A winning bet –why African sportsbook operators are going all in on esports  

Oliver Niner, Head of B2B at PandaScore, says esports betting is a must-have and that
reseller partnerships such as its recent deal with FeedConstruct are allowing it to quickly build
momentum in the region esports Africa

Just how big is esports betting in Africa and what makes it so popular with players?

It’s a massive opportunity that a growing number of operators from small local brands to
international power players are looking to explore. The market is predicted to be worth around $45m
per year by 2029 and provides operators with an opportunity to engage the next generation of
players and deliver the betting experiences they are seeking. Esports has become popular for several
reasons, including the dominance of a young, tech-savvy demographic that often makes up the
biggest chunk of the population in most African countries. These consumers now have much better
access to smartphones and PCs, and internet connectivity has drastically improved, too. Combine
this with the rise of streaming platforms like Twitch, and the roll-out of local esports teams and
tournaments alongside a thriving ecosystem, and it’s easy to see why it’s ridden such a steep
upwards trajectory.

Do African operators fully understand the esports betting opportunity?

Some do, some don’t – but this is still the case in most markets. Generally speaking, African
operators do understand that the largest addressable audience in each market skews younger than
elsewhere and this needs to be reflected in the content and betting experiences they offer. Of
course, it’s still early days for esports betting but the demand is very much there – PandaScore
recently passed €1bn in bets through our platform – and savvy operators are making a move into the
space now to a) leverage the first mover advantage and b) connect with players and foster brand
loyalty with them while the market is less crowded that it will be. As more operators do launch
esports betting, especially the tier ones, it will be a catalyst for their rivals to follow suit.

How does your recent partnership with Feed Construct help you support operators in Africa?

Our partnership with FeedConstruct expands our reach in Africa, a high-growth market for us where
we are already proving operators with our esports odds, data and betting products. But through
FeedConstruct, we can get PandaScore in front of more high-calibre operators than we have
previously been able to reach. Many of these operators would not have access to our solutions
without them being made available through FeedConstruct as they simply can’t allocate the
resources required to undertake a direct integration with us because they are so focused on their
core sportsbook offering – despite the size of the opportunity, esports is still considered a “nice to
have” by a lot of operators, especially those with finite resources. But by accessing PandaScore
through FeedConstruct, the integration is almost frictionless and requires next to no tech resource.

What makes Feed Construct such a good distribution partner for the region?

FeedConstruct works with a lot of mid-tier brands that want to add esports betting to their offering
but don’t have the resource to allocate to a direct integration with a provider such as PandaScore. By
integrating our data and odds through FeedConstruct, we can overcome this technical debt and
provide operators with quick, easy and cost-effective access to our award-winning solutions. It’s also
important to highlight the technical prowess that FeedConstruct has within its platform, as well as its

ability to aggregate high quality data from various suppliers, now including PandaScore. This ensures
the operators that access our data and odds get the same quality product as those who partner with
us directly. esports Africa

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How does PandaScore improve Feed Construct’s esports offering for operators?

We are actually one of the first esports data and odds providers to be added to the FeedConstruct
platform, so ultimately, we provide its partners with the ability to move into esports betting for the
first time. Interest in esports betting, especially among African operators, is really hotting up and
these operators are turning to their platform partners to provide the solutions they need to do so
and by partnering with PandaScore, FeedConstruct can strengthen its position in Africa as a leading
platform provider and aggregator.

Are resellers a key route to market for you in Africa? What makes them so effective?

They are incredibly important as they ultimately give operators access to PandaScore, access they
would be unlikely to have without them. As much as we would like all operators to prioritise adding
esports betting to their proposition, we are realistic that they have many things to spend tech
resources on – such as adding new sports markets, improving their casino offering, onboarding more
payment providers, etc – and that resellers are the only way from them to make a move into esports.
That’s why for us, resellers are a key route to market and a major driver of new operators coming to
PandaScore and using our esports data and odds.

What can we expect from PandaScore in the months ahead?

More reseller and operator partnerships, for sure. We are also adding new disciplines and markets to
our data and odds feed so that it continues to set the standard for others to follow. The team is
working hard to bring more value to our reseller partnerships by bringing additional PandaScore
products into the mix, including our hugely popular pre-built BetBuilder. That’s not all – we’ve just
rolled out an innovative AI-powered StoryBuilder tool with a daily fantasy sports product set to hit
the market any time now.