The global esports scene is now worth billions of dollars, and the betting markets this has fueled are as equally as valuable, providing fertile ground for companies like DATA.BET.
Headquartered in Prague, DATA.BET provides sportsbook solutions such as odds feeds and risk management, covering both esports and traditional sports – with ambitions to step up its activity in the latter.
At the SBC Summit Lisbon, DATA.BET’s CEO, Yurii Berest, and Head of Sales, Otto Bonning, discussed the future of esports betting, and how the company is leveraging its experience of the fast paced vertical to build its foundations in traditional sports.
The future of betting, Berest believes, ‘is not about sports or esports, but is about mixing’. He added: “It’s about understanding player behaviour. It’s about building the system that shows you exactly what you expect to see at this very moment.
“This is what DATA Bet is about – AI tools, ranking models, precision models, providing customised content only for you, only at this moment.”
Betting on esports has been growing year-on-year, in sync with the wider exposure the sector has received, coupled with extensive commercial interest from media companies and other prospective business partners.
This betting engagement will only grow from here on out. But what trends do firms like DATA.BET see as shaping the future of esports betting? Bonning believes that an increase in ‘certain verticals’ within esports will be defining.
“The trends that we see is an increase in certain verticals within esports, certain sports within esports that are still growing quite a bit,” he told SBC in Lisbon. “I think esports in general is growing, it’s just not growing as fast as maybe we predicted three or four years ago, but there is steady growth for sure.
“I think now is a really good time for operators to get a good esports product in palace, to really drive the revenue for future success – because we see that younger generation coming into betting, who are much more esports focused players. I think it’s great timing to do it now.”