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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/
Here are this weeks latest slots releases compiled by European Gaming
Tom Horn Gaming is thrilled to announce the launch of its latest Hold & Win slot game, Majestic Coins. This high-volatility 3×3 slot takes players on a winning quest, where shimmering coins, respins, and grand jackpots lead to massive wins. Set against a sleek black 3×3 reel grid with 5 win lines, Majestic Coins offers classic slot excitement with a modern twist.
Candy Links Bonanza 2 is the newest slot game from Stakelogic, inviting you to wander through magical realms filled with delightfully sweet treats. Amidst this charming backdrop, two 5×5 grids are placed side by side. The grid on the right is where all the gameplay unfolds, while the other grid collects coins. Forming lines of coins wins their values and activates the powerful Wheels of Fortune!
Step into a world where opulence meets nature in Zillion’s latest release, Royal Crown Fruits – a dazzling slot experience filled with vibrant fruit symbols, golden crowns, and thrilling rewards. With 20 winning lines, the game blends classic charm with modern excitement, offering players a chance to strike royal-sized wins.
Big Time Gaming is back with its most exhilarating instalment yet. Max Megaways III invites players to gear up and embark on a high-stakes Arctic mission that’s shaken, stirred, and loaded with epic rewards. In this 6-reel Megaways™ slot, players get up to 117,649 ways to win, and that’s just the start of the action. Armed with MegaDozer™ mechanics, Free Spins, and a treasure trove of bonuses, Max Megaways III is set to deliver edge-of-your-seat excitement like never before.
Play’n GO delves into the mysteries of ancient Egypt with the release of Myth of Dead, a visually stunning slot that combines engaging gameplay with the allure of legendary treasures. This 5-reel, 3-row game with 10 paylines offers a captivating journey into a world ruled by powerful deities and golden riches.
Belatra Games, the specialist online slots developer, has released Blast the Bass, a brand new title that immerses players into an adventure on the open seas. Set out in the deep ocean, Blast the Bass brings together engaging mechanics, big bonus features and fun graphics that entertain players on every spin. A salty old skipper acts as the Wild symbol and will substitute for all regular symbols to combine for winning lines.
Push Gaming has launched Mad Blast, a volatile, multiplier-focused, pay-anywhere game that builds crazy robots along with wild winnings. Set in the workshop of the Mad Tinkerer, quirky, colourful bomb symbols populate the reels, with eight or more required to award a win. Winning symbols are removed from play, and the cascade of replacement icons allows subsequent wins to be formed.
Relax Gaming has revealed Glyph of Gods, an Egyptian-themed slot where hieroglyphs hold the key to wins. Bringing a fresh take on the much-loved Egyptian theme, this game features Glyph Positions which allow for Wild, Bonus, and Glyph symbols to land in dedicated spots, opening up multiple opportunities for big winning moments.
Blueprint Gaming returns in style with Big Catch Even Bigger Bass, offering a plethora of modifiers to maximise players’ winning potential. After years of success with its iconic Fishin’ Frenzy™ series, Blueprint has moved from the ocean to a picturesque lake where a bait box of aquatic symbols take their place on the 6×4, 4,096 win matrix, nestled in a mountainous landscape.
Amusnet announces the exclusive launch of 20 Wild Goals at Betano in Romania from February 20th to March 24th, 2025. 20 Wild Goals is a 5-reel video slot set in a stadium environment, offering 20 paylines. The Wild symbol, represented by a ball, expands to cover the entire reel, boosting the potential for higher wins. The tumbling reel feature adds a layer of excitement by removing winning combinations and increasing multipliers with each subsequent spin.
The post Week 8/2025 slot games releases appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Amusnet announces the exclusive launch of 20 Wild Goals at Betano in Romania from February 20th to March 24th, 2025. This collaboration further strengthens the company’s long-term partnership with the operator and reflects Amusnet’s focus on providing localized gaming solutions to meet the needs of the Romanian market.
“With a clear focus on delivering localized, high-quality content, we continue to foster our mutually beneficial collaboration with Betano. By providing tailored gaming experiences, we ensure both Amusnet and our partners drive growth, meet player expectations, and strengthen our collective presence in the region,” said Andreea Popa, Commercial Manager at Amusnet Romania.
20 Wild Goals is a 5-reel video slot set in a stadium environment, offering 20 paylines. The Wild symbol, represented by a ball, expands to cover the entire reel, boosting the potential for higher wins. The tumbling reel feature adds a layer of excitement by removing winning combinations and increasing multipliers with each subsequent spin. The game presents a dynamic and engaging experience designed to appeal to players seeking thrilling gameplay.
Features
Expanding Wild
During the base game, the Wild symbol expands on the whole reel and substitutes for other symbols, increasing the winning potential.
Tumbling Reels with Increasing Multiplier
Winning symbols disappear, making way for the symbols above them while increasing the multiplier with each consecutive win. If new winning combinations appear on the screen after filling the empty positions, they are multiplied by Multiplier, which starts from x2 and increases by 1 with every consequent Tumbling Reels Feature.
Jackpot Cards
The four-level mystery jackpot bonus game Jackpot Cards is also available, just like in the rest of Amusnet’s Online Casino portfolio.
The post Amusnet Deepens Collaboration with Betano for Exclusive Launch of 20 Wild Goals appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
International Game Technology PLC announced that it has achieved an environmental, social and governance (ESG) Score of 4.3 out of 5.0 from FTSE Russell, positioning IGT in the 97th percentile within the Travel and Leisure sector of FTSE Russell’s ESG Scores. This was an improvement from IGT’s previous ESG Score of 4.2 out of 5.0 in 2023, demonstrating its ongoing commitment to enhancing ESG performance.
“As a company committed to continually elevating our sustainability practices and leadership, IGT is proud to once again achieve an improved ESG score from FTSE Russell. Through our global Sustainable Play program, we execute sustainable practices and policies throughout our company and this improved score validates our ongoing efforts,” Wendy Montgomery, SVP of Marketing, Communications and Sustainability at IGT, said.
FTSE Russell’s ESG Scores and data model allows investors to understand a company’s exposure to, and management of, ESG issues in multiple dimensions. The ESG Scores are comprises an overall rating that breaks down into underlying pillar and theme exposures. Scores built on over 300 individual indicator assessments are applied to each company’s unique circumstances. The ESG Scores align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), all of which are reflected in FTSE Russell’s ESG framework.
The post IGT Achieves Improved ESG Score from FTSE Russell appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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