London eSports Betting Summit Provides Forum To Discuss Responsible Industry Development
Published: Apr 25, 2016 - Last Updated: Jun 11, 2021
The agenda provides sessions on the whole range of issues encountered by businesses in or thinking of entering the market. The conference tag line neatly summarizes the organizer’s intentions: “Prepare Your Company For Massive Growth In eSports Betting.”
The one fact on which all industry participants can agree is that the market is growing rapidly. Several of the sessions will address the concerns that such rapid growth raises.
Integrity and regulation are critical issues
The first session on integrity is of critical importance. One of the big risks in an industry developing at such a fast pace is that it could easily be derailed by match fixing scandals, by failure to honor financial obligations to customers, or any of a range of problems.
The established real money gaming businesses have survived the chaos of the rise of online gambling, although many early participants went out of business. The perspective offered to attendees by companies like Pinnacle and Paddy Power Betfair can help younger market entrants understand the importance of avoiding reputational risk and supporting self-regulation in creating market confidence.
Calls for regulation will only grow louder if and when the mainstream media identify scandal or behaviours that disadvantage customers unfairly. Global gaming regulators are already studying eSports betting sites to determine if and how they can be regulated. Only this week, the Italian regulator announced that it was preparing regulations to bring eSports betting within its remit.
Since eSports betting is dependent on the cooperation of the eSports game providers in so many ways, whether for enabling and promoting matches, or creating synergistic business models such as the one used by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, third party betting providers need to provide a service which is beneficial to eGamers, and is not exploitative.
Conferences on eSports betting are an important contributor to sharing solutions, raising awareness of potential problems, and creating an industry that has legitimacy in the eyes of consumers and regulators.
Bullet Business looks to have put together a valuable contribution to the development of the industry. The London location, in South Kensington, should also provide an extremely pleasant environment for participants to engage in informal networking.
The agenda
- Take the lead in global eSports betting: Get ahead of the competition in the market set to be worth $23.5bn by 2020.
- eSports Integrity: Is offering odds on eSports a safe bet?: Hear from top league organisers on their responses to match fixing and doping.
- The Intersection of eSports & traditional sports betting: Do you need to reinvent the wheel to appeal to the eSports customer?
- Acquisition strategy & grow communities: Learn to drive users efficiently to your site and how to grow market communities.
- Regulatory update: Hear the top EU regulators thoughts on the future regulation of the eSports betting market.
- Define your eSports customer: Hear from eSports leaders as they discuss the eSport demographic’s habits and values.
- Skin Betting: Discuss the implications of the growing skin betting market on product development and business models.
The speakers
The speakers and panelists represent a broad spectrum of new and established business leaders, together with legal and regulatory experts.
- James Dean, founder and co-managing director, Electronic Sports League UK
- Seth Schorr, CEO, Fifth Street Gaming
- Harry Lang, director of marketing, Pinnacle Sports
- Cormac Downling, trading projects executive, Paddy Power Betfair
- James Watson, eSports product owner, Sportradar
- Adam Savinson, eSports manager, Win Technologies (Betway Group)
- Martin Klimscha, CEO, Hitbox Entertainment
- John Hagan, partner, Harris Hagan LLP
- Nicolai Lodberg, special adviser, the Danish Gambling Authority
Image credit: Songquan Deng / Shutterstock.com
