Grant Johnson, Esports Entertainment Group Chairman and CEO: ‘We provide all esports and iGaming enthusiasts with an opportunity to invest in the growth of esports for years to come’

From the time of its inception, the internet has impacted various industries tremendously. The growth of the internet has transformed the way businesses functions, and we must accept that the gambling industry has experienced the most change. From a very humble beginning, online gambling has now become a multi-billion dollar business quickly. There are certain scores of online gambling operators who provide gambling and entertainment services to users all over the world. The online banking options that gambling companies use are also completely secure and allow users to transfer funds with ease. Many sites even provide extra benefits to people using these services. One of the recent developments within online gambling systems is esports. With its highly volatile digital nature, esports has created a potential for unique interconnectivity and unprecedented involvement. While some of the aspects of esports are misunderstood fundamentally, a closer look at the same reveals how beneficial it can be to the betting industry. From attracting new viewers to adopting the latest technologies in viewing, there is a lot of untapped potential in the iGaming and esports world that must be covered extensively. Online gambling in esports is an excellent avenue because you choose from a wide variety of free and paid games, play more, and save money. It is also a wonderful learning opportunity for users, and if you choose to gamble responsibly, you can have lots of fun.

Globally there are various companies offering excellent online gambling services, but Esports Entertainment Group stands out from the rest. Esports Entertainment Group is a full-stack esports and online gambling company fueled by the growth of video-gaming and the ascendance of esports with new generations. The company’s mission is to help connect the world at large with the future of sports entertainment in unique and enriching ways that bring fans and gamers together. Esports Entertainment Group and its affiliates are well-poised to help fans stay connected and involved with their favorite esports. From traditional sports partnerships with professional NFL/NHL/NBA/FIFA teams, community-focused tournaments in a wide range of esports, iGaming, and casinos, and boots-on-the-ground LAN cafes, EEG has influence over the full-spectrum of esports and gaming at all levels. Esports Entertainment Group was founded in 2008 and is based in Birkirkara, Malta.

In conversation with Grant Johnson, Chairman and CEO of Esports Entertainment Group

Q. A major problem that gambling companies face is low transaction processing speed. How do you overcome this issue?

There are a few things here that actually pay into players overall commenting on low transaction processing speeds at other competitor sites. First up is approvals and checking into accounts to ensure there are no minors, players coming in from countries where gambling is not legal or where we do not hold the license to operate in. Every site has to check to ensure that they are only allowing applicants of legal age and running these things by the books. We are a publicly-traded company on NASDAQ and always put security following the laws first.

For payment processing for our offerings, we have a diverse range of alternative payment methods that are localized to suit individual country flavor. Ensuring there is a popular method always available to the player in every country we work in and using the latest Visa/MasterCard technology allows our sites to have fast & secure processing globally. Processing speeds themselves are not usually a problem. It depends on how many API calls are in the chain, but this is rarely an area where serious issues occur. On that front, we do utilize top-of-the-line secure servers on our backend, and we’re working with our payment processing providers to ensure our traffic gets priority. Paired with a wide variety of processors in every territory, we know we offer one of the quickest and most frictionless services in our industry.

Q. The online gambling market competes directly with the video game industry for players’ time and money. The heat is increasing on online gambling market. How do you manage to make casino games more realistic?

While it’s true that everyone ultimately has less and less time to dedicate to their hobbies overall as life gets more modern and thus more hectic, I think this is generally a misnomer with our customer base. ‘Gamers tend to be great at multi-tasking and focusing when needed. Videogames can, of course, be high-stake when playing, but even more so when you’re a fan, and you’re putting your money up to bet on your favorite sports team and choosing which teams will win a tournament cup for your most-followed games. So in esports participation, when playing versus betting actively and viewing the outcome, they are very different experiences, and players can separate them out quite easily. On the online casino gaming side, this is a very specific experience that players are looking for, one that would never be mistaken or confused with the enjoyment they seek out of a game like Call of Duty or Starcraft. Competition between players in an online multiplayer is great, but playing poker online against others or just the house or playing online slots fulfills a different desire altogether.

Q. Esports can be a volatile industry. It means that the exchange rate can move extremely quickly. In such cases, how do you protect the interest of the users?

We insulate the consumers and mitigate all risks from their standpoint. Our customers will always be able to wager and be paid out in their own local currency. Meaning they do not have to worry about the volatility of the currency market. We protect ourselves by exchanging foreign currency at the gate with our PSP partners and banks. That means we do not hold foreign currency or speculate on price. It’s a simple and effective approach and ends up being a win for both sides.

Q. How do you market your services?

We have multiple ways to get the word out about our online gambling and casino services and our esports tournaments, LAN centers, and other offerings. We do traditional Marketing and PR with online ads and direct email messages for certain campaigns, and we’ve done strategic partnerships in the esports and traditional sports arenas. As far as partnerships go, some of the more notable to date would be teaming up with Dignitas for VIE.bet to take fans behind the scenes more. In traditional sports, with the NHL, we have deals with the Kings, and on the NFL side, we have tournaments we’re hosting for the Eagles and the Ravens, for instance. These kinds of partnerships allow us to reach fans of videogames, esports, and competitive physical sports where we can swirl up all the things they love and add value to them.

“Governed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as, gambling commissions and regulators in multiple jurisdictions, our VIE esports wagering platform is safe and secure.”