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Odds on: Unlocking the potential of AI for esports betting

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Jordan Peltier, Chief Data Officer at PandaScore, says that humans and machines must work together if businesses are to maximise the potential of AI when it comes to esports betting odds.

Artificial intelligence has been one of the most discussed industry topics over the past 12 months and it’s easy to see why. AI can be transformative for operators, suppliers and bettors, and while there are concerns around adversarial AI, when used in the right way, it’s a game-changer.

At PandaScore, AI plays a crucial role in the odds we deliver esports betting operators. This is because it is incredibly effective at handling complex, high-dimensional and unstructured data and finding patterns within it – these patterns are needed to predict the outcome of events.

This, of course, is the foundation needed for determining the odds for each market that we offer. But the power of AI goes beyond this.

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It can adapt dynamically to new data which is just not possible with old statistical models like parametric distributions as they struggle to capture the non-linear relationship between variables so require additional manual engineering which takes time and resource.

But does this mean the AI machine is taking over from human trading teams? Absolutely not.

Leveraging the capabilities of AI and combining it with specialist human traders is the optimal approach because you have models that can capture the complexity of esports supported by human traders with a deep understanding of each discipline.

Odds should always be based on true probabilities and while there have been significant breakthroughs in AI – I’m talking about transformer-based models such as Large Language Models – it is still prone to making errors, especially when it comes to forecasting.

Let me explain by way of percentages. AI alone can get you 90% of the way to determining the true probability of an outcome but you need the human specialist trader to get you the final 10% of the way to perfection. And perfection is a must when it comes to odds.

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Ultimately, this is what allows operators to offer high-value odds to their customers while ensuring a strong and stable margin from their esportsbook. What’s more, it only takes one small error for sharp, savvy bettors to exploit a mistake and that’s not what operators expect from their data partners.

It must be remembered that AI models are only as good as the data they feed from and still require training. Human traders help in this regard, providing a layer of security for core actions like settlement and odds checking when the model goes off market.

In some instances, the trader will have access to data the model doesn’t see of wasn’t trained on – things like a last-minute change to the player roster.

This is why our human traders are responsible for picking the tournament and market coverage that will most appeal to our operator partners, and our traders are on hand 24/7/365 to support operators in their efforts to offer a top esports betting experience to their players.

The training of AI models is crucial and again sees our trading and data science teams work together during the entire lifecycle of each AI model we build from designing the model to testing and interacting with models in production to ensure they are performing.

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This is a virtuous cycle with our data scientists training the most optimal models that prove to be the easiest for our traders to manipulate. Traders also give a ton of deep and detailed feedback which our data scientists can use to improve the models.

The idea here is that the trading team has little input once the model is rolled out and often only make one input per match with the AI model then calculating all of the odds and markets. This ultimate is what powers our BetBuilder and PropBet products.

Having specialist traders for each esports discipline is also important. Each video game is like its own sport and while there are some similarities between some titles, the differences have an impact on the markets and odds offered and that’s exactly why specialist traders are a must.

Take shooter-round based game like CS2 and Valorant and MOBA games like Dota2 and LoL. With the former, there’s a lot of repetition in the gameplay which takes place round after round. This means betting markets are focus on rounds and kills for teams and players.

With MOBA games, there are objectives within the game that have a direct influence on who wins the match – things like kills, towers, nashors, inhibitors and dragons. This is complex – and doesn’t exist in traditional sports betting – and is why pricing teams must master in-game dynamics.

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Again, this is something that AI can’t do on its own right now.

AI is a key pillar of our business, and we are incredibly proud of how we have used it in collaboration with our data scientists and traders to create models that deliver top odds for our operator partners and their players.

But working with AI is all about staying ahead of the game and our work is never done. This is why we continue to test, iterate, innovate and do all we can top perfect our models. This would not be possible without our incredible team which stands as a testament as to how machines and humans can work together in harmony.

The post Odds on: Unlocking the potential of AI for esports betting appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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eSports

IESF Concludes 16th Ordinary General Meeting in Riyadh

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The International Esports Federation (IESF) held its 16th Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) on November 18, bringing together over 150 delegates from the member federations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Before the official start of the assembly, IESF welcomed representatives from the Saudi Olympic & Paralympic Committee (SOPC) and the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF). Abdulaziz Baeshin, CEO of SOPC presented Saudi Arabia’s progress in Esports and sports development and their vision moving forward. Frank Weber, Director of Corporate Marketing at EWCF discussed the success of the EWCF and highlight upcoming plans for the future.

In his opening speech, IESF President HRH Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud expressed gratitude for the number of delegates who attended the assembly. He reflected on the federation’s success and achievements over the past year, the key areas for improvement, and the necessity of continued close collaboration among members.

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The first session of the assembly continued with reviewing motions submitted by the members and voting on their acceptance or rejection. The members also voted to grant Full Membership status to Canada, Germany, Latvia, and Malta.

The second session of the OGM was dedicated to electing key positions within the IESF Board and committees. The results are:

  • Board Member: Mr. Samart Benjamin Assarasakorn

  • Treasurer: Mr. Daniel Wen Jun Loy

Membership Committee Members:

  • Mr. Soufiane El Filali

  • Mr. Jaroslav Melishek

Audit, Risk, and Governance Committee:

  • Chair: Mr. Tomas Gabris

  • Members: Mr. Jacopo Ierussi and Mr. Stevan Nenad Rosic

Regulatory Committee Chair:

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  • Mr. Ido Orel Brosh

In his concluding statement, IESF General Secretary Boban Totovski congratulated the assembly on a productive and democratic meeting. He expressed his appreciation for the valuable insights shared by members and their dedication to the growth of the IESF.

“This year’s assembly demonstrated the strength of our community and the shared vision that drives IESF forward. I thank everyone for their contributions to a democratic and smooth process, and I look forward to welcoming more member federations to our family next year and even greater success” said Totovski.

The OGM 2024 in Riyadh was another step forward in IESF’s mission to unite the Esports world under a shared vision. With the growing number of national federations, the IESF continues to cement its role as the largest Esports family.

The post IESF Concludes 16th Ordinary General Meeting in Riyadh appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Chad Kinlay Chief Marketing Officer TrafficGuard

Influencers, Content and eSports: Unleashing the Power of Dynamic Strategies in the eSports Ecosystem

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The sports betting industry is undergoing significant growth worldwide with restrictions loosening and new markets emerging. New opportunities create fierce competition among sportsbooks, and this has led to them devising increasingly expensive and aggressive advertising campaigns.

Public figures and influencers have become a popular go-to for sportsbooks promotions, such as Michael Jordan partnering with DraftKings or Jamie Foxx with BetMGM. Big names are costly, and sportsbooks haven’t realised the ad spend used on these campaigns is going to waste. Without the right precautions in place, up to 22% of ad spend is lost to fraud according to Juniper Research.

The big budgets behind high-profile brand campaigns need to translate into real user engagement. To achieve this, sportsbooks must ensure their digital channels are optimised to capture the surge in interest these campaigns generate. Without proper management, this potential can be lost to inefficiencies like invalid traffic, diluting the impact of their investments.

 

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Ad Budgets Going to Waste

In today’s competitive landscape, sportsbooks need to make every click count. In 2023 alone, The American Gaming Association estimated that over $1.9 billion was spent on advertising campaigns in the US. With such a large amount of spend in play, it’s crucial that sportsbooks see as big a Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) as possible.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns are vital for sportsbook growth but can be disrupted by invalid traffic (IVT). IVT includes both malicious activity, like fraudulent bots, and unintentional actions, such as users repeatedly clicking on ads without intent to convert. These interactions inflate impressions and skew campaign performance data, leading to higher customer acquisition costs (CACs) and inefficient allocation of ad spend. Effectively managing IVT ensures that ad budgets drive genuine engagement and measurable growth.

Investing into influencers and celebrities also forces sportsbooks to bid on brand keywords to prevent their competitors stealing potential users searching for them. Up to 29% of PPC budgets are spent on this bidding according to Wordstream. As competition for brand keywords increases, PPC budgets are depleted without generating any new net revenue.

As campaigns become more expensive than ever, sportsbooks can’t afford to let profits fall to ad fraud. Instead of cutting budgets, sportsbooks should focus on analysing their campaign strategy.

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Problematic Navigational Traffic

Navigational traffic is also presenting a significant challenge to sportsbooks alongside ad fraud. Navigational traffic refers to existing customers clicking on branded keywords to log into their accounts. While this seems convenient and harmless enough, this behaviour drastically inflates CACs. Like ad fraud, this can skew the effectiveness of PPC campaigns. By utilising paid search results instead of organic links to navigate to the site, costs are driven up without contributing to new user acquisition.

In addition to the challenges posed by navigational traffic and ad fraud, the competitive landscape for first-time depositors intensifies the need for strategic bidding on Google search. Brands investing heavily in influencers or sponsorships of major sporting events to generate awareness and drive potential users to search for them. However, without securing top placements in paid search results, these prospective customers may be intercepted by competitors before reaching the organic search listings. This creates a critical juncture where the effectiveness of a brand campaign hinges on converting that intent-driven traffic into first-time depositors, ensuring marketing spend achieves its goal of meaningful user acquisition.

First-time depositors are a critical metric for sportsbooks, and this issue directly impacts the cost efficiency of acquiring them. High CACs make marketing budgets less effective, reducing overall ROI.

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Shoring Up Your Defences

Before launching costly ad campaigns, sportsbooks should adopt a multi-faceted approach to address ad fraud. IVT typically goes unnoticed, so to prevent this sportsbooks should monitor and analyse their campaign traffic for any suspicious activity. It is possible to identify IVT by looking out for signs such as irregular spikes in traffic from unknown locations or high pageviews. Fraudulent traffic can then by highlighted and removed.

The advancement of technology has made ad fraud more difficult to identify, and legacy fraud tools fail to detect IVT. They don’t analyse traffic at the impression level or consider the context of the business advertising. Sportsbooks can leverage ad-verification platforms to compensate for this. This allows sportsbooks to analyse and report suspicious traffic in real-time. Fraud can then be blocked before it has a chance to harm budgets.

Sportsbooks can also deploy tactics to reduce the impact of navigational traffic on CACs. Methods include encouraging existing customers to use mobile apps or direct bookmarks to log into their accounts instead of paid search campaigns. This decreases their reliance on PPC campaigns for navigation and protects budgets.

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Keeping Profits in Sportsbooks’ Hands

Influencer and celebrity campaigns have proven to be a popular and useful tool in reeling new users and profits. However, if sportsbooks don’t have the essential precautions in place, they risk losing these profits to advertising fraud.

To make the most of their advertising efforts, sportsbooks need to prioritise their traffic. Implementing sophisticated tools to analyse traffic and filter out fraud will allow sportsbooks to protect their interests and focus on driving future growth. This way, they can secure their position in an increasingly competitive landscape.

 

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Written by: Chad Kinlay, Chief Marketing Officer, TrafficGuard

A driven, open-minded, creative senior marketer with a strong sense of dedication and commitment. With over 15 years of progressive international experience in marketing and communications management, Kinlay has a credible history of commercial success.

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8Bit Creatives partners with NODWIN Gaming as the exclusive talent partner for DreamHack India

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8Bit Creatives, India’s leading esports consulting and talent management agency, has announced its partnership with NODWIN Gaming, a leader in new-age youth entertainment, gaming, and esports, as the exclusive Talent Partner for DreamHack India 2024.

With this partnership, 8Bit Creatives will leverage its significant reach in the Indian gaming, esports and youth communities through its prominent and talented roster of creators. These creators will create content leading up to the festival and also host meet-and-greet sessions.

India’s biggest gaming festival, DreamHack India, is set to take place from 15th to 17th November at the Hitex Exhibition Centre in Hyderabad, marking its fifth edition. For half a decade, the India edition of the global festival has become one of the most anticipated events of the Indian gaming ecosystem. Bringing together a plethora of events, including esports tournaments, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) events, cosplay competitions, music concerts, and stand-up comedy, DreamHack India is the celebration of gaming, esports, pop-culture, and entertainment.

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8Bit Creatives, CEO and founder Animesh Agarwal said “DreamHack India is one of the most prominent events in the Indian gaming and esports calendar and we’re proud to be the exclusive talent partners for it. This is further recognition of 8Bit Creatives’ ability to meaningfully engage the gaming and youth audiences across the country. Our belief in working with the right creators who create experiences that resonate with the youth audiences distinguishes our offerings and we can’t wait to share what we have in store for DreamHack India 2024 with our audiences!”

This is not the first time that 8Bit Creatives will partner with DreamHack India. The organisation was also the talent partner for the event in 2022.

Commenting on the partnership, NODWIN Gaming, Co-founder and MD Akshat Rathee said “Our vision at NODWIN Gaming is to create unforgettable experiences for the youth, and DreamHack has proven to be the ultimate platform to realise that vision, bringing together gaming, entertainment, and community in an immersive celebration. We’re thrilled to have 8Bit Creatives as our exclusive Talent Partner for DreamHack India 2024. It’s especially exciting to welcome iconic creators like Mortal, who joined us in our very first edition, back for this landmark fifth year, alongside fan favourites like Snax, Kaashvi, Thug, and Payal. These creators bring a unique energy that connects deeply with our fans and elevates every moment. Their presence underscores our commitment to crafting electrifying experiences year after year, building on the momentum of events like BGMS and past DreamHack editions. Together with 8Bit and this powerhouse lineup, we’re setting the stage for an unforgettable event that will bring fans and creators closer than ever before!”

8Bit Creatives’s content and esports division S8UL became the only organisation in the year to win ‘Content Group of the Year’ award for the third consecutive year at the Esports Awards 2024. Additionally, they are the only organisation from India to ever win an Esports Award in any category. Earlier this year, gaming content creators from 8Bit Creatives including Naman Mathur, Payal Dhare and Animesh “Thug” Agarwal were invited for a meet and greet session with the honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

The organisation has been at the forefront of India’s gaming and content ecosystem with its extensive range of services, including talent management, campaign curation and execution, brand activations and more.

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