´Malta-The esports opportunity´conference analyzed games, markets and platforms in times of COVID-19

Esports has been the subject of much chatter for a number of years now. However, organizers say that, in the last few months, there has been a meteoric rise of ‘unpopular kid’s’ to the forefront of leaders across the industry.

While sports could not continue due to COVID-19, esports excelled, though where does the story lead from here? Will innovation in esports markets, platforms and initiatives continue to grow? Will it be key for ensuring LTV and acquisitions as the world slowly returns to normal?

Speakers were: Eirik Kristiansen, CEO Pixelbet, Adam Savinson, Head of Esports Win Technologies Betway Group, Stepan Shulga, Head of Esports, Parimatch. Moderator was Sam Cooke, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Esports Insider.

The talk treated issues like: marketing strategy, players' profile, customer education for the new gambling trends, among other themes.

Savinson: "Betway has been very active in e-sports for around five years and has sponsored multiple sports teams," he said. When asked about the pandemics," he expressed: "The reality is that e-sports has always been a master focus for Betway", and assured that the firm is putting a lot of marketing effort to be the market leaders for their audience, and added that the situation has been a massive opportunity for the firm.

Shulga: "We found a lot of interest in e-sports games", he said. And noted that people under 24 made a switch from e-games to e- sports more efficiently than older people, because they understand what e-sports are. "As people are pushed to be in the lockdown, they make a bit more bets than before."

Kristiansen: "In this situation in which sports have been suspended for an extended period,  has been beneficial for our brand. We didn't really see a great increase in the average betting pattern of individual players. We saw more organic players coming to the site looking to bet on e-sports. For us is a clear optic month on month is growing. It has been clear that with the lockdown a lot more people have been exposed to e-sports, for different reasons."