Speaking on a panel during the SBC Digital Summit, Dobbin (pictured) explained how esports had blossomed following a difficult period of education for traditional sports bettors.

“There was an education process first of all,” he said. “There was a lot of flooding of customer support originally about how they can end matches so quickly etc. But now there’s more understanding, and customers have shifted their betting patterns towards what is of interest to them.”

According to Dobbin, esports has not only provided a valuable substitution for regular sports betting, but has driven acquisition levels in some situations.

“It has been a huge acquisition driver when we cater it towards a specific community,” he adds. “One of our local celebrities had a challenge with another one in a FIFA match and it was a fantastic acquisition driver in the region.”

Despite this success, Dobbins said online casino is still the biggest revenue generator for Sportingbet in South Africa, with the country only recently permitting betting on the fixed-odds online casino games.