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.

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.” 

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.”