Latest News

As eSports become more popular, time for the industry to get real about security

Published

5 years ago

July 26, 2021

Police in Ukraine recently seized 3,800 PlayStation 4 consoles, which currently retail for around 290 each, and found to their surprise that the operation wasn’t mining cryptocurrency as they assumed but was in fact being used to generate content packs for FIFA Ultimate Team, a popular game mode in the FIFA football series.

The raid and its results underline a fact that may escape more traditionally minded members of the gaming community: eSports is a major industry, and like any industry it is susceptible to fraud. The fact that the games themselves take place virtually is irrelevant to fraudsters who can use the familiar toolkit of multi-accounting, bonus abuse and affiliate fraud to earn thousands.

With many sports teams unable to play throughout much of 2020 and 2021, eSports grew massively. League Championship Series (LCS), one of the largest eSports leagues, became the third most viewed professional sports league amongst 18-34 year olds in the U.S and has retained its corporate sponsors at a time when other leagues were shut down. Success stories like these are blunted by how pervasive eSports fraud is,

So, what kinds of fraud are taking place in eSports, what is it costing eSports organizations and what can be done to stop it?

What kinds of fraud are possible in eSports?

eSports attracts very similar types of fraud to regular sports betting, including:

Bonus Abuse: Like other sports betting companies, eSports companies often give sign-up bonuses such as free bets to new players. By coding automated systems, a fraudster can sign up to hundreds of accounts and use the free bets to win real money. This can cost gaming companies up to 15% of their revenue.
Multi-accounting: Similarly, a fraudster can use multiple accounts to perform other types of fraud, such as matched betting, ‘smurfing’ or arbitrage of affiliate fraud.
Affiliate Fraud: Those eSports betting organizations that draw in some of their new players from affiliates are vulnerable to affiliate fraud in which an affiliate creates fake accounts to gain the pay-out.
Account takeover: Using lists of passwords from data breaches, keyloggers or phishing a fraudster can gain access to a player’s account and drain their funds.
Chargeback fraud: A player, who may be a legitimate gamer and not a professional fraudster, initiates a chargeback on a transaction. This is common in gaming when gamblers regret a bad bet and claim that their account was hacked.

The costs of eSports fraud

Fraud costs have a way of snowballing, with each $1 lost through fraud actually costing companies $3. The above techniques are hardly equivalent to the major data breaches of major banking and tech companies that cost on average $3.86 million, but the constant barrage of low-level frauds can soon drain your company’s security budget. Aside from the cost of the fraud itself, there are a number of hidden costs such as:

Chargeback losses: Investigating and disputing chargebacks will take up your risk team’s time, leaving them little time for more valuable activities. More worryingly, a company with a large number of chargebacks is likely to find it difficult securing credit or loans. Visa and Mastercard’s resolution processes are making things even more difficult for merchants, so you are likely to lose even more.
Affiliate budget waste: You could be paying for useless clicks from bot networks rather than legitimate customers, wasting your marketing budget and reducing overall ROI.
Reputational damage: Once word of mouth spreads about customers losing the entire bank accounts to account takeovers it will not be long until players start deserting your site.
Regulatory fines: The regulations around eSports are not as stringent as with other sports betting, but it will not be long before they catch up. With the industry growing it will not be long before countries put regulations in place to protect players, and without stringent security your company could be fined.

The solutions

You will notice that the majority of the types of fraud common in eSports have to do with fake accounts. These are easy for fraudsters to create using the wealth of publicly available data and leaked information, but fortunately artificial intelligence-based tools have been developed that allow companies to spot synthetic identities.

Through device fingerprinting, email profiling and IP analysis a complete picture of a new signup to your site can be created, allowing software to spot the tell-tale signs of a hastily created account. For example, it could find that an email address does not match any social accounts, or that they use VPNs and data centers to conceal their IP address.

Of course, a sophisticated fraudster could create a convincing fake identity, especially with the wealth of information available from data dumps, so modern technology can also spot the use of pre-paid credit cards or even the speed with which information is entered, which could indicate it is being filled in automatically by a script.

By combining data points from a large and ever-growing set a system can determine whether it is likely that any given new account is fraudulent. For the many cases in which it will not be fully clear whether an account is authentic or not adaptive Know Your Customer checks can be used – customers with several red flags will be given full tests to determine their identity whereas other customers will have less obtrusive tests for a smoother site experience.

eSports has gone from a niche concern to an Olympic sport in a few short years, and that success is going to attract fraud, so it is vital for the industry to pre-emptively defend against fraud by adopting the very highest levels of security.

To learn more, visit: https://seon.io/

Related Topics:eSports latest-news PlayStation 4

Up Next

SOFTSWISS Signs Content Agreement with Blueprint Gaming

Don't Miss

Salsa flying high after Pipa Games deal

Latest News

N1 Partners Drops Prediction Markets Vertical — Expand Your Traffic Strategy!

Published

53 minutes ago

May 20, 2026

Wladimir P.

n1-partners-drops-prediction-markets-vertical-—-expand-your-traffic-strategy!

N1 Partners team has launched a new Prediction Markets vertical on the N1 Bet product, which is a new betting format for real events with simple yes/no mechanics. This is the first and so far the only SOFTSWISS product that works with this niche.

This vertical opens up expanded opportunities for partners: it provides access to a fresh audience, and also allows you to monetize and scale traffic from various sources — from politics and finance to entertainment and show business — as efficiently as possible.

What is the real benefit for partners and how does it work? Read all about the Prediction Markets vertical in the article.

Prediction Markets vertical: what is it?

Prediction Markets is a unique betting format for real non-sporting events, where the user chooses “yes” or “no” to the potential event outcome (for example, elections, the Eurovision Contest, the Oscar Awards).

Users can bet on topics in the following areas:

politics (elections, geopolitical events)
cryptocurrencies and financial markets
technology and business
social trends and global narratives
entertainment and show business

The format is as simple as possible, does not require experience and knowledge in classic betting, therefore it may be of interest to a wide audience.

Why is the Prediction Markets format worth a test?

It is crucial to note that Prediction Markets is not just another feature; it is a unique vertical that gives access to a new, previously non-converting audience.

Reasons to test Prediction Markets:

The threshold for the first conversion is lower than in betting;
Works great with SEO and content traffic (news, trends, cryptosphere, politics, entertainment);
High interest in the vertical during trending events;
Opportunity to monetize an audience that doesn’t bet on sports or casinos.;
It is possible to transfer users to the casino and vertical betting;
Provides a smooth user path within the product.

Moreover, the format is as native as possible — real events constantly create new reasons for returning players, forming stable retention and LTV.

Thus, Prediction Markets is a great way to monetize an audience that has not made a profit before, and with N1 Partners you can do this as simply and efficiently as possible.

Wanna be the first to gain access to a fresh audience? Test Prediction Markets with N1 Partners now!

Scale your results with N1 Partners:

14+ casino and betting brands with high Reg2Dep
10+ Tier-1 GEOs
CPA up to €700 and RevShare up to 55% + NNCO for top affiliates

Be number one with N1!

The post N1 Partners Drops Prediction Markets Vertical — Expand Your Traffic Strategy! appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

Latest News

LuckyStreak Enters into Partnership with QTech Games

Published

53 minutes ago

May 20, 2026

Wladimir P.

luckystreak-enters-into-partnership-with-qtech-games

LuckyStreak, the Riga-based live games provider, has has entered into a new partnership with QTech Games, a leading game aggregator for all emerging markets, to provide best-in-class live dealer games and LuckyConnect aggregation services across its global platform.

LuckyStreak produces high-quality, immersive live dealer games at its state-of-the-art studio in Riga, Latvia, streamed to thousands of online casinos worldwide. The provider is renowned for delivering a premium experience, with QTech’s customers set to benefit from intuitive gameplay, innovative features and HD-quality streaming.

QTech Games celebrated its 10-year anniversary last year, progressing since inception from double-digit growth during its formative years to dominate an eclectic spectrum of emerging markets. To which end, it’s now a fully-fledged international powerhouse – with a reach that extends from Asia and Africa, and on to CIS-facing territories, Europe (including its new tech-hub in Spain; and offices in Malta) and Latin America.

Rory Kimber, Commercial Director at LuckyStreak, said: “We’re delighted to be working with QTech, a truly global iGaming platform solutions provider, to distribute our products to the wide range of operators they serve in a vast array of their growing markets.

“Our Live Casino product, with its fully localised capability, is perfectly suited to the breadth of territories that QTech serve, and their technology will allow the sharpest and smoothest experience for players at our tables.”

Philip Doftvik, CEO at QTech Games, said: “We’re delighted to team up with LuckyStreak, a brand renowned for its burgeoning best-in-class live casino. Naturally, we were keen to add them to our aggregation platform’s existing multifaceted live-casino catalogue, as we continue to bring together the most comprehensive collection on the market.

“Of course, there’s a huge revenue opportunity, since live dealer is such a thriving online sector in its own right. Seamless integration equips our clients with best-in-breed live games for their end users, while unrivalled customization options, dedicated tables and native-speaking dealers also make it simple to tailor the UX to any specific market’s requirements.

“LuckyStreak’s commitment to delivering engaging live-player experiences offers players, who love these games, the visceral thrill of playing in a real-world casino, while QTech’s peerless localised expertise creates fresh pathways to new audiences from Africa to LatAm, where this iGaming format is in increasing demand. We can’t wait to see how these games perform across a range of new markets.”

The post LuckyStreak Enters into Partnership with QTech Games appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

Canada

St8 extends Wazdan content distribution into Ontario

Published

53 minutes ago

May 20, 2026

Wladimir P.

st8-extends-wazdan-content-distribution-into-ontario

St8 has extended its partnership with slot supplier Wazdan into Ontario, adding the supplier’s content to St8’s aggregation platform for operators in the Canadian province.

Under the agreement, St8 has integrated a selection of Wazdan slot titles for Ontario operators, including Mighty Fish: Blue Marlin, 36 Coins, Mighty Wild: Panther Grand Diamond Edition and Mighty Wild: Gorilla. The roll-out also includes Wazdan mechanics such as Cash to Infinity, Sticky to Infinity and Hold the Jackpot.

David Fall, Business Development Manager at St8, said: “Our partnership with Wazdan has already delivered impressive results, and extending the collaboration into Ontario is an exciting next step for both companies.

“Wazdan consistently develops high-performing content backed by innovative engagement features, and we are pleased to further strengthen our offering for operators in one of North America’s most important regulated regions.”

Andrzej Hyla, Chief Commercial Officer at Wazdan, said: “This collaboration into Ontario with St8 is another milestone for Wazdan as we continue to build our presence across regulated North American markets.

“Wazdan goes above and beyond for our partners by delivering intuitive products that focus on the quality of the user’s experience, and St8’s platform provides an excellent route for our content to reach more operators and players. It has been a very rewarding process so far, and we look forward to building on this momentum together.”

The post St8 extends Wazdan content distribution into Ontario appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.