlighted that it aims to expand its global footprint through the BLAST partnership, alluding to the platform soon being available in other regions.
After relaunching its betting platform in Brazil and part of Canada in December 2022, unikrn already bolstered its commercial portfolio in February after teaming up with Team Liquid. Unikrn was acquired by sports-betting group Entain for £50m in August 2021.
Outside of CS:GO, BLAST has continued to bolster its scope of operations in 2023. Alongside hosting a CS:GO Major and tournament series, the company is partnering with Rainbow Six Siege and Fortnite for those titles’ respective competitive ecosystems.
Justin Dellario, unikrn’s CEO, commented on the deal: “BLAST is an epicentre of action for esports fans around the world and has produced some of the most memorable moments in the history of competitive Counter-Strike play.
“unikrn is built for these moments, when fans are looking for the deepest and best possible experience as they root on their favourite players and teams. We are thrilled to be BLAST’s partner, and to bring our world-class insights and betting opportunities to its millions of fans.”
