While the debate rages on about whether Esports betting should be treated as regular sports betting or as a class of its own, a number of startups and established gambling operators are already implementing their own variations of how they think the trade should be handled. For instance, gaming operators such as Pinnacle have already established dedicated Esports portals and are moving forward to implement more Esports-only offerings. Similarly, traditional sports operators have begun to acknowledge the impact that Esports is having on the industry and are thus including a range of Esports offerings alongside their long lists of traditional sports offers.
Pixel.bet is the newest entrant into the growing Esports betting industry. The Curacao-licensed operator which launched a live beta at the beginning of the year opted for an Esports-only approach in a bid to cater for the mobile-first gambling market. Despite being a newcomer to the frayed Esports industry, Pixel.bet has already proved to be quite a spectacle – it offers the usual selection of leading Esports and tournaments that are available on other popular and top platforms. According to the company, traditional bookmakers are not having much luck in attracting Esports bettors simply because of lack of understanding of what they want their betting platforms to be.
“Traditional operators are led by sports and casino — the whole branding, site experience and UX/UI in the products are dictated by this,” says Pixel.bet CEO Richard Smith. “Right now, I think it’s fair to say that most have not put the resource or hired the right people to drive this forward. It’s created a wonderful opportunity, though, for Esports-only brands and product innovation, with the up and coming Esports focused brands.”
Richard Smith believes that by being an Esports-only operator is going to help them in building community trust which the company thinks is very important. Pixel.bet is however not the only Esports-only proposition in the market right now but it is only bound to receive serious competition from Unikrn which is undoubtedly the leading market contender at the moment. Pixel.bet intends to follow in Unikrn’s footsteps and compete at the level of customer experience instead of price. Furthermore, the platform will be built based on feedback from Esports enthusiasts and this will probably see it soar to the top.
