eSports
Odds on: Unlocking the potential of AI for esports betting
Jordan Peltier, Chief Data Officer at PandaScore, says that humans and machines must work together if businesses are to maximise the potential of AI when it comes to esports betting odds.
Artificial intelligence has been one of the most discussed industry topics over the past 12 months and it’s easy to see why. AI can be transformative for operators, suppliers and bettors, and while there are concerns around adversarial AI, when used in the right way, it’s a game-changer.
At PandaScore, AI plays a crucial role in the odds we deliver esports betting operators. This is because it is incredibly effective at handling complex, high-dimensional and unstructured data and finding patterns within it – these patterns are needed to predict the outcome of events.
This, of course, is the foundation needed for determining the odds for each market that we offer. But the power of AI goes beyond this.
It can adapt dynamically to new data which is just not possible with old statistical models like parametric distributions as they struggle to capture the non-linear relationship between variables so require additional manual engineering which takes time and resource.
But does this mean the AI machine is taking over from human trading teams? Absolutely not.
Leveraging the capabilities of AI and combining it with specialist human traders is the optimal approach because you have models that can capture the complexity of esports supported by human traders with a deep understanding of each discipline.
Odds should always be based on true probabilities and while there have been significant breakthroughs in AI – I’m talking about transformer-based models such as Large Language Models – it is still prone to making errors, especially when it comes to forecasting.
Let me explain by way of percentages. AI alone can get you 90% of the way to determining the true probability of an outcome but you need the human specialist trader to get you the final 10% of the way to perfection. And perfection is a must when it comes to odds.
Ultimately, this is what allows operators to offer high-value odds to their customers while ensuring a strong and stable margin from their esportsbook. What’s more, it only takes one small error for sharp, savvy bettors to exploit a mistake and that’s not what operators expect from their data partners.
It must be remembered that AI models are only as good as the data they feed from and still require training. Human traders help in this regard, providing a layer of security for core actions like settlement and odds checking when the model goes off market.
In some instances, the trader will have access to data the model doesn’t see of wasn’t trained on – things like a last-minute change to the player roster.
This is why our human traders are responsible for picking the tournament and market coverage that will most appeal to our operator partners, and our traders are on hand 24/7/365 to support operators in their efforts to offer a top esports betting experience to their players.
The training of AI models is crucial and again sees our trading and data science teams work together during the entire lifecycle of each AI model we build from designing the model to testing and interacting with models in production to ensure they are performing.
This is a virtuous cycle with our data scientists training the most optimal models that prove to be the easiest for our traders to manipulate. Traders also give a ton of deep and detailed feedback which our data scientists can use to improve the models.
The idea here is that the trading team has little input once the model is rolled out and often only make one input per match with the AI model then calculating all of the odds and markets. This ultimate is what powers our BetBuilder and PropBet products.
Having specialist traders for each esports discipline is also important. Each video game is like its own sport and while there are some similarities between some titles, the differences have an impact on the markets and odds offered and that’s exactly why specialist traders are a must.
Take shooter-round based game like CS2 and Valorant and MOBA games like Dota2 and LoL. With the former, there’s a lot of repetition in the gameplay which takes place round after round. This means betting markets are focus on rounds and kills for teams and players.
With MOBA games, there are objectives within the game that have a direct influence on who wins the match – things like kills, towers, nashors, inhibitors and dragons. This is complex – and doesn’t exist in traditional sports betting – and is why pricing teams must master in-game dynamics.
Again, this is something that AI can’t do on its own right now.
AI is a key pillar of our business, and we are incredibly proud of how we have used it in collaboration with our data scientists and traders to create models that deliver top odds for our operator partners and their players.
But working with AI is all about staying ahead of the game and our work is never done. This is why we continue to test, iterate, innovate and do all we can top perfect our models. This would not be possible without our incredible team which stands as a testament as to how machines and humans can work together in harmony.
The post Odds on: Unlocking the potential of AI for esports betting appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
China’s leading esports brand, eStar Gaming, a subsidiary of NIP Group announced its intention to collaborate with Dalian Young Boy Football Club. This partnership aims to explore innovative business models that blend digital and traditional sports realms, enhancing urban culture, tourism and the consumer economy through the power of sports.
Kui Wang, Investor and Chairman of Dalian Young Boy Football Club, said: “We are delighted to partner with eStar Gaming, a pioneer in the esports industry. Esports resonates with the youth, offering a dynamic platform for engagement. Our ‘esports+ football’ collaboration is set to spark excitement and innovation, enriching the traditional sport of football with new dimensions. We are confident that this alliance with NIP Group, the first listed Chinese esports company on Nasdaq, will propel Dalian Young Boy and Dalian football into uncharted territories, while our exploration in the integration between esports and traditional sports will pave the way for sustainable growth in both industries.”
Hang “Allen” Sui, Chief Operating Officer of NIP Group, said: “This cross-industry partnership is a groundbreaking step towards integrating esports and football. The synergy between our organizations will deliver unparalleled fan experiences. We anticipate expanding our collaboration with Dalian Young Boy to include cultural exchanges, tourism promotion, and esports festivals, exploring the full potential of digital-inclusion.”
Esports has become an exceptional medium for the younger generation to engage with traditional sports culture and socialize. In late August, Nuoyan and Orange, eStar Gaming’s representative players, engaged in an inaugural exchange with Dalian Young Boy Football Club, experiencing a day in the life of a football player. The event saw a jersey exchange between Dong Chen, General Manager of Dalian Young Boy Football Club, and the eStar Gaming players, with active participation from athletes Weijie Mao, Pengyu Zhu, Shan Huang and Ge Qu.
The integration of esports and traditional sports has emerged as a focal point for both sectors. According to the Esports Working Committee of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, the domestic esports industry reached approximately 490 million users in 2023, with over 300 million being young users. This integration is poised to align with the entertainment preferences of the youth, revitalizing sports culture in a manner that reflects the new era and fostering “out-of-the-box” growth for traditional sports and local cultural tourism.
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BETER, the leading provider of next-gen betting content and data covering sports and Esports, has extended its partnership with BVGroup, the top-flight online betting operator and B2B technology solutions provider.
According to the deal, BVGroup’s brands, including BetVictor, Betano UK and others, will be provided with BETER’s Esports Odds Feed, an end-to-end trading solution which covers 450+ esports tournaments worldwide with the highest odds uptime in the industry of 90%+.
This means that their players will get access to odds for more than 40,000+ live and pre-match events per year, further enriching and improving their Esports wagering experience with the brand.
Odds are calculated using official data and compiled by BETER’s in-house team of expert Esports traders for in-demand disciplines such as CS2, Dota 2, League of Legends, Valorant and many more.
The extended partnership further establishes BETER as the go-to provider of Esports content and data for the biggest operators in the business. Indeed, the provider’s fast-betting experiences have proved to be a big hit with significant player groups such as Millennials and Gen Z.
BETER and BVGroup have a longstanding partnership in place with the operator offering the provider’s proprietary ESportsBattle tournaments, which cover eFootball, eBasketball, eHockey and CS2, as well as Setka Cup table tennis tournaments to its players. Combined, this gives players access to more than 45,000 monthly events.
Gal Ehrlich, CEO of BETER, said: “We are thrilled to have strengthened our partnership with our good friends at BVGroup and for its brands to provide players with an enhanced Esports betting experience.
“Esports betting is a significant vertical in its own right with players demanding a great selection of markets and the best-priced odds. By combining official data with expert traders, we can provide our partners with highly accurate odds for Esports tournaments worldwide.
“We have already enjoyed a hugely successful partnership with BVGroup, but this enhanced agreement will really take it to the next level.”
Eoin Ryan, Director of Sportsbook at BVGroup, added: “BETER has proved to be one of our most important partners, allowing us to deliver fast betting content to players at our sportsbooks.
“The success of this made us want to deepen our collaboration by taking the provider’s global Esports data and odds, allowing us to offer bets on more than 40,000 events across major disciplines such as CS2, League of Legends, Valorant and others.
“It’s partnerships like this that ensure our sportsbooks remain the go-to sports and Esports betting brands of choice for players in core markets across the world.”
The post BETER and BVGroup extend partnership on global Esports coverage appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
PandaScore, the award-winning provider of esports odds, stats and betting products, has signed a major deal with leading sportsbook and platform provider Amelco, as the supplier looks to enhance its esports betting offering.
Established as one of the world’s leading sportsbook and platform providers, Amelco is the partner of choice for the likes of Fanatics, Hard Rock Bet, Entain, BET99, and Flutter Entertainment.
Under the deal, Amelco will integrate PandaScore’s full suite of esports solutions into its offering. This will include its odds and stats, as well as its esports betting products such as its Bet Builder, Player Props and Micro Markets.
PandaScore’s odds feed is powered by a sophisticated model that leverages AI and is backed by a team of experienced traders, with specialist traders for certain disciplines. This covers the likes of CS2, Dota 2, LoL and Call of Duty.
Amelco will also benefit from PandaScore’s stats offering which provides real-time statistics for LoL, CS2, Dota 2 and all major esports titles. This includes extensive in-depth data points coverage, delivered in real-time with just 300ms latency from the original stream.
When combined with PandaScore’s innovative Player Props, Bet Builder and Micro Markets, it makes for the complete esports offering, allowing Amelco’s operator partners to offer an even wider selection of Esports than ever before.
Oliver Niner, Head of Sales at PandaScore, said: “Amelco is a top-tier technology company and platform supplier and understands the need to provide its customers with a proven esports betting solution and that’s exactly what PandaScore offers.
“The demand for esports betting is big – and only getting bigger – with more operators now wanting to make a play in the space. To do this, they need to be able to offer an authentic betting experience and Amelco can now provide this to its partners using PandaScore’s award-winning solutions.”
Brandon Walker, Head of Business Development at Amelco, added: “Esports betting is a huge business, and as one of the world’s most comprehensive sportsbook and platform providers, we want to ensure we offer our operator partners the very best.
“We’re excited to be partnering with PandaScore to boost our esports offering even further, and we see this partnership as a fantastic way to bring even more value to our offering. We look forward to many successful years of working together.”
The post PandaScore boosts Amelco’s esports offering with sportsbook integration appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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