Luckbox CEO Thomas Rosander has called for the establishment of an esports governing body to reduce risk and professionalise the industry.
He suggested the organisation would draw together publishers, esports platforms, and betting providers to ratify legitimate esports businesses and weed out the nefarious elements.
“We should have it for an integrity point of view as well, so that everybody knows that, okay, these guys are solid. We can work with them. And to do that, we really need that body, and that’s something that we have to create together as a business”, he said.
“It’s not just the operators, tournament organizers, players, and teams that need to be governed or have some kind of framework that they follow”, he added later, implying the need for publishers to be involved.
Betway esports director Adam Savinson agreed. “I think cooperation is pretty much your only answer. For something like integrity, most people will take off their competitive hat for a minute and work together, which I think is usually a good thing.”
However, he added that unique challenges face esports, which also need addressing. “There’s are a few problems with esports when it comes to the players themselves, particularly age with the regulation these days in certain jurisdictions. It’s very difficult to verify a random person on the internet, if they want to remain anonymous. It’s very hard to know who they are and how old they are. And there are huge fines for breaking these rules in certain places. So this is a huge problem”, he said.
“Really, the only way to solve this is to go to the platforms where they play and force verification systems in place and create rules across all tournaments that everybody follows, and the only way that happens is cooperation.”
Nuvei Lottery and Esports Head of Gaming Warren Tristram highlighted KYC as a critical element of legitimising esports in the eyes of the regulators. “It’s actually knowing your customer”, he said.
“Knowing who the individual is. So it’s having a mechanism to actually identify who those customers are against who the fraudsters are. And it’s being able to adapt to the environment as well. We often hear about AI and machine learning, tools and techniques with which you can actually look at trends from your data and try to close any potential loopholes.”
In a positive observation to close the session, Rosander reflected on attempts he’d made in the past to convince publishers, such as EA, to work with the gambling industry, “because it is a great monetiser”. But he said despite their “fingers itching”, ultimately, they decided the risk was too great.
However, he added that he felt the mood among publishers was changing and that such collaborations may be feasible in the near future. “Give it a little bit more time and I think it’s gonna happen”, he said.
