DATA.BET Reports Sharp Q1 Esports Growth, Rolls Out Prediction Markets Product

DATA.BET, a Limassol-based sportsbook and esports solutions provider, says its esports product delivered a sharp rise in gross gaming revenue (GGR) and turnover during the first quarter of the year, according to comments the company’s head of sales, Otto Bonning, made in an interview at iGB L!VE. The growth builds on a vertical the company considers central to its identity in the industry.

“Esports is our heritage,” Bonning said, pointing to the company’s roots as a specialist in competitive gaming markets before it expanded into traditional sports and virtual sports betting. That heritage is now translating into measurable commercial momentum, with the company pointing to Q1 performance as validation of its continued investment in the vertical even as it pushes into new product lines.

Betting Operators Get a Broader Product Beyond Esports

DATA.BET has built its business by supplying odds feeds, risk management, and single-page application (iFrame) integrations to sportsbooks, casino brands, and platform providers. The company reports covering more than 92,000 monthly events across sports, esports, and virtual competitions, with esports coverage spanning more than 30 titles including CS2, Dota 2, Valorant, and League of Legends across Tier 1-4 tournaments. On the traditional sports side, DATA.BET covers more than 60 pre-match and over 35 live disciplines, including NFL, NBA, MLB, and Premier League markets, alongside 88 dynamic virtual sports markets in eFootball and eBasketball.

That esports specialty remains a growth driver even as the company diversifies its offering. Earlier this month, DATA.BET partnered with South African operator Hollywoodbets to launch a dedicated esports betting product featuring more than 770 markets across 30-plus disciplines and over 10,000 monthly events, backed by DATA.BET’s managed trading and risk services. The company says the partnership gives Hollywoodbets access to its full esports ecosystem, including odds feed, Bet Builder, widgets, and streaming, with market availability above 90% and system uptime of 99.99%.

“This partnership is about giving Hollywoodbets a complete esports product they can launch with confidence,” Bonning said of the South Africa deal. “The iFrame removes integration complexity, and with risk management and trading on our side, they get strong margins and a consistent user experience from day one.”

Prediction Markets Become the Next Frontier

Alongside the esports momentum, DATA.BET has rolled out the first version of a standalone prediction markets product that operators can integrate alongside their existing sportsbook offerings. Bonning was direct about why the company sees this as essential rather than optional. “If you don’t have prediction markets added into the sportsbook today, I think you’re losing out a bit,” he said, adding that platform providers in particular “need to have it” as part of a modern sportsbook stack.

The initial version of DATA.BET’s prediction markets product does not touch sports betting directly. Instead, it focuses on political and weather-related markets, deliberately staying separate from sports outcomes for now. Bonning confirmed the company is already considering a second version later in the year, though it has not committed to crossing into sports-based prediction markets yet, calling that a decision still under evaluation rather than a settled roadmap item.

The move mirrors a broader industry shift, as prediction markets from operators like Kalshi and Polymarket continue to draw attention from bettors who might otherwise be placing traditional wagers through a sportsbook. DATA.BET’s decision to offer prediction markets as a bundled, standalone vertical reflects an attempt by B2B suppliers to give operators flexibility without forcing them to choose between product categories. By keeping the launch product focused on non-sports markets, the company appears to be testing operator and bettor appetite before deciding whether to compete more directly with sports-focused prediction platforms.

Expansion Beyond LATAM Into Africa and Asia

Geographically, DATA.BET has been especially active in Latin America, a region Bonning described as a long-standing focus for the company as it works to help operators build out their offerings in the market. Heading into the back half of the year, the company is now turning attention to Africa and Asia as newer growth regions, following the Hollywoodbets partnership in South Africa as an early example of that push. Bonning called esports an emerging vertical in South Africa specifically, suggesting the company sees longer-term upside in markets where esports betting is still in its early stages of adoption.

The timing lines up with a packed 2026 sports calendar, and DATA.BET has previously signaled it is preparing its full market coverage, including player props, ahead of major events later in the year. For a B2B supplier competing against other odds-feed and platform providers, that kind of event-driven readiness is often as important commercially as any single new product launch.

A Supplier Betting on Diversification

For operators evaluating sportsbook technology partners, DATA.BET’s combination of esports depth, expanding sports coverage, and now prediction markets positions it as a supplier trying to cover multiple emerging betting categories under one roof rather than specializing narrowly in a single vertical. Whether that strategy pays off may depend on how quickly prediction markets mature as a category and how much of that growth operators end up capturing through B2B suppliers like DATA.BET rather than building the technology themselves.

As more operators weigh whether to add standalone prediction markets to their existing prediction markets offerings, DATA.BET’s early, non-sports-focused rollout gives it a foothold in the category without yet competing head-on with dedicated sports-betting prediction platforms — a cautious first step that leaves room to expand later in the year if demand proves out.