Marek Suchar: “Profitability comes when you treat esports as its own vertical”

In this exclusive interview, Marek Suchar, Oddin.gg's Co-founder & Managing Director, Partnerships, talks about the company's rapid growth in Latin America and the appeal of esports betting that focuses on mobile-first and live-betting experiences. Suchar addresses a common painpoint in the industry, and especially among companies that seek to break ground into the vertical - profitability. He argues that success in this sector of the industry depends on treating it as its own vertical. Esports betting may have been snubbed in the past, but it has a wide appeal - from Gen Z to traditional sports bettors, Suchar argues. The winners would be those who realize and capitalize on this, Suchar suggests.

Q: Marek, we’ve only heard good things about Oddin.gg over the past few months. The company is clearly on an expansion course in Latin America, with licenses and partnerships across the region – in the City of Buenos Aires, Brazil, and beyond. What has made you seek to expand your offer locally?

We’re actively expanding in Latin America because the demand is already there—and it’s growing. Across our partner network, we’ve seen esports become a top-three vertical in several LatAm countries. In Brazil, one sportsbook even now ranks it just behind football. Argentina and Peru show strong engagement in titles like Counter-Strike 2 (CS2), League of Legends (LoL), and Dota 2, especially among younger, mobile-first bettors, and other countries like Mexico, Colombia, and Chile are following suit too.

That momentum aligns perfectly with our end-to-end approach. Oddin.gg is built for fast-paced, live betting experiences—and that's exactly how esports fans engage. We’ve also launched products tailored to this market, like BetBuilder, available pre-match and live—meeting local demand for personalized bets on familiar formats.

At the same time, we’re also working closely with regulators and operators—especially in Brazil—to ensure esports betting is both well-understood and responsibly implemented. Integrity and risk management are key pillars of what we offer, and that’s resonating here.

Put simply, we’re not playing a guessing game—we’re responding to clear signals from the market.

Q: One question that keeps coming up – and you’ve probably heard it asked many times – is: where does the esports vertical stand in 2025? There’s momentum, and esports is one of those verticals where people have been placing bets since competitive video gaming began. Yet, has the traditionally strong engagement from esports audiences translated into more significant business results?

It has. And not just from core esports fans.

We’ve seen strong and growing results across both sides of the esports spectrum: on one end, younger bettors engaging with live titles like Counter-Strike 2 and League of Legends; on the other, more traditional sports bettors drawn to eSimulators (or eSims)—our 24/7 head-to-head formats like eFootball and eBasketball, played in an ESIC-certified (Esports Integrity Commission), third-party partner studio.

For some of our partners, esports is already a top-3 vertical by handle. And in eSims, we’re seeing 8–15% of the handle of traditional sports equivalents—for example, eBasketball now reaches around 10% of the volume of basketball.

And the reason is simple: the offerings align with how different audiences behave. Live, event-driven formats for one group; familiar, always-on betting for the other. Both are valuable. But you need the right infrastructure to support them—and that’s where Oddin.gg shines.

Q: What do you think are the hurdles that still remain when it comes to esports adoption? Is it doubt over the sector’s profitability, fear that fans are perhaps a little too involved and savvy, or something else entirely?

A big part of it is mindset. For years, many sportsbooks approached esports like a traditional sport: add a feed, hope it works. But esports isn’t traditional—it’s fast, digital-native, and behaviorally unique.

The hurdle isn’t the audience—it’s the product fit. If you serve a Gen Z bettor a legacy interface and slow markets, they’ll head somewhere else. But if you give them in-play options, the markets they want, a modern front-end, and relevant titles—they’ll stay. Profitability comes when you treat esports as its own vertical, not as an afterthought.

Q: Can we realistically talk about esports ever matching the ROI of other products, such as traditional sports?

Esports is already proving itself as one of the fastest-growing verticals in betting. While it may not yet rival the overall volume of traditional sports, the growth trajectory is clear—and the engagement is real.

Tournaments in titles like Counter-Strike 2 and League of Legends routinely draw global audiences comparable to—or even larger than—some traditional sports fixtures. And the betting behavior reflects that interest. Across our partner network, the average esports stake is almost six times higher than the average stake on football (€29 versus €5).

More importantly, the year-on-year growth speaks for itself. Between 2023 and 2024, we saw a 106% increase in esports betting volume across the top four titles—CS2, Dota 2, LoL, and VALORANT.

So while ROI will always depend on execution, the foundations are definitely there. For operators who treat esports as a serious vertical—supported by the right data, infrastructure, and product layers—the returns can be very competitive.

Q: In a time of declining sports viewership and aging demographics, does esports still remain youthful, or was this purely a Millennial/Gen Z phenomenon?

Esports remains one of the few verticals consistently attracting a new generation of bettors.

For example, while the average U.S. sports fan is in their late 40s or early 50s (average age: 47), core esports bettors are typically in their 20s or 30s (average age: 24). They expect fast, interactive, mobile-first experiences—and they respond to live betting, instant markets, and personalized options.

eSims bettors, by contrast, skew a bit older. They often come from traditional sports but are looking for something more frequent, more available. That’s why eFootball and eBasketball work so well—they’re familiar, but constant.

So yes, esports is still youthful. But more importantly, it’s diverse. From a macro perspective, it bridges two types of bettors: digital-native and traditional. And that mix is what gives the vertical long-term potential.

Q: Is Oddin.gg optimistic about the esports vertical as a whole, and what is the next big thing you’re focused on?

Absolutely—we’ve built our entire company around it.

The next step is localization and intelligent expansion. In markets like the U.S. and Brazil, operators don’t just need esports content—they need regulatory clarity, tools built for their audience, and a partner who understands the nuances.

We’re continuing to invest in product—new formats, more markets, same game parlays, and more coverage for mobile titles, as well as eSims options for American football. But we’re also investing in relationships: helping regulators, educating operators, and showing what "doing it right" really looks like.

Esports isn’t a short-term bet. It’s a long-term opportunity. And we’re ready to support partners who see it that way.

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