Esports Gambling Report, March 2024: Thunderpick, 1win, GG.BET

March 2024 was a quieter month in the esports betting space. However, Thunderpick announced an esports tournament, as well as a partnership with HEROIC, 1win entered the esports tournament business and Oddin.gg partnered with Sportradar.

To keep you updated with the scene, Esports Insider has created a list of the top esports gambling-related stories for March. To find out more click the titles of the stories.

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Last year saw the esports industry undergo a period of course corrections, consolidations and harsh realities, a trend that is seemingly continuing in 2024. 

How did these economic climate changes affect one of the industry’s most lucrative and prosperous sectors — the betting realm? 

Last year saw the scene lose two prominent esports-focused bookmakers in Luckbox and unikrn. However, endemic bookmakers’ continued investment in the scene didn’t slow down, particularly with gambling companies like GG.BET, Thunderpick and Pinnacle launching unique events and tournaments, a trend that looks set to continue as 2024 ploughs on.

Esports betting services provider Oddin.gg has announced a partnership with sports technology company Sportradar.

The deal will see Oddin.gg provide Sportradar with esports content streams which will then be distributed to the company’s array of partners worldwide.

As a part of the partnership, Oddin.gg will provide Sportradar with access to streams of several notable esports tournaments and leagues. This includes the PGL Copenhagen Major 2024, Dacha Dota 2 qualifiers and main events, Dacha CS2 qualifiers and main events, and the Tipsport MCR 2024 CS tournament.

Esports crypto betting company Thunderpick and women-focused esports community platform the*gameHERs (Gamehers) have announced details surrounding an upcoming series of women’s CS2 tournaments.

The FemaLED Tournament will be a $5,000 (£3,940) CS2 event open for women-led teams. Notably, the series will offer a chance to qualify for the Thunderpick World Championship.

The tournament will offer the best team a chance to play in the Thunderpick World Championship 2024 North American Qualifiers. The World Championship is a recently-announced CS2 team with a $1m prize pool which will take place later this year.

Betting company 1win has announced earlier in March that it will host a series of esports tournaments, the first of which is a $100,000 (~£78,374) Dota 2 event.

The 1win Series Dota 2 Spring took place between March 16 and 19, and saw Indian esports organisation Entity win the event. Esports Insider covered the event.

The competition garnered a peak viewership of 64,589, which was recorded during the Team Spirit and Team Liquid match. Overall 1win Series Dota 2 Spring recorded over 850,000 hours watched across its 32-hour airtime.

Scandinavian esports organisation Heroic has announced a partnership with esports cryptocurrency betting platform Thunderpick.

According to the announcement, the multi-year deal will see Thunderpick become the Exclusive Global Betting Sponsor for all of Heroic’s rosters.

In addition to the Heroic CS2 team, Thunderpick will also be the official sponsor of its Dota 2 roster which was announced earlier this year and will compete at the upcoming ESL One Birmingham 2024. Heroic’s simulation racing roster will also be sponsored by Thunderpick.

Fast content has become a part of our daily lives in recent years. Whether it’s watching videos on social media or listening to soundbites from news sites, the way in which people consume information has changed drastically. iGaming has been no exception to this trend.

Since the pandemic, fast content quickly became the go-to for millennial and Gen Z bettors, many of whom are motivated by instant results. Customers want to be able to place a bet quickly and see the outcome of a game at record speeds.

Heading further into 2024, fast content is going to play an integral role in the development of the sports betting industry. BETER’s partners — Bet365, BetConstruct, FEG and Kaizen Gaming to name a few — are already using fast content to offer 24/7/365 content to iGaming audiences, with bettors gaining access to more than 35,000 events each month. Meanwhile, the operators are benefitting from a sustainable 7.5% margin. BETER truly believes that fast sports will continue to become a staple in any operator’s portfolio, with esports content also firmly ingrained into that offering.