Esports boom
JUST THE BEGINNING: RTSMUNITY ON THE FUTURE FOR ESPORTS BETTING ONDŘEJ ŠILHAVÝ FROM RTSMUNITY looks at the future
for esports - an “anchor” for operators amid the chaos of 2020 - and highlights some impressive numbers for fans reached, betting revenues and profit margins
T
his year has been nothing but ordinary. We feel it in all aspects of our lives. But when we look at our industry, 2020 has been tremendous for esports betting. Among all the chaos and uncertainty, esports betting has been the solid anchor for many operators, providing them with a revenue stream they can rely on. But looking forward, what can we expect from esports? Is the growth sustainable? Where can we see esports in the next few years? Let’s have a closer look at the data. $14 billion, that is the key number for 2020. According to a study published by consumer research giant 2CV and market researcher ProdegeMR, the esports betting market will be doubling 2019’s revenue figure of $7 billion. Now it’s fair to say that the situation in 2020 has been anything but standard. The lockdowns and cancellations of leagues damaged traditional sports, while esports were able to switch to online mode. That gave esports an incredible opportunity to catch the attention of all sports betting operators. To some degree, that definitely happened, but many of them still see esports as a low tier market, and they are not sure if it is worth their time. There are two main reasons for this uncertainty. The first one is a lack of clear vision around esports and betting for the next two to four years. The second one is the fact that operators have a poor esports product to begin with. This creates an endless loop of refusing to improve esports product due to low interest from customers,
18 SBC MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2020
which is based on the low quality of the product as such. To expect customers to move to esports betting when there are operators like STS or Parimatch who already offer great esports, is naive.
THE LOCKDOWN GAVE ESPORTS AN INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY TO CATCH THE ATTENTION OF ALL SPORTS BETTING OPERATORS The good news? It does not take any significant upfront investment to go big with esports. Most of the solid esports providers work on revenue share model, so once operators commit to integration which is usually free, they can get the
Source: H2 Gambling Capital (https://h2gc.com)
product up to date and compete with the best in the business. The keyword here is commitment. In order for operators to show any commitment, they need to have a vision. So where are esports and respective betting market heading? Let’s have a look at the data presented by H2 Gambling Capital earlier this year. The GGR generated by esports betting is expected to reach $862mil, which would represent 3.2% of global GGR. That means esports in the TOP FIVE betting sports worldwide. When we look at what the industry experts are saying, this estimation from H2 Gambling Capital can look conservative. Stepan Shulga, Head of Esports at Parimatch, said in an interview with iGaming Times: “Our expectations are to see esports in the top three games in terms of turnover by 2021.” Will that happen? Nothing is certain today, but based on the data we see today, esports are on the way there, sooner or later. Looking at the market from an operator’s point of view, it does not matter how big the pie is if I can’t get