Isle of Man licensed betting platform, Rivalry, is the latest esports focused sportsbook to adapt to changing player preferences by supporting payments through Bitcoin. COVID-19 has, in many cases, served as an accelerant to slow-burning changes in consumer behaviour and preferences. Most notably: the meteoric rise of esports betting. While many operators were left scrambling to adapt to the overnight demand, a select few, such as Rivalry, were perfectly positioned to capitalize on the pandemic pivot. Much like cryptocurrencies, esports betting is proving to be anything but a fad.

Forward-thinking operators like Rivalry believe esports provide a glimpse into the future of betting. Their average esports bettor is in their twenties – an early adoptor and digital native that is no stranger to Bitcoin, but maybe less so to traditional betting mechanics and terminology. This brings new opportunities for operators to reshape and reimagine the betting experience.

Rivalry CEO, Steven Salz adds – “Our integration with CoinCorner has allowed us to offer Bitcoin as a payment option to our players and further simplify the payment experience. It’s partnerships like these that help us evolve the betting experience for a new cohort of bettors that think and behave differently”. 

UK Bitcoin exchange, CoinCorner, has seen business appetite adjusting to accommodate the recent rise in demand for online banking and payment methods, with an uptick in businesses keen to introduce Bitcoin payments as a way to gain competitive advantage by opening up to new markets, receiving cheaper fees and no chargebacks.

Sam Tipper, Business Development Manager at CoinCorner, said: “Since I joined CoinCorner in 2019, we’ve been making huge strides in assisting businesses across multiple industries to accept Bitcoin – preparing them for the new reality of a changing payment landscape. This is particularly true for businesses regulated out of the Isle of Man, like Rivalry, who cater to a global market.”

While the gambling industry debates on the staying power of esports as a profitable betting market, operators like Rivalry are adapting with ease and transforming the betting experience to meet the needs of an evolving user base.

Aggregator and platform United Remote has announced a new partnership with online casino slots developer Wazdan to further extend its games portfolio and provide additional choice to the aggregator’s established B2B distribution channel.

United Remote is the conduit through which a range of innovative games studios can engage with best-of-breed gambling brands. United Remote has carefully assembled a differentiated portfolio of over 2000 entertaining, innovative and unique games that complement their own in-house titles, and this latest partnership with Wazdan brings a solid set of over 100 HTML5 games to the platform.

United Remote is a rapidly-growing aggregator, which has undergone a transformation over the last 12 months, extensively re-organising and redefining the core offering to reshape the way the company engages with operators, game partners and other stakeholders.

The company has successfully completed a period of intensive restructuring which has resulted in major technology and enterprise investments, with the organisational culture having been significantly reshaped to provide added-value to operators. In addition to technology investments and enhancements, United Remote has been adapting the agreements the company previously had put in place, de-risking the entire enterprise, and focusing very particularly on customer protection.

United Remote has on-boarded real-time tools as part of their renewed commitment to be in a position to give operators a bundle of tools that they will not find anywhere else which enable and accelerate, to drive engagement and revenue up.

United Remote has taken the strategic decision under CEO Jeremy Fall’s leadership to align with established aggregators who have critical mass to ensure maximum reach for their content partners. These powerful market-makers are drivers of putting partner games in front of more operators in more markets than ever before.

Multiple award-winner Wazdan has a stable of innovative slots, and a range of technology developed to position Wazdan at the forefront of the slots industry with the world’s first Volatility Levels™, Energy Saving Mode, Ultra Lite Mode and Ultra Fast Mode, central to the company’s mobile and player-friendliness, along with Unique Wazdan Features which generate added excitement  and fun for players.

Wazdan titles include mature classics such as Mayan Ritual™, Fruit Mania Deluxe, Sizzling 777 Deluxe, Hot Party Deluxe, Corrida Romance Deluxe, Football Mania Deluxe, Highway to Hell Deluxe, Fruits Go Bananas™, Spectrum and Los Muertos™ , while more recent releases feature games such as Reel Hero, Sonic Reels, 9Tigers, Black Horse Deluxe and Lucky9, amongst others. Wazdan’s latest release, Reel Hero, has already had great feedback from players, and was awarded ‘Slot of The Week’ by Slot Beats in June.

Andrzej Hyla, Head of Sales at Wazdan said: “This partnership with United Remote allows Wazdan to extend our reach further in certain key jurisdictions. 2020 is set to be a great year for fans of our games on the back of this new partnership with United Remote.”

United Remote Group CEO Jeremy Fall said: “We are delighted to be able to help boost Wazdan’s market expansion further with their proprietary technology-packed games. Wazdan’s hallmark for developing content that seamlessly transitions from the casino floor to mobile, tablet and desktop devices will add more exciting options for our operators and their players.”

Following the release of Blueprint Gaming’s blockbuster slot ted™ Megaways™, we caught up with Jo Purvis, the company’s Director of Marketing and Relationships, to find out more about the development of its latest slot featuring everyone’s favourite crude bear and what plans it has for the remainder of the year

European Gaming: You’ve just announced the release of ted™ Megaways™, what was the thinking behind creating a new slot that once again features the popular bear from the 2012 film?

Jo Purvis (JP): The original slot made a huge impact when it was first released a few years ago and is still one of our most popular slots today, with operators and players appreciating the way in which we brought the obnoxious bear into the casino world. So, it made sense to give it the Megaways™ treatment and add 117,649 different ways of winning. The latest iteration of the game has already caught the attention of the casino environment and it became one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of the year.

European Gaming: How does the gameplay differ from the original title that proved such a hit?

JP: The easy option would have been to simply add the Megaways™ mechanic to the original slot’s gameplay, but we were keen to develop a new game from scratch in order to bring in a range of new features that fans will love, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. Keeping the essence of the original hit, players will quickly discover that this latest instalment offers an even more raucous gaming experience.

Of course, the use of Megaways™ completely changes the base gameplay but we’ve also evolved the mechanic to introduce a few twists along the way. In addition to cascading wins and a mystery symbol that can appear on any spin, triggering the bonus round will present players with the option to take either 12 Thunder Buddies Free Spins or spin the Thunder Wheel to be awarded a random combination of free spins and minimum Megaways™.

As the rowdy bonus round progresses, players will earn additional free spins and power their way through the seven minimum ways ladder to reach the full Megaways™ gameplay by collecting ted™ symbols appear on the reels.

European Gaming: Blueprint has a strong reputation for delivering quality Megaways™ games to the market, how has the mechanic helped to broaden your slots portfolio? How do they compare with your in-house developed titles?

JP: Our Megaways™ titles have strengthened the Blueprint portfolio to become even more diverse, complementing in-house developed titles such as our Jackpot King releases and converted slots from the Reel Time Gaming (RTG) retail library. Our games feature a wide range of themes and styles, which makes us appealing to operators looking to offer a real mix of slots to their customers.

We’re proud of the way in which Blueprint has taken the mechanic to a wider audience and evolved the experience to a new level. We were the first to acquire the licence from Big Time Gaming (BTG), who did a magnificent job in creating an innovative concept that is enjoyed by players across the globe. What we’ve done is take it to new heights by incorporating additional functionalities. Our innovative Power 4 Slots concept is an example of this, allowing users to play across four sets of reels at the same time and receive an amplified Megaways™ experience as well as the number of winning combinations available.

Our contribution to the Megaways™ brand is significant enough that others are now looking at Blueprint as well as BTG to see what the next development for the mechanic will be. That includes how it can be utilised as a wider commercial asset, such as brand exclusive Megaways™ game, which other operators are now offering well after Blueprint started the trend.

European Gaming: ted™ Megaways™ follows on from recent branded releases such as Rick and Morty™ and Sausage Party, is there a particular reason why Blueprint decided to work with these brands?

JP: We have a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ approach to creating slots and these brands all fit the genre of game we’re looking to develop. Anyone who’s familiar with the films and TV show in question will know they’re not too serious and provide plenty of laughs, and that’s what’s we aim to achieve when adapting these kinds of brands into a slot game. Players will come back for more if they engage with the graphics, animation and sound alongside the game structure.

Developing branded games aren’t as straight forward as it may seem on the surface, with IP owners holding strict guidelines when it comes to games development. However, we work very closely with leading IP owners and we’re always the first to receive news of the latest licences available, as a result of our strong reputation for delivering quality branded titles.

European Gaming: Can you provide us with a sneak peak of what’s in store for the future from Blueprint?

JP: Branded games will continue to form part of our games roadmap and we’ve got new versions of Sausage Party™ and Rick & Morty™ coming out later this year that we’re really excited about. We’ll also be bringing some new blockbuster brands to the iGaming world for the first time that we’re certain Blueprint fans will enjoy.

The main aim is to carry on developing unmissable gaming experiences for players and provide operators with a diverse range of games to choose from as they evolve their online casino offering. We have more Megaways™ releases and converted RTG titles in the pipeline too. Rest assured, we’re in for a busy end to the year!