The Danish esports team Ecstatic has forged a historic sponsorship deal with Gamban, a leading tool to block gambling apps and websites.
According to the U.K.-based Gamban, the partnership is the first known instance of a professional esports team selecting a company involved in the fight against gambling harm as its main sponsor.
“This is personal for me,” said Team Ecstatic co-owner Oliver “zipeL” Behrensdorff in an official announcement of the partnership. “I’ve had periods of problem gambling myself, and installing Gamban was my first step toward change. We’re not here to high-road anyone. We’re here to offer a lifeline to those who need one.”
Behrensdorff had been involved with cryptocurrency and online casino gambling.
As part of the partnership, Gamban and Ecstatic launched a Discord hub to bolster problem gambling awareness in the esports space.
“We want to build a community around gambling harm prevention,” Gamban co-founder Matt Zarb-Cousin told Gambling Harm. “I’m particularly excited to see how it goes.”
Choosing a Different Path
Unfortunately, many sports leagues and teams worldwide have partnerships with gambling operators. According to Gamban, two-thirds of clubs across 31 major European leagues carry betting sponsors.
Alarmingly, many esports teams have partnered with offshore casinos that lack minimal safeguards for problem gambling, Gamban said.
Instead of following the troubling trend, Ecstatic, which competes in Counter-Strike 2 (CS2), decided to go with a harm-reduction company. More than 80% of the top-50 CS2 teams are sponsored by gambling operators, according to Gamban.
At the time of the announcement, Ecstatic was ranked No. 33 in the world in CS2. Zarb-Cousin said Ecstatic has a global following and can help fight gambling addiction in Europe and beyond.
Zarb-Cousin noted that CS2 in particular can be a gateway for people to develop a gambling problem. He said skins gambling is a “significant component” of the CS2 world, and that casino derivative platforms exploit this form of betting.
“You have a lot of children and people under 18 gambling,” Zarb-Cousin said. “Every year, more and more young people are gambling. It’s a global phenomenon.”
In September, the U.K.’s Department for Culture, Media, & Sport released a report on the dangerous skins gambling ecosystem.
The study noted that Counter-Strike players started to engage in loot box-style gambling around a decade ago, and soon thereafter third-party websites started facilitating gambling using the virtual weapon skins as a currency.
Start of a Growing Trend?
Zarb-Cousin hopes the Gamban-Ecstatic esports partnership will be the first of many.
“For 10 years, Gamban has helped people block access to gambling on their devices and begin their recovery,” he said. “Partnering with a team that rejects gambling sponsorship entirely is a powerful first step. We hope this inspires others to invest in esports without exploiting addiction.”
Zarb-Cousin said he’s had conversations with other esports teams about potential sponsorship. It’s also possible that traditional sports teams will work with Gamban in the future.
“We’re independent of the gambling industry, and we have a positive message about how people can quit gambling. We’ve had some discussions outside of esports, but it’s at the early stages.”
Gamban blocks access to over 350,000 gambling websites, and it’s available in the Google Play and Apple App Store.
The blocking tool is available in the following countries:
- Argentina
- Australia
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Chile
- Colombia
- Ecuador
- Falkland Islands
- Finland
- France
- French Guiana
- Germany
- Guyana
- Japan
- Kenya
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nigeria
- Norway
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Spain
- Suriname
- Sweden
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
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