While traditional sports are taking a break, eSports is taking a leap forward

Although most of the sports events worldwide, including the biggest of the year – Euro 2020, were canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, UltraPlay have other opportunities to offer, such as betting on eSports.

With the shutdown of all major sports leagues internationally, sportsbooks need markets to keep players interested and betting. Esports, as an already well-established gambling vertical, comes as the working alternative to all sports bettors around the globe. Most of the LAN tournaments were shortly reorganized to be held online, such as LCS, LEC, LCK, Overwatch League, ESL Pro League, Flashpoint and many more.

UltraPlay’s eSports multi-award-winning product ODDS.GG might be the solution by offering:

• 28 game titles, including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, League of Legends, Overwatch and many more.
• 370+ tournaments coverage
• 3000 pre-match events per month
• 2500+ live events per month
• 200+ markets

At the moment UltraPlay covers 251 eSports events, 90% of them with live odds.

Peter Ivanov, Head of Trading at UltraPlay has commented: “We experienced a 30% increased turnover only in the first 5 days after the traditional sports shutdown. This is growing on a day-to-day basis as more people get involved. We expect this to get in 100’s% once all eSports leagues restart playing online. Low tier matches are the ones to see turnover go through the roof because of lack of any other events.

Moreover, we record an increased interest in our eSports product ODDS.GG from the leading sportsbooks. They are willing and ready to integrate it as soon as possible.”

From March 20-26, UltraPlay will cover, both pre-match and live, the online charity marathon dedicated to fighting COVID-19, organized by WePlay Esports. Top teams and top talent from the Dota 2 scene are included, namely OG, Team Liquid, Virtus.Pro and more.

Tournaments that still haven’t announced the shift towards online, are expected to follow the example if the situation with COVID-19 health crisis continues in the following months.

With traditional sports matches postponed and teams self-isolated, football stars are joining the competitive games scene by playing FIFA and Fortnite, attracting an enormous audience towards eSports in general.

Let’s face it; 60m people watched the final of the highest-profile eSports tournament. Only the Champions League final, or World Cup final, can compare with that. And sportsbooks can attract the eSports audience to their websites with reliable and extensive odds coverage.