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As eSports become more popular, time for the industry to get real about security
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/
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3 Oaks Gaming presents a feature-rich trip to the Far East in 3 China Pots: Hold and Win
Distributor extends 3 Pots series with Asian-themed title
3 Oaks Gaming, an established distributor of iGaming content, has launched 3 China Pots: Hold and Win, the first time the company has integrated the popular 3 Pots mechanic within a Far East-themed title.
The latest instalment from 3 Oaks to incorporate the 3 Pots functionality sees players transported to the allure of the Orient, where the Extra, Double and Multi modifiers influence the Bonus Game once activated.
To trigger the Hold and Win round, Bonus symbols depicting the different pots are added to the progress meter within the main game. Enough blue icons open the Extra Feature, where four respins are awarded instead of the standard three. Red symbols unlock the Double Feature, which activates two game boards, while the purple Multi Feature adds multipliers to random cells.
The Extra, Double and Multi Pot features can all be triggered simultaneously, enhancing the win potential to new heights when the modifiers work in combination.
Additionally, the game’s Mini, Minor and Major Jackpots may appear during the Bonus Game and reward the corresponding cash value, with the Grand Jackpot worth 2,000x also awarded when the entire grid is filled within the Hold and Win mode.
Yuriy Muratov, Chief Commercial Officer at 3 Oaks Gaming, said: “3 China Pots: Hold and Win takes users on a mystical voyage to an opulent palace, where players can uncover a wealth of riches thanks to the captivating 3 Pots mechanic.
“The 3 Pots mechanic continues to grow in popularity and incorporating it within such a popular slot theme will only broaden its appeal to a wider audience.”
The post 3 Oaks Gaming presents a feature-rich trip to the Far East in 3 China Pots: Hold and Win appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Belatra Games, the specialist online slots developer, has served up another classic with its tasty Chef’s Sticky Fruits slot.
This latest release from Belatra’s studio is a vibrant and juicy addition to its renowned catalogue of slots. It’s a 5×4 slot game bursting with colour that’s heightened with an upbeat, retro soundtrack that perfectly captures the essence of fun at the heart of every play. With 100 active paylines, players have numerous chances to win big with every spin.
Players are surrounded by a cast of characters including the moustached chef himself and the innovative Mrs. Wild Cleaver, who represents the wild symbol.
The magic ingredient in this game is the Glued Reels feature. During gameplay, two identical glued reels can appear randomly, boosting players’ chances to walk away with big wins. These glued reels
have the power to expand across three, four, or even all five reels, dramatically increasing the opportunities for major payouts. Additionally, multipliers ranging from 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50 or 100 can be applied to the glued reels.
Sergey Chernyavski, Belatra Games’ CCO, said: “Chef’s Sticky Fruits is the perfect recipe for fun on the reels. This new game brings together the essence of a fruit-themed slot and then seasons it with a fresh twist thanks to the Glued Reels feature. Players will be desperate to tuck in for a ‘bellissimo’ time.”
The post Belatra serves up tasty Chef’s Sticky Fruits slot appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
First quarter 2024
- Total revenue was GBP 307.7 (306.4) million, in line with the first quarter of 2023.
- Gross winnings revenue (B2C) was GBP 297.6 (297.3) million.
- Underlying EBITDA increased by 20 per cent to GBP 59.3 (49.4) million.
- Profit before tax was GBP 39.8 (30.4) million.
- Profit after tax was GBP 31.4 (25.6) million.
- Earnings per share were GBP 0.15 (0.12).
- Free cash flow amounted to GBP 23.7 (29.0) million.
- Number of active customers increased by 3 per cent to 1,667,564 (1,623,568).
CEO Nils Andén comments on the first quarter of 2024
“We have had a solid start to 2024 with the underlying business operations performing well and operational initiatives moving forward according to plan. The headcount reduction plans announced at the end of last year are progressing as intended and the North America exit is set to conclude towards the end of the second quarter this year. Our growth plan that we launched during the fourth quarter last year, focusing on Europe and Australia, continues at pace with dedicated strategic growth projects across locally regulated markets.”
“Together with the encouraging performance of the B2B business, Relax Gaming, total revenue for the first quarter came in at GBP 307.7 million, in line with the same period last year. Underlying EBITDA for the first quarter came in at GBP 59.3 million, which is a very encouraging increase of 20 per cent compared to the first quarter 2023 and shows the continued positive impact of our cost control focus.”
“During the quarter, we launched the Kindred Sportsbook Platform (KSP) in a test market, and we are very pleased with the progress to date. KSP remains one of our most important strategic projects and will give us the flexibility and differentiation needed to improve growth in locally regulated markets.”
“Our share of Gross winnings revenue from locally regulated markets came in at a new all-time high of 84 per cent, indicating our continued focus to sustainable revenue and our commitment to a positive contribution to societies.”
“Following a solid start to the year we now have our eyes firmly set on a much sought after summer of sports with the UEFA Euros, the Copa America, and the Paris Olympics.”
Trading update up to and including 21 April 2024
The average daily Gross winnings revenue for the Group, up to and including 21 April 2024, was GBP 3.48 million, 6 per cent higher (8 per cent in constant currency) compared to the daily average for the full second quarter of 2023. Excluding North America, Gross winnings revenue is increasing 8 per cent (9 per cent in constant currency).
The sports betting margin after free bets for the above period was 11.3 per cent, which is ahead of the Group long-term average of 9.8 per cent and in line with the 11.3 per cent across the full second quarter of 2023.
The post Kindred Group plc – Interim report: January – March 2024 (unaudited) appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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