Exclusive interview with Serge Vardanyan, founder of WIN

"US states about to legislate should treat eSports betting in a similar way to traditional sports"

"Eventually, the International Olympic Committee will either cater to hundreds of millions of eSports fans the world over, or they’ll lose out on all of the accompanying interest," Serge Vardanyan says.
2019-05-07
Reading time 7:41 min
Vardanyan tells Yogonet that the company's recent entry into North America with its Winners League was a "success", and Winners.bet sportsbook is expected to launch this quarter. He finds "very disturbing" to see that New Jersey adopted a last-minute eSports betting ban, and encourages states to look at Nevada’s model instead. He quotes private projections that show eSports having more viewers (84 M) than every professional sports league short of the NFL by 2021.

eSports audience climbed up to 335 million in 2017, and it’s expected to reach 557 million by the end of 2021. A Newzoo's report projected global revenue in excess of USD 1 billion in 2019. In an exclusive interview with Yogonet, Serge Vardanyan, founder and CEO of WIN, says the broad growth of the industry "is only going to continue for the foreseeable future."

WIN is an eSports company with three primary product offerings. WIN.gg is a comprehensive eSports media outlet. It covers the most popular games in the industry, both with news reportage and game analysis, while also offering "the largest statistical database in the market." Vardanyan says they are also working on a machine learning framework that will allow them to provide "unique analytics to users."

Winners League is a product run through the popular FACEIT platform. It is currently in its second season of play and features some of the largest and most respected organizations in the industry. The brand recently expanded out League efforts from Europe to include North America and are further building both subscriber and viewer numbers.

The third division is Winners.bet, a sportsbook built and designed specifically for eSports. It is the company's only product yet to launch as it is currently in the process of getting licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority, but Vardanyan says they’ve made great progress in this regard and expect to launch this quarter. "Through these three unique products, we seek to satisfy the most pressing needs of eSports users. To follow the games they love, to compete, and to better enjoy watching professional teams and players," he remarks.

What feedback did you receive so far from Winners League Season 2, especially in North America? How would you say this momentum in the US sports betting affects or will have an impact in your business areas and projects?

We’ve been very happy with the feedback to our second season of Winners League. Our entry into North America was a success, as was the introduction of paid League subscriptions. The development of the gaming industry in North America is certainly something that we are both aware of and interested in. That being said, our first objective with regards to gaming is to establish ourselves in Europe. Once we’re further into our process and sports betting is better adopted in North America, we would certainly be interested in expanding those efforts beyond Europe just as we have successfully done with the League.

What new and potential demands do you identify from players, and what are your criteria and strategies in that sense to approach your target audiences?

We’re always listening not only to our players, but to all of our users. Any eSports fan is a potential customer of ours, and we want to make sure that we are always acting in a way that is in tune with their wants and needs. It helps that every member of our team is an eSports fan, a native of the space. We are a part of the community. That benefits us tremendously in understanding what users in the industry are most interested in and will best respond to. For example, we began including a new title Apex Legends in our offerings in direct response to the development of its community. We’re also building a native app to better cater our significant number of mobile users.

Can we have your current assessment of your recent deal with BetConstruct? Why did you choose that company and what are your prospects for the partnership?

BetConstruct was an obvious choice for us to partner with. They are an established and respected entity in the space, and more than that, they share our core values. They’re interested first and foremost in serving their customers and providing the best possible user experience. The value of that approach can’t be overstated.

eSports global industry


Technology consulting firm Activate projections for 2021.

Do you consider eSports are having their boom now, and they will manage to keep their position in the long term? What factors do you think are involved in this trend, and what are your personal prospects for it? Could it become a massive activity around the world in the near future?

Esports have been trending upwards for some time now and we don’t see it stopping any time soon. The industry represents a prime merger of sport, video games, digital culture, and social media. Every year, more and more non-endemic companies come to accept the growth and value of eSports as being real. The investment will continue to come, the advertising dollars spent in the space will continue to increase, and the number of fans and players alike will continue to grow as the industry further penetrates the mainstream. Such hearty investment will always see small bubbles pop up here and there as investors seek aggressively to find the right investment and to secure marketplace real estate. But the broad growth of the industry is only going to continue for the foreseeable future.

At III ISDE Fórum in Madrid last year, specialists said eSports need further professionalization and proper regulation in order to keep their growth. China and Spain governments recently showed some signals in that sense. What global or local policies do you think are still pending for eSports industry? Which jurisdictions would you identify as models in terms of regulation and resources?

We’re going to continue to see further regulation as eSports becomes more mainstream and, more importantly to those regulating bodies, as the industry continues to grow financially. The best thing for us to do is to monitor these governing bodies and maintain a healthy awareness of the steps they are likely to take in regulating the space. If and when those regulations should affect some or any part of our business model, we will be prepared for those changes and will act accordingly.

With this being said I think it is important for the US states that are adopting sportsbook legislations to make sure that they treat the eSports betting in a similar way that they treat betting on traditional sports. It is very disturbing to see that New Jersey who was fighting for regulated sports betting adopted a last minute eSports betting ban. The whole argument behind regulation was that the players are going to gamble in any way and that having the sportsbook legalized and regulated will increase the accountability of the operators and will allow the players to play in a safe and secure environment. We have to take into account that the players will still be betting on eSports, they will just do it with the illegal operators who don’t care for the safety or underage betting or implementation of safety tools such as self-exclusion. Answering to your question about the model for the regulation and resources, I’d say that the state of Nevada was more considerate by allowing eSports betting. I think other US states that are in process or considering adoption of new legislation should look at the Nevada’s model rather than the one that New Jersey adopted in regards to eSports. I also think that the role of self-regulated organizations such as Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) should increase and regulators shall be open to listen to the voice of the industry through these organizations.

What role does and will technology play in eSports development around the world? What impact will blockchain, AI machine learning and Big Data, for instance, have in the present and future of eSports?

Technology is hugely influential in eSports. It’s truly a digital medium, so tech culture lends itself very naturally to the industry. We’re already seeing examples of advanced AI being used in eSports with the successful OpenAI competing and winning against professionals players in Dota 2, and we’ll continue to see more like that in the future. We have our own interest in machine learning and data, as we are using these things to build out mechanisms to better support our users and to create projections for match results and proprietary ranking models.

NJGames expects USD 12,9 billion in eSports betting by 2020. Ian Smith, head of the Esport Integrity Coalition (ESIC) estimated a USD 130 billion revenue for eSports bets, and warned last year that wagering at eSports was problematic. What are your policies and resources to prevent fraud around this gaming vertical? What about gaming addiction? Could you give us some examples on these concepts?

We can’t really speak to the approach that other entities in the space might take with regard to these issues. For us, our responsibility is to each individual user of our products. It’s a responsibility that we take very seriously. We want our users to know that our gaming product is safe and secure, with a primary focus on meeting their needs and expectations. For example, on Winners.bet we’ve set some very strong anti-money laundering and KYC (know your customer) requirements and have implemented user-friendly self-exclusion and self-control tools.

What’s your position and expectations regarding the International Olympic Committee’s refusal to include eSports, with its president stating that violence has no place in the Olympics?

It’s not surprising, but it’s not alarming either. There will continue to be resistance towards eSports from some organizations that are older and more resistant to change. Esports is new and eSports is different. That’s not a comfortable prospect for some established industries that would prefer business models to be maintained flatly. Conversely, we’re attracted to the change that eSports represents. We like and appreciate that this is a new and developmental space. Eventually, those organizations that have ignored eSports will either come around or will simply lose out on the benefits that those who are more accepting will have received. Technology consulting firm Activate suggests that by 2020, 70 million people will watch a single eSports final, which is higher than the viewership for professional baseball, soccer, and hockey finals in the United States. By that time, consumers will consume 3 billion hours of eSports, which accounts for 10 percent of all sports viewing. Activate further projects that in the United States eSports will have more viewers than every professional sports league short of the NFL by 2021. They project that there will be 84 million eSports viewers, higher than the projected 79 million MLB viewers or the 63 million NBA viewers. Eventually, the Olympic committee will either cater to hundreds of millions of eSports fans the world over, or they’ll lose out on all of the accompanying interest.

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