eSports
Spinola Gaming enters the eSports Lottery Sector
- Spinola Gaming gains new partners providing eSports-based lotteries for the LatAm market.
- With the ever-growing rise in eSports activity, operators are looking for new revenue streams to monetise their traffic.
Spinola Gaming, one of the leading authorities in lottery software announces the world’s first eSports-based and customizable lotteries. These products have gained interest in the LatAm and Asian markets, with LatAm eSports operators and suppliers already in discussion on integrating our new and updated eSports lottery platform for these regions. These eSports lottery products are built around integrating global lotteries, custom eSports based lottery products, digitised scratch cards, along with instant spin and win games, designed around eSports events and tournaments in perspective.
With player and viewership numbers increasing sharply around the key esport gaming titles, operators have seen a massive increase in new registrations. An article under H2 Gambling Capital, via iGB found that eSports betting saw an increase of over 60% in GGR in H1 of 2020, a considerable amount when compared to sportsbetting’s losses during this period.
Spinola Gaming envisions the eSports market to increase even further for the next 2-3 years, and the pandemic has very clearly acted as a catalyst for the eSports betting market. As seen in Business Insider most projections see the eSports ecosystem on track to surpass $1b, and while in terms of audience; APAC, North America and Europe are currently the top three eSports markets, although one of the fastest-rising regions is Latin America, which is expected to skyrocket to $42m by 2023.
Our product team, accompanied with the marketing department anticipated and discussed this situation in the final half of 2020, and designed a full lottery product suite which is applicable for eSports operators to design and launch lotteries during tournaments and games. Spinola Gaming’s custom lottery games gives all operators the ability to run their own fully customised jackpot games in the same, or similar formats as the world’s leading lotteries. With eSports, the jackpots available are fixed or progressive, and results are based on third party draws or the lottery supplier’s fully certified RNG.
Spinola Gaming’s lottery games can be implemented for one-off eSports promotions or for entire seasons to keep players engaged and returning week after week. Thomas Mahoney, COO of Spinola Gaming wants to express his future plans regarding this project, “The future of eSports is very likely to spill into mobile games, which will reduce barriers of entry, and allow even more games and gamers to come pouring in. Although lottery games are seen as one of the oldest types of gaming verticals, and eSports is considered one of the newest, we believe that both verticals can work hand in hand to provide the best experience possible for our clients’ players. We’ve seen great growth in LatAm from an online lottery perspective, and with all the indications showing eSports to grow rapidly there, I’d say LatAm, as a region is one to watch in 2021.”
Be Part of the Progress
Spinola Gaming has initiated the process of onboarding new clients across emerging markets in LatAm, Southeast Asia and Africa. Users within those countries will soon be discovering new ways to play their favourite jackpot and lottery games, in a virtual environment. Complementing these virtual lottery games, operators can now have access to instant win games, like digital scratch cards to provide to their users who believe online is the next step in lottery’s evolution.
eSports
CAPCOM’S STREET FIGHTERTM 6 GOING TO COLLEGE THIS FALL
- CSMG will create and operate College Street FighterTM Tour in North America for the 2024-25 academic year
- College conference Street Fighter 6 champions will punch their ticket to the national Collegiate Esports Commissioner’s Cup (CECC) & May Madness in 2025
eSports
R&D rethink needed for sportsbooks to harness esports’ power
Esports betting is still grappling with a perception problem amongst operators. Despite the leaps and bounds in product development made by suppliers – particularly in the last two years – esports hasn’t shaken off the image built in the late 2010s.
Our good friend, Oliver Niner, Head of Sales at PandaScore, has been kind to share the below article with us.
There’s scepticism around esports betting’s value, how well it can actually perform and what’s needed to make it appeal to bettors. A big part of that comes down to perception, which shapes the research and development (R&D) choices made by each operator.
Self-fulfilling prophecy?
Operators who have put the research and development (R&D) resources into esports are seeing excellent growth, while others are still treating it like part of a long tail. The lack of a uniform approach to esports often translates into hesitancy to be bullish and invest in esports.
Whereas in the United States, post-PASPA sports betting has exploded and operators are seeking to capture as much territory and market share as possible because in most cases, you switch the lights on and the money comes in. It’s, of course, good business sense to take opportunities like this – you can apply the same templates used elsewhere on an incredibly lucrative market.
This kind of approach has been attempted for esports and hasn’t found the same success. Granted, the legislation for betting on esports has been somewhat slower than that of sports betting and iGaming.
However, bullish operators have acknowledged the fact that esports hasn’t found the same success in regulated states and asked what can be done differently, while for others, esports has been thrown into the too-hard basket or relegated to the bargain bucket.
For the latter, the fate of the esports vertical becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy – especially if an operator already using a budget esports product that throttles its very growth.
It takes two to tango
When esports is discussed in broader betting circles, you’ll often hear different versions of the same talking point: the problem with esports is no one is doing it well, it doesn’t innovate.
This argument is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Esports is a driver of innovation, and it is sportsbook R&D that is holding it back.
Multiple suppliers on the market are investing significant resources into R&D, and bullish operators are leveraging these product innovations to acquire new customers and create engagements made for the internet age.
There are understandable reasons why sports betting doesn’t innovate. It’s largely because operators focus on acquisition, entering new territories and spending money on data rights. But the actual R&D on sportsbook products is left lacking, with ever-increasing cost-per-acquisition (CPA) numbers a clear symptom of this.
It means that if an operator does decide to use or acquire an esports specialist supplier but does little to cater its product and attempts to just lay the sports betting template over the top, of course performance will be throttled.
It’s like putting a Ferrari engine in a Prius – no offence to Toyota or Prius owners.
The same problem exists on the platform supplier front. Platforms are understandably focused on compliance and getting customers live, not necessarily improving models or their products.
Even the idea that if you just acquire an innovative company the problem is solved or you have found the solution, doesn’t hold water. In many cases, the company is acquired and plenty of noise is made about it, but there’s little organisational investment in R&D afterwards.
It’s not just in esports
These problems extend to customer acquisition and marketing for most emerging markets, not just esports. There’s a rush to use the same old playbook in newer sectors because it’s easy.
The fantasy vs. house sector in the US is already experiencing an acquisition arms race. As analyst Dustin Gouker points out, deposit match bonuses for new users on fantasy vs house products have jumped from $100 to as high as $500 in some places.
This is the same race that played out in sports betting and despite the costs, there’s little effort from most operators to try something different. There’s less work when you just put the same acquisition template on an emerging sector and call it a day. This seems to be an accepted practice in the industry, for better or for worse.
Esports betting success requires ongoing dialogue
Rather than attempting to wedge esports into hegemonic sportsbook approaches, sportsbooks need to take a completely unique approach.
The fact is the betting sector has barely scratched the surface – communities of esports fans are still dormant. Canadian operator Rivalry has built a successful, esports-first business by embracing the ever-changing internet culture that esports inhabits. French esports organisation Karmine Corp recently sold out a 30,000-person stadium for an event with no prize money up for grabs.
Innovative products developed on the supplier side like microbetting and betbuilders are only half of the equation.
Maximising esports revenues requires institutional investment, ongoing R&D and collaboration between suppliers and operators to create products and experiences. This includes having staff on the operator side that can drive and push the product further, and crucially, rethinking current sportsbook strategies and practices.
Building experiences for betting’s greatest emerging market – one that caters to your future core audience – takes investment, innovation and a willingness to experiment. If the industry wants to make the most of the Millennial and Gen Z audience that will become its primary customers, investment into R&D and close collaboration between suppliers and operators is needed. Many hands makes light work.
eSports
North Star Network Acquires Um Dois Esportes
North Star Network has acquired Um Dois Esportes, a sports coverage and analysis site created from the merger of Gazeta Do Povo and Tribuna do Paraná in 2020.
Julien Josset, co-founder of North Star Network, said: “Thank you to the team at GRPCOM for their faith in us to take the brand forward. Um Dois Esportes is an established and renowned site in Paraná State, and we’re excited about the challenge of developing this asset.
“We’re happy to maintain the collaboration with the existing editorial team, and look forward to working with them, bringing our unique NSN approach, to take UDE forward.”
NSN’s signing of Um Dois Esportes is the media house’s fourth acquisition of 2024, following the recent deals to purchase UK-based SportsMole and MrFixitsTips, as well as Chilean site AlAireLibre, which was announced in March.
The latest addition to the North Star media portfolio joins existing assets including Top Mercato, Afrik-Foot, and Vringe. The Paris-based company already oversees a significant Brazilian operation, delivering over 6 million sessions per month, from the likes of Trivela, Premier League Brasil and Lakers Brasil.
NSN will retain Curitiba-based journalists from the Um Dois Esportes legacy team to maintain the asset’s unique tone and popular coverage of the Paraná sports scene across site and social.
Rafael Mello, Director of GRPCOM, said: “We were surprised by the interest, and initially had no intention of selling Um Dois, but as the conversations evolved, we realised this was a serious group with good intentions. We were very happy to see our project being valued by a large international group and going global, demonstrating the quality of the content we produced.
“We’re also proud that North Star inherited our journalists, who are truly responsible for the success of the product we offer readers every day.”
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