But then there is also Stake.com, which does pop up pretty regularly these days in eSports. They have just become the only betting partner for the CCT, or Champion of Champions Tour, a really, really big international eSports tournament series put on by a company called GRID that is just really good at using video game data to enhance the competition in an event. Now this exciting partnership was announced in Berlin on October 16th. That's setting quite a stake, considering it is their first major foray into the world of eSports.
The Champions of Champions Tour is about multiple venues hosting the best eSporters as they go head-to-head in playing multiple games. With Stake's intervention, the tournament will now reach out to more viewers from all parts of the world and promise some exclusive content for the fans. This deal will also help Stake dive into the world of e-Sports and communicate better with this growing group of fans.
Akhil Sarin, the Chief Marketing Officer at Stake, said, “eSports is really important for our business, and working with a tournament like CCT, which shares our focus on new ideas and doing things well, is super exciting. We’re excited to bring special content that will make the tournament even better for fans and players.”
With the CCT, Stake proves that it really wants to be one of the leading players in competitive gaming moving forward. They are using GRID's data to make the tournament even more like a real sport, and they'll offer special betting options for people using Stake during CCT matches.
How lucky must the fans of both sports betting and video games be right now? Matches made in heaven do exist and one such example has taken place recently. Leading online sports betting platform Stake.com has partnered with a CCT - Champion of Champions Tour in what is a great sponsorship deal for both sides. With the increasing popularity of both sports bets and eSports, it makes sense for one of the best places to wager on to offer the users to place bets on their favorite video game pro teams. The partners realized the opportunity for mutual benefit and the fact that the markets overlap in an important way. Join us in diving deeper into this great development for the fans of wagering and gaming.
An Exclusive eSports Partnership
Stake.com has secured a very exciting long-term partnership with the eSports organization Team Secret and , a very popular professional gaming group that competes in titles like Rainbow Six Siege, Dota 2, League of Legends, Rocket League, Counter-Strike, and Valorant. They are a successful team with a lot of great showings and their rosters are always among the favorites to win the competition they are a part of. Stake’s logo is featured on their shirts, right on the shoulder, and goes great with their eye logo. An important step for the sports betting platform as they are entering the eSports scene, it is also great for Secret to have such an innovative and progress-driven sponsor backing them up. Team Secret was founded in August of 2014 by Clement “Puppey Ivanov, a veteran of Dota 2. They know what it means to dominate the competition, just like Stake knows what is like to be the leader in their own field. It is also more than a mere partnership since the two sides obviously share values and respect.
The fandom has certain expectations and they need to be met, whether it is by winning the games and making them proud to call Secret their favorite team or having the best way to place wagers on popular sports. Now, Stake users can bet on Secret’s matches and make use of the great odds. There is a VIP Club experience involved, different sporting promotions and bonuses, and more focus on the video game industry and market. Stake Sportsbook is only starting with this sponsorship since they want to continue growing in this direction and involving their platform even more in the ever-growing market which is video games. The partnership is meant to produce great online content and quality outcomes for the organizations, players, and the community.
Secret, Kick, Stake
Apart from their partnership with Stake.com, Team Secret has also made an exclusive deal with Kick.com, one of the best online video game streaming platforms available. By doing so, they have brought together a leading online gaming and betting platform and a dynamic live-streaming platform together. The potential here is immeasurable as all three sides are so keen on working together and joining these three areas of entertainment. eSports, streaming, and betting go hand in hand and this trilateral deal is bound to be fruitful for all sides. Innovation and breakthroughs are at the core of the philosophy of Stake and they are always on the lookout for new ambassadors and partners. Managing to strike a deal with a leading pro gaming team which also partnered with a live-streaming platform is something unprecedented.
Joining together the cutting-edge platforms allows the team to offer their fans a ton of new experiences, immersive engagement, and interactive brand connection. Streaming on Kick.com is made better when such a high-tier team is representing them, and the service already has strong bonds with some of the best streamers in video gaming. Adding Stake into the mix expands the reach and allows the streamer to spread awareness and introduce the viewers to a whole other type of gaming, one where you wager on the outcome of pro tourneys. And who do you back? Well, Team Secret and its players of course! Team staff regularly engages with fans through Kick and they will now also cater to their betting needs with fresh information and insights.
What is Kick Exactly?
Launched in 2022, the platform has garnered attention for its unique approach that caters primarily to gamers and streamers looking for alternatives to established giants in the industry like Twitch and YouTube. And they managed to disrupt the industry and change the landscape of streaming. Right now, they have many popular streamers who have fully committed to only streaming on Kick as opposed to its competitors. They include Hikaru Nakamura, xQc, Ice Poseidon, Amouranth, and Nickmercs. One of the founders of Kick is Trainwreckstv, a very popular gaming and gambling streamer.
One of the standout features of the platform is its focus on creator-friendly policies. Unlike many traditional platforms that impose stringent monetization rules and significant revenue cuts, Kick positions itself as a more equitable alternative. The platform offers an impressive 95% revenue share to streamers, allowing content creators to retain a larger portion of their earnings. Twitch, for example, takes 50%. This model has attracted a wave of talent from various backgrounds including established streamers looking for better financial incentives and newcomers eager to build their brands in a supportive environment.
Kick's user interface is designed to be intuitive visually appealing and easy for viewers to navigate through channels and discover new content. The platform emphasizes community engagement and features tools that allow seamless interaction between streamers and their audiences. Chat functionality emotes, and community-driven events are integral parts of the experience and a sense of belonging that many users crave in an increasingly competitive digital space.
In terms of content variety, Kick is home to a diverse range of streams and not only gaming. There are also creative arts, music, and IRL (in real life) content. This versatility attracts a broader audience ensuring that viewers can find something that resonates with their interests if that does not happen to be gaming. By promoting various genres, Kick differentiates itself from platforms that often emphasize gaming as the sole (or main) focus. This strategy not only expands its viewer base but also encourages streamers to experiment with different types of content. This then leads to innovation and cross-pollination of ideas.
Kick also taps into the growing trend of decentralized content creation. By leveraging blockchain technology, the platform aims to empower creators further by giving them more control over their content and data. This approach aligns with a broader movement within the tech industry toward decentralization and seeks to reduce the control of centralized entities over content distribution and monetization. For streamers disillusioned with traditional platforms, Kick represents an appealing alternative where they can have more autonomy.
Another noteworthy aspect of Kick is its integration with social media. The platform allows for easy sharing of clips and highlights, enabling streamers to promote their content across various channels effectively. This is vital in today’s digital ecosystem where cross-platform promotion can significantly enhance visibility and reach, both for the platform itself and the individual streamers. Streamers can leverage their existing social media followings to drive traffic to their Kick channels and create a synergistic effect that benefits both the streamer and the platform.
Kick is still in its early stages and faces challenges as it strives to carve out its niche in a competitive market. The platform continuously evolves and manages to address user feedback, expand its features, and attract a broader audience. Building a robust community and retaining creators will be critical for its long-term success and it is getting there with smart partnerships like the ones discussed in this article. Additionally, they aim to establish strong moderation policies to ensure a safe and welcoming environment for all users, which has been a contentious issue on other platforms.
Betting on eSports: How Does It Work?
Now that you are familiar with this amazing partnership, it is time to learn a bit more about how you can place a Bet on eSports on Stake.com and wager on Team Secret during their next tournament. If you are a fan of sports betting, you should know that it is quite similar in many ways. It is still a form of sport, meaning there are more ways any game can finish. This gives the punters ample opportunity to pick and choose the outcomes they deem likely and back it up with their money. Now, gaming is much more nuanced than sports and various niche bets can be placed. Let us see what you can pick and what it would mean for your potential payout.
The most common bet to make as well as the one with the least amount of risk involved is the outright bet. Here, you pick the winner of the game and that is it. If the team wins, you get the money. Easy. You could also pick the outright bet for the whole competition before it starts, effectively choosing who is going to take the title. This is a longer bet and one with a lot of risk, but also a choice that pays quite a lot if you manage to guess correctly. You could walk away with a hefty payout if you know enough about the scene and which teams are the favorites.
For anything deeper, you must first pick the game genre. There are very different games out there, with completely different gameplay mechanics and goals. For example, in MOBAS (Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas) like League of Legends and Dota 2, you can bet on the final score of the matchup, 2-0 or 2-1. Totals are also available where you pick over or under on the number of rounds, there will be. Map bets of different types are more specialized and cover anything that can happen in a game, like who draws first blood or how the kill is performed.
When it comes to FPS (First Person Shooters) there is a whole other set of possible bets to choose from. You can go with the usual bet of who wins the game and the tournament, but there are many more nuanced and specialized options. You can pick the number of rounds the match will take, who takes the first, the final score, the number of maps played or won, the list goes on. There is the over and under bet on the total amount of kills, the weapons used, which played gets the first kill, you name it. Games like Counter-Strike and Valorant have these and if it can happen in the game, you can bet on it.
Sports simulations like FIFA and Rocket League are largely the same as regular football and other sports. You can pick the winner, the number of goals, who scores first, and with which player… Sports bettors will find this very familiar and it could be the best place to start if you have never wagered on a video game before. Fighting games like UFC Street Fighter, and Mortal Kombat are similar to real life too where you can try to predict the winner, the number of rounds, and the manner in which the winner takes the fight.
Team Secret Awards and Honors
So far, Secret has had a lot of success in their main game Dota 2. From 2015 when they began their climb to the top, they have performed quite well across the board. At the Frankfurt Major in 2015, they were second. Their first tournament win came at The Shanghai Major in 2016 when they beat Team Liquid 3:1. They won another title in 2017 beating the same team 3:0 in DreamLeague Season 8. In 2019, they won both The Chongqing Major and the MDL Disyenland Paris Major and came in 4th at The International 2019. Their most recent title was the DreamLeague Season 13 win in 2020. Since then, they have a 3rd place at The International 2021 and second at The International 2022. Secret also won awards for Best Team Content and Most Creative Fans at the Riyadh Masters 2023. They were the eSports Team of the Year at the 2020 Awards. Their total winnings from Dota 2 are just under $19 million.
A Third eSports Sponsorship
Finally, it should be added that Stake has partnered up with another major player in the eSports sphere. After making deals with a professional team and one of the leading streaming platforms, the betting website now also struck a big sponsorship deal with Champions of Champions Tour. CCT, as they are known, is a large-scale Counter-Strike 2 event organized by GRID and Eden Esports. As the announcement on their socials states, Stake will be the exclusive betting partner for the English broadcast of the whole tournament, which is one of the largest demographics in gaming. It will be a great chance for the other sponsors as well as millions of fans to learn about the service while watching their favorite teams compete at the highest level of the popular FPS game. In its second run, the CCT has a $1.5 million prize pool. It ends in a major LAN finale that is to come at the start of 2025. The current champs are Eternal Fire from Turkiye who beat Team Liquid in May of 2024 for the first-ever CCT title. By partnering up with an eSports team, a video game streaming platform, and now a major eSports event, Stake’s intentions are more than clear. They have their sights set on the industry and it benefits all sides immensely.