PvPRO, the popular CS:GO tournament and league platform, has partnered with data service Sportradar for audiovisual streams and data distribution. This comes just in time for PvPRO’s upcoming $200,000 Electronic Sports Global Tour, which starts this week.
Sportradar’s integrity solutions at PvPRO’s disposal
Announced earlier this week, the partnership will also enable PvPRO to leverage Sportradar’s integrity solutions. The so-called “Fraud Detection System” will be applied to competitions hosted by the platform, starting with the ESG Tour.
“Launching our first stop of our first ESG Tour is a super exciting development for us and we are delighted to have secured the involvement of top CS:GO teams such as SK Gaming, Virtus.Pro and mousesports,” said PvPRO CEO Stamos Venios.
“To really kick the Tour off in style and with a statement of professional intent, we also wanted to bring on board the number one specialists in esports data, betting streams and integrity. Securing Sportradar’s support and expertise was really important to the credibility and distribution of the Tour and as we start this journey, we could not be happier to have Sportradar by our side.”
The deal will encompass audiovisual streaming rights for the global betting market. It will also focus on data distribution rights for the betting and non-betting ecosystems. According to the announcement, the partnership should run for several years.
Moreover, Sportradar – one of the founding members of the Esports Integrity Coalition – will help monitor betting patterns during PvPRO’s events to detect and prevent any suspicious activity.
“Tournament organizers in the esports ecosystem are getting savvier about the opportunities and threats that they now face as interest and investment grows,” said Sportradar Head of Esports James Watson.
“Dealing with Stamos and his team has been a pleasure, as they really get what is at stake and we are really proud that they chose to trust us, our experience, and our relationships to help them take the ESG Tour and their growing competition portfolio to the next level.”
With this partnership, PvPRO hopes to stand out, with more integrity and security applied to its events and the betting on them.
Sportradar and esports
In October 2015, Sportradar dipped into the esports scene by partnering with ESL. The deal included Sportradar’s statistics services, namely processing and distribution of real-time match data.
This included live scoring delivered to customers across the globe, of which ESL has plenty. As with PvPRO, the company’s Fraud Detection System monitors 450 betting operators around the world for any suspicious betting patterns and behaviors. It further shows how much emphasis is being put on integrity in the market.
“With an ever increasing volume of betting on esports competitions, expanding our anti-fraud initiative to also include match fixing, collusion other activities related to illegal, underage and irresponsible betting, was the next logical step in our efforts to preserve and promote integrity across our many competitions,” said ESL CEO Ralf Reichert.
About a year later, the company started collaborating with DOJO Madness, a Berlin-based venture providing esports analytics. The partnership improved DOJO’s services. They can now provide live odds across a wide range of online and offline esports competitions.
Data analytics are an essential part of the esports and esports betting industries. With the continuous expansion of both, it’s likely we’ll see Sportradar strike further deals in the near future.
