ICE North America Digital - Day 2 ICE NA Digital Event Guide - Day 2-v6 | Page 18

“The increased emphasis is expected to spark
greater growth of the vertical to encompass a
more diversified offering that has wider appeal.
At this time, some will ask if operators have the
infrastructure to cope with increasing volumes,
and it is important to work with partners to expand
capacity.” from a number of National Basketball Association
franchises will compete against one another, is even
airing on ESPN.
ESPORTS EMERGES This continues a range of F2P contests run for
partners such as Kindred Group and FanDuel over
the past year.
As part of this more diversified offering, it appears
that esports has an opportunity to emerge and
establish itself as a core product. While a big part of
its appeal has been LAN-based events, competitors
can still do battle online, meaning its schedule of
matches and tournaments has not ground to a halt
in the same way as traditional sports.
It already attracts huge audiences—of up to
60 million people according to Ultraplay chief
executive Mario Ovcharov—and is increasingly
featured alongside traditional sports in operators’
portfolios.
O’Loughlin notes that esports betting has grown
“exponentially” in recent weeks.
“It’s a fascinating development given how the
vertical’s potential has been talked about for years,”
he says. “It appears now is the time that players are
familiarizing themselves with the concept of betting
on competitions between gamers.
Mark Balch, head of product and partnerships for
Bayes Esports Solutions, a joint venture between
Sportradar and esports solutions provider Bayes
Holding, says the business is looking to ramp up
coverage to fill the void left by traditional sports.
“With more people at home, there has been a
noticeable increase in day-to-day esports events
overall,” Balch says. “There are more unplanned
tournaments and opportunities for us to provide the
corresponding data to our customers.”
Traditional sports clubs have been quick to jump
on esports, with competitions between players on
console titles such as FIFA in Europe, and NBA2K
in the US. An NBA2K tournament, in which players
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Free-to-play (F2P) sports contest provider
SportCaller has already looked to tap into this
event with a bracket predictor game, launched for
the GVC-MGM Resorts joint venture Roar Digital’s
BetMGM brand. A proposition betting game has
also been rolled out with FanDuel.
“Primarily, those experiences came via first-person
shooters such as Quake and CS:GO, but no doubt
the use of esport events for our prediction games is
driving a significant surge,” SportCaller managing
director Cillian Barry says. “In fact, with many of our
clients now using our question-based templates to
create and run such games, esports evangelists are
being fashioned from some once-cagey audiences!
“It’s an emerging trend on which we plan to
capitalize.”
But to add the betting element means an additional
layer of complication, Balch warns. First, there is
the issue of legality in the US. New Jersey currently
only allows operators to accept bets on esports
competitions with approval from the Division of
Gaming Enforcement on a case-by-case basis.
A bill to add esports to the approved sportsbook
markets was filed by Representative Ralph Caputo
in January but only passed the Assembly Tourism,
Gaming and the Arts Committee on 5 March. In
Nevada, the Gaming Control Board is steadily
approving betting on more competitions, but again
on a case-by-case basis.
Furthermore, Balch adds, Bayes must make sure
the competitions it covers are legitimate, and don’t
pose integrity threats to its operator clients.
“So, in a situation like this, where you have a lot
of newcomers involved, it’s paramount for us to
conduct in-depth research constantly to ensure the
data we’re providing is impeccable,” he says.
Furthermore, while at least a percentage of the (up