The esports industry has undergone considerable growth over the last few years, and is showing no signs of slowing down, writes Daria Petrus, Business Development Manager at BetInvest Ltd.

Various reports from Newzoo, Statista and even BusinessInsider have shown that the market is blowing up with forecasts of a value over $1.5 billion by 2023.

Beyond the statistics, which are typically of interest to investors or the industry experts, a shift in mindset is becoming progressively more notable.

Initially considered as a subset of sport or the larger gaming division, esports has grown into a full industry in and of itself, with a vibrant ecosystem and a heavy presence in all corners of the globe.  Since it was one of the only betting markets to continue ‘as normal’ in 2020, people who never had neither interest nor experience in esports suddenly became extremely involved with it.

With interest in esports growing year-on-year, and the industry being valued at an increasingly significant amount of returns, operators have to acknowledge the importance of having a strong esports offering. This is only going to become more self-evident as time goes on. 

There are almost three billion esports enthusiasts around the world, but only a portion of those are classified as esports bettors. We believe that foresighted operators will consider enduring their business by targeting an excellent opportunity which lies within the gamer community. 

Esports won’t be just another sport on a sportsbook’s list – it will be a sole platform or differentiated brand to entice this utterly different audience. Products that work for sportsbooks today may get disrupted by new betting experiences that aren’t possible in traditional sports. 

Betting content is the core competence of BetInvest Ltd., alongside the sportsbook development and market entry strategies. Our team consists of world-class gambling veterans, which is why our product development is always based on thorough market research to make sure that the products we deliver are tailored to meet specific market requirements.

BetInvest Ltd. provides sports betting operators with a comprehensive eSports and eGames content solutions. These customer-centric, fast and innovative products offer an exciting form of entertainment that enhances customers’ enjoyment of esports and gaming. 

A significant part of our business is the extensive Esports Feed that covers all leading global titles and tournaments. We now provide over 12,500 events across 25 esports (both pre-match and in-play) with new disciplines and betting markets being added constantly. An API-integrated widget, along with the easy-to-use CMS, allow sports betting operators to set up an esports tab in no time.

With a number of esports events cancelled last year, many up-and-coming teams and players have struggled to achieve higher levels of competition. Esports may not have the same pyramid structure as many traditional sports, but it does view itself as a meritocracy. The best players do rise to the top. 

The well-run underdog teams also take the scalps of bigger-name teams and they rightly receive the appropriate rewards through funding or access to higher-profile tournaments. This process is key to delivering the best esports betting product in the long term. Competition should be fierce up and down the rankings and putting partnerships in place to help facilitate this is a major part of our strategy. 

Launching our eGames content solution has been an example of us doing just that. We wanted to provide sports betting operators with unique content. Assessing the results after more than two years, it’s clear that there’s a huge demand for this from a betting point of view. 

BetInvest Ltd. has partnered with two professional fast-growing esports leagues, whose players compete in the most popular sports simulators (eFootball, eBasketball, World Basketball, eHockey and eFighting). Being an exclusive broadcasting and trading distribution rights holder, we provide RTMP-streams for all of the leagues’ matches, ready to be transmitted to Twitch or any other platform.

By using Betinvest’s eGames content solution, our partners gain access to a unique back-office comprising full Event Feed alongside the Odds Calculator and detailed statistics. These features are available either within the web interface with no integration needed, or within the API-solution if required in the format of raw data.

The esports market is growing significantly, and the speed of growth does not reflect any massive shift in perspective in the next few years. Our plans for the sector include increasing the offering by creating more eGames products aimed to convert players from traditional sports and cross-industries, such as virtual games.