Esports Gambling's Tomorrow: Coolbet and Oddin.gg Join Forces in a Strategic Partnership
The Esports & Betting Bash-Up: Coolbet Joins Forces with Oddin.gg for Long-Term Growth
Esports betting is heating up as traditional sportsbooks catch wind of the massive potential this fast-growing sector holds. And in a significant industry shake-up, Coolbet has teamed up with specialized provider, Oddin.gg, through a multi-year partnership designed to redefine the way esports enthusiasts interact with betting markets.
This union signifies more than simply another business alliance for Coolbet; it's a deliberate strategic pivot toward esports. By committing to a long-term partnership, Coolbet reveals its confidence in the sustained growth of esports betting and its ambition to make its mark in this evolving market.
Driven by Oddin.gg's advanced Odds Feed solution, this partnership promises to elevate Coolbet's esports betting offerings significantly. Coolbet won't treat esports as a side-gig anymore, but rather invest in specialized tech that caters to the unique demands of the competitive gaming community seeking a deep market selection and real-time engagement options.
Current Coolbet director of Sports, Christian Erlandsson, gushed about the partnership's early outcomes:
"Working with Oddin.gg has surpassed our expectations in both product performance and relationship. We've seen a powerful impact since launch, and have appreciated how smooth and responsive their team has been. What's especially refreshing is that we're already moving beyond day-to-day operations to liaise on new ventures, like joint industry panels and knowledge-sharing initiatives."
Marek Suchar, co-founder and managing director of Oddin.gg, echoed the sentiments, emphasizing the intrinsic collaborative aspect of the partnership:
"And as we deepen this relationship, we're excited about what we can craft together — not just in numbers, but in how esports betting is delivered to Coolbet's end users."
Who's Coolbet? The Established Operator with ambitions that stretch far and wide
To grasp the impact of this partnership, it's essential to know more about Coolbet's place in the market. Founded in 2015, Coolbet operates as the consumer-facing brand of GAN Ltd, portraying itself as a multi-award-winning platform offering sportsbook, casino, and poker products. Steadily growing over the last decade, Coolbet now employs between 200-500 staff members, generating annual revenue ranging from $25-100 million.
Under the command of CEO Anders Karlsen, Coolbet has extended its operations to ten countries, catering to more than one million customers worldwide. Headquartered in Sliema, Malta, Coolbet serves as the base for its international operations.
Coolbet has built its rep on transparency and competitive odds. Proprietary tech allows the company to deliver top-tier market pricing across a variety of sports and localized betting markets. The company's ethos revolves around entertainment and fair play, which has helped attract a loyal customer base in an increasingly competitive market.
The shift to strengthen its esports offering through the Oddin.gg partnership reflects Coolbet's forward-thinking approach to market development. The traditional sports and casino gaming operators face ever-increasing competition, making diversification into high-growth verticals such as esports a logical move for established brands pursuing connections with younger demographics.
Oddin.gg: The specialized esports betting tech provider
On the flip side of this partnership lies Oddin.gg, a company that has rapidly positioned itself as a leading B2B provider in the esports betting ecosystem since its inception in 2018. Based in Prague, the company has swelled to employ between 201-500 individuals, signifying the massive scale needed to cater to the expanding esports betting market.
Oddin.gg offers a wide array of products specifically designed for esports betting, including its flagship odds feed, risk management tools, iFrame solution, widgets, 24/7 content delivery, live esports data, and specialized marketing services. Through an end-to-end approach, operators like Coolbet can implement a complete esports betting solution, rather than cobbling together disparate tools from various vendors.
The company's technology incorporates automated infrastructure, machine learning algorithms, and advanced data science to optimize profitability for partners. Its technical sophistication has piqued a distinguished client roster entailing industry titans like Betsson, Betway, Yolo Group, Stake, OpenBet, Vibra Gaming, and Betby.
Oddin.gg has also secured licenses in multiple North American jurisdictions, such as New Jersey, Colorado, West Virginia, Ohio, and Arizona in the United States, and Ontario, Canada. This regulatory approval puts the company in a strategic position for expansion in the burgeoning North American market, providing additional value to partners like Coolbet with multi-regional aspirations.
Recent Developments for Oddin.gg
In March 2024, Oddin.gg struck another crucial partnership with Sportradar, one of the most influential sports technology companies worldwide. Under this agreement, Oddin.gg provides Sportradar with access to streams of significant esports tournaments and leagues, including the PGL Copenhagen Major 2024, Dacha Dota 2 qualifiers and main events, Dacha CS2 qualifiers and main events, and the Tipsport MCR 2024 CS tournament.
This arrangement allows Sportradar to distribute these streams to its worldwide network of partners, enhancing the availability of esports content for betting purposes. The partnership also extends Oddin.gg's data rights for distribution to sportsbooks through Sportradar's integrated streaming product.
Patrick Mostboeck, SVP of Audiovisual at Sportradar, underscored the strategic importance of this collaboration:
"The agreement further strengthens Sportradar's esports offering while supporting Oddin.gg in realizing their growth plans through AV streaming for betting. Sportradar's ultra-low latency audiovisual outputs, along with our comprehensive Live Odds and real-time trading solutions, provide betting operators with the critical tools they require to commercialise the global, highly engaged esports fan base."
Apart from these partnerships, Oddin.gg scored two impressive milestones in 2024, including the inception of a dedicated BetBuilder for esports and esims, which further bolstered the company's product offering in the specialized esports betting market.
The Current State of Esports Betting
The partnership between Coolbet and Oddin.gg unfolds against the backdrop of an evolving esports betting landscape. According to market reports, Counter-Strike holds dominance in the esports betting sector, boasting a whopping 64% of the total betting market share across Kambi's network of operators in Q4 2024.
The report reveals intriguing trends across game categories. While Dota 2 suffered a 4% drop in betting handle throughout 2024, League of Legends experienced a 2% growth, capturing 26% of the total betting handle for the year. Perhaps most notably, VALORANT revealed the most conspicuous shift, climbing from 3% of betting handle in 2023 to 5% in 2024.
Demographics also play a pivotal role in understanding the esports betting market. Generation Z gamblers have surpassed Millennials in 2024, making up 44% of the total sample size as compared to 36% in 2023. This generational change highlights the necessity of catering to younger audiences who have grown up with esports as mainstream entertainment.
When examining betting behavior around specific events, the CS2 Shanghai Major attracted the most interest, garnering 28% of total bets in Q4 2024 across Kambi's network, followed closely by the League of Legends World Championship at 19%. Interestingly, Counter-Strike fans have a stronger preference for live betting, with 46% of total CS bets placed during games, compared to just 28% for VALORANT.
These insights into the esports betting market offer valuable context for understanding why partnerships like the one between Coolbet and Oddin.gg are becoming increasingly common. As operators realize the unique features of esports betting and its growth potential, specialized solutions become essential for capturing market share.
Technological Innovation Fueling Industry Growth
The esports betting sector is being transformed not just by specialized providers like Oddin.gg but by broader technological advancements, especially in artificial intelligence. The sports betting industry, formerly dominated by human intuition and manual odds-setting, is rapidly evolving into a data-centric, highly automated industry.
AI technologies enable startups and established operators alike to analyze enormous datasets in real time, integrating player stats, weather conditions, team dynamics, historical outcomes, social media sentiment, and more to generate more accurate odds. Let companies experiment with machine learning algorithms that continuously improve with each game played.
Another technology currently revolutionizing the online betting world is the increased use of cryptocurrencies for wagering.
These AI-powered models offer dynamic, ever-evolving odds that adapt as fresh info becomes accessible, resulting in a more exciting and potentially profitable betting experience for both operators and punters. The technology also creates personalized betting experiences through recommendation engines that offer recommendations based on a user's past behavior, favorite teams, risk tolerance, and betting habits.
For a partnership like Coolbet and Oddin.gg, these technological advancements stand as both opportunities and challenges. While specialized esports platforms like Oddin.gg have developed tailor-made solutions for the unique aspects of competitive gaming, they must also maintain pace with broader AI innovations to remain competitive.
Future Prospects and Market Potential
The collaboration between Coolbet and Oddin.gg takes place at a critical juncture for the esports betting industry. With traditional sports betting markets getting increasingly saturated, operators are focusing on esports as a growth vector that can appeal to younger demographics who might not be interested in conventional sports betting.
The multi-year nature of the partnership suggests both companies see tremendous future potential in this vertical. By combining Coolbet's established brand and customer base with Oddin.gg's specialized esports technology, the partnership aims to create an irresistible offering that can compete effectively in this emerging market.
As esports audiences continue to mature and regulatory frameworks around esports betting become more established, we can expect to see increased investment in specialized technology solutions. The partnership between Coolbet and Oddin.gg might well mark the beginning of an ever-growing trend toward industry-specific esports betting platforms that cater to the unique expectations of competitive gaming fans.
For operators looking to expand their esports presence, partnerships with specialized providers like Oddin.gg present a quicker route to the market than building in-house solutions. As the esports betting landscape continues to evolve, we can expect more collaborations between established operators and technology providers centered on this growing vertical.
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- Coolbet and Oddin.gg's partnership, centered around esports betting, involves a multi-year agreement designed to redefine how esports enthusiasts interact with betting markets.
- Oddin.gg's advanced Odds Feed solution, part of the partnership with Coolbet, promises to significantly elevate Coolbet's esports betting offerings, moving away from treating esports as a side-gig.
- Bolstered by Oddin.gg's technology, Coolbet aims to invest in specialized tech catering to the unique demands of the competitive gaming community seeking a deep market selection and real-time engagement options.
- The profitability of Oddin.gg's partners is optimized through their technical sophistication, incorporating automated infrastructure, machine learning algorithms, and advanced data science.
