CasinoBeats Malta Digital officially opened its virtual doors today with the event highlighting some of the growing opportunities in the world of igaming and the gambling industry.
However, the event also emphasised the importance of esports to the betting sector and the validity of using customer education within the industry. During the digital summit’s ‘Malta: The esports opportunity’ panel Eirik Kristiansen, the CEO of Pixelbet, an esportsbook and casino platform, stated that the use of widgets can help educate traditional customers into participating in esport betting activities.
“What we try to do is we try to have simplified widgets and easy access to data because I know that a lot of punters specifically, but also less active bettors, they basically make a lot of their decisions not based on emotions but based on data,” he stated
“If you make data easily accessible through widgets and have a very intuitive way of placing bets I think it’s quite natural without doing any straight-forward education about the sport itself. But, you provide them with the tools to make an educated guess nonetheless.”
Adam Savinson, head of esports at Betway Group, also brought up that while a lot of firms are teaching its customers, they may still never be invested in the industry. As a result, it might be best to focus on the new influx of bettors who already understand competitive gaming.
“If you are trying to get through a period where there is low volumes of sports. Like right now, we see a lot of operators trying to educate their existing customer base. But, you’re never going to really have the great esport fans that are going to become a good quality customer,” Savinson commented
“There is definitely value in educating people but, that’s only if esports is a very small part of your retention strategy rather than anything you’re taking seriously. I wouldn’t discourage anybody but it’s not enough.”
Attention then turned to how esports casuals can be educated to take a step into the betting landscape. Due to the global health pandemic viewership of esport events dramatically rose and so Stepan Shu, head of esports at Parimatch, discussed that players should also be educated about betting in order to continue the sector’s growth.
“Education of any kind has a value,” emphasised Shu. “The common thing that you have to consider all the time is that the young generation might not understand how betting works. You have to educate them, to show them the odds.
“If you are doing this then at least you understand that you are not missing anything, that someone who will join your platform maybe will understand how to place bets, how odds are calculated, what is the profit.”
However, Kristiansen argues that the esports generation are already aware about betting and gambling practices due to the applications that certain game titles include, such as loot boxes and skin roulettes.
He adds: “My impression is that the young people playing esports have a very good understanding of what betting is and have a very good understanding of odds and how it works.
“I think the reason is because almost all games contain some gambling aspects. There are loot boxes and skins, and there’s different types of trading and you open certain types of crates that have a probability of giving you a certain set of skins. These things apply in almost every single game that you play.
“The mindset of the younger generation is that they want to open things, they want to get rewards, they have more foundational betting experience.
“So, I think it’s easier for them to enter a betting space which also leaves a room for a little bit of caution because it’s then up to us to be very responsible and show that we create a good path when it comes to betting going forward.”
The panel, which was moderated by Esports Insider co-founder and managing director Sam Cooke, is just a sample of what CasinoBeats Malta Digital has to offer with the event featuring 40 virtual exhibitors, numerous networking opportunities, 130 leading speakers, and countless business opportunities for 3,000 senior decision-makers from operators, suppliers, affiliates and other industry stakeholders in the casino and igaming sector.
Delivered in association with Gaming Malta the event looks to provide networking opportunities to a wide range of casino and igaming delegates from 30 June to 2 July 2020.
Find full details of the event, which is delivered in association with Gaming Malta, and information about how to register plus the discounts available on company group passes, then visit the event’s official website: https://sbcevents.com/casinobeats-malta-digital/
