DATA.BET will mark its official launch at this week’s ICE London by supplying the official data for a $250,000 CS:GO tournament played out at the ExCeL, produced in partnership with GG.Bet and streamed to an online global audience in excess of five million.
We caught up with DATA.BET’s Chief Business Development Officer Tetyana Pshevlotska (pictured above) for more on the launch and the thinking behind the on-site tournament, as well as her plans for increasing the company’s data coverage to match the pace of growth for the global esports market.
SBC: First up, congratulations on the launch last week. Can you give us a bit of background as to what it is you do?
TP: Thank you! After some fantastic work from our team, we’re delighted to go live in time for ICE. As a team of dedicated esports fans, launching DATA.BET has been a dream come true.
DATA.BET is an esports data solutions provider; which means we offer operators (and others) live data for esports tournaments, as well as products and services based on this provision of data.
The fascinating thing about our niche vertical is its unique audience. We’re dealing with a very different community when it comes to viewership and community support, so authenticity is absolutely crucial – we take our role very seriously as one of the leading providers to prevent abusive behaviour and improperly set odds.
Alongside, we also offer managed trading services via our in-house team which covers the full spectrum of the esports market, as well as our main showpiece: our proprietary plug-in sportsbook.
Designed to be integrated alongside our partner’s existing sportsbook operations and with seamless wallet integration, we give our partners complete control over their brand, customer management and operations – as well as offering unparalleled odds and risk management.
SBC: This year’s ICE Esports tournament is set to be the largest the industry has seen; what’s the thinking behind it?
TP: This is the second year we’re helping organise ICE’s esports tournament, as the last year was under the umbrella of the GG.BET brand that we are part of. A year on, and we’re seeing esports picking up at an exponential pace, so it made perfect sense to expand the tournament to reflect its massive growth.
In terms of size, we’ve doubled the number of teams and also significantly increased the prize pool to keep the momentum going. Given last year’s interest at ICE for a smaller scale tournament, I can’t wait to see how much excitement is going to come around this year; esports has fantastic potential for the entire gaming industry – and we’re delighted to be propelling it into the centre of conversation.
SBC: Can you give us a rundown of the teams?
TP: In the spirit of ICE’s landmark positioning in the industry, we’ve invited eight world-class CS:GO (Counter Strike: General Ops) teams to take part: Virtus.pro, Heroic, Natus Vincere, ENCE, GODSENT, mousesports, MAD Lions and OG. As serious esports fans ourselves, we’re delighted to have them aboard. They’re going to be a great calling card for what’s possible with esports, and we’re looking forward to an action-packed few days!
SBC: Looking to the future; how big do you predict the esports market to be?
TP: The global esports market is growing at an astonishingly fast rate. So much so that it’s even outpacing our expectations! 2019 saw a viewership of more than half a billion individuals, as well as generating revenue in excess of $1.1 billion – which is unprecedented in terms of growth.
Betting on esports is also getting in on the action, and fast – even the most conservative estimates expect total wagers to reach $12bn by the close of 2020. The speed at which it’s happening is creating untold opportunities for stakeholders – and we’re in for an exciting ride over the next decade.
SBC: What is your message to operators looking to add esports to their offering? What are they missing out on?
TP: Just like with anything new – there are plenty of advantages; but also challenges. There’s no question that esports offers fantastic benefits for those operators who get in fast. However, it’s also unique in that comprehensive expertise is required to integrate it into existing sportsbook operations, especially when it comes to offering profitable trading lines.
We’ve put a significant portion of our resources into ensuring we can tailor our offering with surgical precision for each of our operator partners, as well as adjusting our delivery to those new to esports and the ones already offering betting with a significant amount of experience.
SBC: Where does Data.Bet plan to be this time next year?
TP: We want to grow as fast as the industry! I’m incredibly excited about our potential – and at this point, we have a fantastic open range to develop a vertical still in its relative infancy. By this time next year, I want to see us expanding our live coverage services, time to market and of course – see us learning our lessons from deploying our latest products and adapting them to each market.
