Esports betting has spent years on the periphery of the sports wagering industry, dismissed by many operators as a niche audience and a future problem to solve.
Oddin.gg has spent those same years building the infrastructure to prove them wrong. 
The Prague-based B2B provider now powers esports betting products for some of the world’s largest sportsbooks, offering everything from odds feeds and risk management to always-on content and marketing services. Named the fastest-growing company in Central Europe by the Deloitte Fast 50 for a second consecutive year and recently expanding its North American licensing footprint, Oddin.gg is in the middle of what its co-founder calls the market’s turning point.
We spoke with Marek Suchar, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Oddin.gg, about the debut of Penalty Arena, why he believes the operators who still treat esports as a side conversation are running out of time, and their theme at ICE: Make Every Minute Bettable
Your messaging at ICE Barcelona was built around “Make Every Minute Bettable.” What does that actually mean in practice?
One of the concerns we hear most often from sportsbook operators is the need to keep their customers engaged so that they have a consistent revenue stream. Every gap in content is a lost revenue opportunity and potentially even a lost customer.
The idea behind “Make Every Minute Bettable” is that when we think about what operators need to be successful long-term, it’s having bettable content available at every minute throughout the day. Adding to that, the content has to be appealing to a variety of audiences and be innovative, which will help them stand out from the competition.
What we’ve built solves that need on multiple levels.
- For live matches, our uptime for Counter-Strike 2 is close to 100%, with markets ranging from player props to round winner to series outcomes.
- We have eSims in which players in the studio compete head-to-head 24/7/365. No reliance on sports fixtures only.
- With the introduction of Penalty Arena, we offer a penalty-kick experience that keeps players engaged through voting and betting during each 90-second round.
- Lastly, the other new product we shared at ICE is our AI Avatars; we gave faces to bots so that now human-like avatars with personalities and emotions go head to head in our eFootball.
A bettor can come to any sportsbook leveraging Oddin.gg‘s solution at 3 in the morning and find something to engage with. That’s what making every minute bettable actually means.
Let’s talk about Penalty Arena. Where did the idea come from?
Penalty kicks are one of the most universally understood moments in football. Everyone, regardless of how much they follow the sport, knows it’s a key moment in the game. Plus, it’s fast action with high emotion.
We saw an opportunity to turn this excitement into a betting experience that builds on the fast-paced nature of eSims betting content. The result is a 90-second round with a live goalkeeper, referee verification, and a variety of markets to bet on.
On top of that, players vote on where they want the ball directed, so they’re involved in the action at every step. It’s fast to integrate and essentially turnkey for operators.
What we were going for was something that sits at the intersection of sports betting and entertainment without sacrificing integrity. The live studio element and referee verification were non-negotiable from the start.
With the World Cup coming this summer, how are you positioning Penalty Arena for that window?
The World Cup lifts football interest globally, including among people who don’t normally follow the sport. And the same goes for betting. We know from previous years that the World Cup is one of the most lucrative times for operators, and certainly when it comes to football betting.
But just because the matches end or there is a halftime, the interest from fans remains high, and operators are likely missing a significant opportunity to drive even more revenue during the downtime. Penalty Arena solves for that content gap.
But this is not a seasonal product. The format works outside of major tournaments and even the regular season. The fast-paced format fits anywhere in a sportsbook’s content mix, regardless of what’s on the schedule. We built it to have legs beyond the summer.
You’ve introduced AI-powered Avatar matchups for eFootball with digital players showing real-time emotions. What’s the vision?
We’ve taken the ‘standard’ bot and given it faces and personalities, essentially closing the gap between simulated matches and real ones. These avatars move and act in a way that appears completely natural, creating another layer of engagement, opening up further opportunities for xsell and upsell.
The emotional reactions from avatars at key moments in the game are part of what built that immersion and retention. When something significant happens in the match, the player reacts to it. That sounds simple, but it changes how the experience lands. These players also develop rivalries through their matchups. We expect that fans will develop loyalties similar as they would to human players. The line between live and simulated content will keep blurring, and that’s intentional.
Where does the U.S. market stand right now, and what’s still standing in the way of esports betting getting the same traction here that you’re seeing globally?
We’re making progress. We’re licensed in Maryland, New Jersey, Colorado, West Virginia, Ohio, Arizona, and Ontario. We’re also working with theScore Bet. So the foundation for growth is there.
Two things are still slowing us down. One is regulation, which moves state by state at its own pace. The other is education. A lot of bookmakers in the U.S. still see esports as a niche or a future problem to solve. That’s the same conversation we were having in other markets five years ago, and those same markets are now showing us esports in their top five sports by handle.
The audience in the U.S. is already here. We just have to do the same heavy lifting we’ve done everywhere else: show operators the data, make the case, and let the numbers do the talking. When you show a bookmaker that esports is sitting top five by handle for some books overseas, the conversation changes quickly.
What’s next for Oddin.gg over the next 12 to 18 months?
Given the opportunities on the market we have identified, we have started to build other verticals outside of Oddin.gg, with strong synergies with our core business. Oddin.gg has become one of the verticals under the wider Realms Group. At the same time, Oddin.gg will remain the true innovator in the market, continuing to create solutions that are focused on the esports fans, yet also on sports fans with an extra layer of engagement, such as Penalty Arena.
Operators who’ve been slow to invest in esports infrastructure are going to find themselves behind. We’ll be part of shaping that consolidation rather than reacting to it. The audience is here, the product is mature. The only question now is which operators are serious about capturing their share.
