The prospect of mobile esports betting
Sharpr is a weekly newsletter covering the intersection of esports and betting
Hi everyone, Cody here.
It’s been a slower week in the esports betting sector compared to last month’s industry shakeups, which saw several billion dollar video game publisher and esports acquisitions.
Let’s waste no time and jump right into this week’s action.
In this week’s edition of Sharper…
The prospect of mobile esports betting
Rivalry secures a pair of sports betting licenses
Latest headlines and data
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The prospect of mobile esports betting
Mobile gaming has become the fastest-growing game platform, and stakeholders are taking notice as they believe it may make a case for itself in the world of bookmaking this year.
The accessibility and distribution of mobile gaming is considerably higher than that of its pricey counterparts: PC gaming and consoles. Mobile provides a much lower barrier of entry for gaming, and as a result, is able to bring more fans into the fold as both participants and viewers.
The combination has seen mobile gaming explode in rural parts of Southeast Asia and Latin America such as India, Indonesia, and Brazil, respectively, where popular titles such as PUBG Mobile and Free Fire can be played on as little as a 3G connection. All in all, these low technological barriers greatly increase the scalability of mobile games and the amount of people that can play them.
Though mobile esports may be a scarce piece of operators’ books, there’s reason to believe this area could grow to account for a worthwhile share of the esports handle in the future based on its popularity alone.
Mobile games accounted for 52% of global games revenue in 2021, according to Newzoo’s 2021 Global Mobile Gamers Whitepaper.
In May, the Free Fire World Series courted a peak concurrent viewership of 5.4 million, the highest-ever recorded for an esports match, according to Statista.
PUBG Mobile World Championship 2021 topped the most-watched list of esports events in July with over 1 million viewers tuning in, roughly 200K more than one of Counter-Strike’s biggest tournaments, IEM Cologne.
Southeast Asia is emerging as a leader in mobile esports, where 87% of the region’s gamers play on mobile phones, compared to about 60% in North America and Europe, per ONE Esports data.
Despite the impressive size of mobile gaming’s audience, these titles still fail to stand up to the likes of Counter-Strike, Dota 2, and League of Legends, which still control a majority of the esports betting market share. As with the broader esports betting category as compared to the juggernaut of traditional sports today, there needs to be a compelling demand to bring mobile esports products to sportsbooks in order for them to be worthwhile – and that doesn’t seem entirely evident just yet.
Mobile esports markets will be more commonplace on esports-first sportsbooks like Rivalry, for example, which offers an array of mobile titles including PUBG Mobile, King of Glory, Free Fire, Mobile Legends Bang Bang, and Call of Duty: Mobile. Rivalry CEO Steven Salz is optimistic on the emerging vertical, suggesting 2022 will be the “first real breakout year” for mobile esports wagering:
“We expect oddsmaking to really improve here and the offering to see massive growth. The volume of mobile players and mobile esports fans is shocking, even to esports industry enthusiasts who are familiar with the space. More developing markets like South America, Southeast Asia, and India have extremely young populations, all with mobile phones, and internet – and that's all it takes to compete. This massively levels the playing field and by sheer force of volume of people is going to be something that is tough to ignore.”
UNLV International Gaming Institute Director of Research Brett Abarbanel, who is also a member of Nevada’s Esports Technical Advisory Committee, is also bullish on the category, suggesting that mobile esports offers significant platform integration opportunities in regards to betting:
“Mobile esports has been such a mainstay of the esports scene in Southeast Asia, and I think 2022 will finally be the year that we see this show up in a big way in the West. Mobile esports offers so much opportunity for overlap with betting, particularly with the ease of platform integration. If you’re already engaged with your mobile device, you’re primed to be engaged in betting on the same device.”
Rivalry secures sports betting licenses in Ontario, Australia
Esports-first sportsbook and media company Rivalry has been awarded a pair of bookmaking licenses to operate in Ontario and Australia.
Canadian regulators announced last week the launch of online sports betting in Ontario, set to commence on April 4. On Feb. 4, the Toronto-based operator announced the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) had approved its application, but will continue to work with iGaming Ontario to round up procedural requirements. Rivalry will join the likes of PointsBet and theScore as the first few registered online operators. There are at least 30 applicants working with AGCO on licenses in Ontario, per Legal Sports Report.
Single-event sports betting is a $14 billion industry in Canada.
Gambling research firm Eilers & Krejcik estimates Ontario sportsbooks could generate up to $450M in sports betting revenue in 2022.
On Feb. 4, Rivalry followed up on news of its hometown betting license with the approval of its sports bookmaker license by the Northern Territory Racing Commission, allowing the company to operate throughout the entirety of Australia. Rivalry noted that Australia will act as its first fully regulated market in which it is licensed to operate in, and that these markets represent “a key element of the company’s growth strategy.” The operator intends to launch its product to Australian consumers in the coming weeks.
Rivalry is publicly traded on the TSX Venture Exchange, and will report its Q4 2021 earnings on Feb. 15.
🗞 In the news
Russian bookmaker BetBoom has enlisted Oddin as its esports data provider.
More than 100 million Americans will have the opportunity to legally wager on the Super Bowl this weekend.
Bengals 34, Rams 31 is now FanDuel’s most-bet exact score prop for the Super Bowl, thanks to a photoshopped Simpsons meme.
📈 By the numbers
Sports betting and casino solutions provider Uplatform cited a 170% increase in esports betting in 2021.
New York handled more than $1.62 billion in wagers its first month of legal sports betting, beating the single-month record for any state.
Research from Fnatic and Nielsen suggest 68% of global esports fans are under the age of 35.
🃏 The lines
Call of Duty League: Boston Breach (1.28) vs. Paris Legion (3.35)
Call of Duty League: Toronto Ultra (1.18) vs. LA Guerillas (4.25)
Rainbow Six Invitational: MIBR (2.30) vs. Navi (1.55)
Contact us
Have a tip, or want to just get in touch?
Reach me directly at Cody.Luongo@wagers.com or on Twitter: @Luongo_Pro