esports is a sleeping giant

As interest in virtual sports betting continues its steady climb, Serhii Kurdas, Head of Virtual Sports at DATA.BET, shares how data, speed, and flexibility are shaping player engagement and operator value, what’s driving the growth, what players love, and what’s coming next. 

Interest in virtual sports continues to grow. How would you describe their current performance in the market? 

Interest in virtual sports continues to grow steadily, and the current performance strongly reflects this trend. Our results for 2025 show consistent growth across all key metrics compared to the previous year, confirming its increasing relevance for operators.

Over the past year, the number of active users grew by 68%, while GGR increased by 21%. In parallel, coverage expanded significantly, with the number of available virtual sports events rising by 74% in 2025

This growth was driven by broader content availability, improved product quality, and increased player engagement. Taken together, these results indicate strong performance and demonstrate that this vertical is becoming a more established and valuable part of the overall betting offering.

Which external factors do you believe have had the most tremendous impact on the growing popularity of virtual sports among players?

The most significant external factor behind the growth of virtual sports was the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. During that period, traditional sports competitions were suspended, leaving players with minimal betting options.

As a result, many players shifted their attention to virtual sports, which remained available and uninterrupted. This led to a sharp increase in activity and strong growth across all key performance indicators, marking a turning point in the popularity of virtual sports.

What do you think attracts players most to virtual sports today: the fast-paced format, predictability, visual content, or the ability to place bets 24/7?

In my view, it is a combination of several factors, but the most important one is the speed of bet settlement. Players can place a bet and receive a result within seconds, creating a fast, engaging experience and keeping interest high.

Another major advantage of virtual sports is the wide variety of offerings available. Players can choose the type of experience that suits their preferences. Some enjoy cyber football in the classic 11-a-side format, others prefer cyber futsal, while some are drawn to formats like Volta, where matches are played three-on-three with open goals.

Beyond football, players can also bet on e-basketball, e-streetball, e-hockey, e-tennis, e-cricket, as well as various fighting disciplines such as Mortal Kombat, Boxing, and UFC.

This diversity ensures that every player can find an option that matches their interests, which is a key driver of the ongoing appeal of virtual sports.

Which types of virtual sports content currently show the highest engagement?

As with sports betting, player engagement in virtual sports is concentrated in the most familiar disciplines. e-Football and e-Basketball currently have the highest levels of engagement because they closely replicate the structures, rules, and dynamics players already know from classic sports.

Their popularity is driven by strong familiarity and ease of understanding, making them accessible to a broad audience and consistently attractive across markets.

How does DATA.BET supports its partners in developing and scaling virtual sports betting?

DATA.BET supports its partners by placing strong emphasis on flexibility, customization, and long-term scalability. We work closely with each client and aim to accommodate their specific requirements wherever possible.

With our own production studio and a dedicated team of professional analysts and risk managers focused exclusively on virtual sports, we can create bot-driven matches tailored to individual requests. This may involve launching entirely new disciplines or producing country-specific championships in response to client demand.

We also offer one of the widest betting lines for events. In addition to standard markets, we provide betting on detailed statistics. For example, in our e-Basketball tournaments, players can place bets on two-point and three-point shooting statistics, while in e-Football, markets include yellow cards and corner kicks.

In parallel, we deliver a high-quality portfolio of matches featuring professional players, further enhancing realism and engagement. Most importantly, our solutions are designed to deliver strong margins, supporting both growth and profitability as operators scale their offerings.

How do you see the role of virtual sports over the next few years?

Virtual sports will continue to develop over the coming years, and the number of players who enjoy betting on these formats is expected to keep growing.

While sports and esports will naturally continue to have broader reach, virtual sports play an important complementary role within the overall betting ecosystem.

They provide operators with a reliable and engaging addition to their core offerings, helping to diversify content and maintain player interest alongside classic sports and esports.

What trends in virtual sports do you believe will have the biggest impact on player engagement?

The speed of bet settlement will have the greatest impact on player engagement. We already offer e-Football formats where players can place bets and receive results within seconds, creating a fast, highly engaging experience.

We plan to take this even further with the next step, which is expected to increase player engagement in virtual sports further. More details will be shared soon.

Alongside settlement speed, the shift to mobile is reshaping how players interact with content. Mobile devices now account for the majority of all bets placed, and that share keeps growing.

In response, we recently launched In-Stream Betting – a frontend overlay that brings markets, odds, and bet slips directly into the live stream, so players never have to leave the broadcast to place a bet.

We launched it first with virtual sports, making it a natural fit for fast-paced content where immersion matters most. For operators, this means stronger engagement metrics and longer sessions – delivered through a lightweight integration that requires no backend changes.