Advertising measures in the eSports sector are not worthwhile? Direct sponsoring of players and streamers appeals to only a few direct customers? Anyone who follows this line of thinking has yet to really get to grips with the mechanics of eSports.
It is the Twitch streamers in particular who have a huge fan base. For online bookmakers, i.e. eSports betting providers, they are the ideal influencers to target their own offers.
One of the most famous Twitch streamers xQc was quite open about his partnerships a few days ago. xQc – real name Félix Lengyel – gave figures that are somewhat surprising, even for experts in the industry.
Huge sum of promo codes for betting companies
The streamer has stated that he has generated $119 million worth of promo codes for his partner Stake.com through his channel over the past few months. Specifically, his followers have redeemed the three-digit million sum at the bookmaker and bet on it.
At first, the figure seems almost unreal, but it is indirectly confirmed by other Twitch streamers. Trainwreck, another well-known streamer, has made similar statements without giving direct figures. The real deals of xQc and Trainwreck are not known. The only thing that is clear is that both streamers are sponsored.
According to Twitch player Mizkif, gambling companies are ready to invest up to $10 million in a successful streamer. The figure shows that Return of $119 million in favor of Stake.com is far from unrealistic. According to Mizkif, hardly any streamer can resist such deals.
Controversial debate within the gambling scene
The fact is, the deals are controversial in the streamer scene, but also in the fanbase. There are some critics who accuse Twitch streamers of simply being “greedy for money” without regard to possible gaming addictions among followers.
xQc openly confesses
However, xQc has been putting a stop to exactly this criticism for quite some time now. xQc has already admitted that he was addicted to gambling in the past. Félix Lengyel lost a whopping two million dollars in online casinos and was even exposed in public by his father as a result.
However, the successful Overwatch player has recently emphasized several times that he can afford the stakes and that he very consciously returned to online gambling. To what extent the sponsorship deal with Stake.com plays a role at this point can only be speculated.
Stake.com in detail
Stake.com has become one of the financially strongest big players in the virtual gambling scene. The online provider focuses on eSports betting, sports betting and an online casino sector. All deposits and withdrawals at Stake.com are made in cryptocurrencies. The betting provider is verified by the Crypto Gambling Foundation.
The supposed partnership with xQc belongs to the “unofficial sponsorships”. However, Stake.com is also good with public sponsorships. For example, the betting provider supports the footballers from Watford FC. A stream deal exists with the Canadian rapper Drake. Footballer Kun Agüero was won over as a brand ambassador. Stake.com is also an official premium partner of the UFC fight series.
The betting platform is backed by Medium Rare N.V. The company holds a valid gambling license from Curacao. All security standards are met.
