Reimagining the future of betting sponsorship
At Engineered Impact we’re looking to reimagine the future of regulated betting sponsorship by building a brand-new narrative with esports teams and tournament organisers over the next five years.
What we’re doing
We will shape this narrative by taking the key safer gambling and community investmentlearning from the football sponsorship environment and applying it to esports and tournamentsin order to address two key pillars:
Creation of a low-touch, high-impact quality-assurance, governance and sponsorship ready framework for esports teams and tournaments organisers which allows them to be certified, trusted and recognised partners for licensed and regulated UK or EU betting operators.
Creation of a low-touch, high-impact quality-assurance, governance and sponsorship ready framework for betting operators which allows them to be certified, recognised and trusted as a sponsor for the esports environment.
The Specifics
Engineered Impact will act as a channel between the two worlds of esports and betting, using the team’s knowledge and experience of both sectors, allied to a background in accreditation and certification, to inform its work. We will identify and address the challenges which the creation of a framework will pose and create an overall standard which will be a benchmark of excellence for esports teams and betting operators, creating a mutually beneficial and trusted sponsorship collaboration. Furthermore, we will look to eliminate consumer protection and governance concerns, creating a standard that enables and prioritises investment into grass-root and professional esport teams and better supports the development of grassroots esports too via donations.
The standard will offer a framework for both esports teams and betting operators which looks at a range of business and operating factors, ranging from company registration and status, operating history, risk & compliance, HR practices, company culture, safeguarding and well-being of personnel, governance as well as experience of sponsorship protocols and delivery. This will be evidenced through the use of Engineered Impact’s own CMR platform to upload evidence which can be measured against our standard.
Framing betting sponsorship in a way that is built on trust, integrity, certificated suppliers and delivers ROI to both parties and the wider esports ecosystem is what we are seeking to achieve. Supporting the wider (and grassroots) esports ecosystem is important, so such things as making community grants available and facilitating donations to develop local case studies of impact will be critical to evidence a reimagination of sponsorship, specifically for the esports sector.
It’s important to note the breakdown of esports players and fans / consumers with regard to age, remembering too that competitive gaming is relatively speaking young, dating back to the 1970s through to the 1990s, but the ‘ecosystem’ then being an entirely different thing to what it is today.
The term ‘esports’ itself was only popularised in the early 00s, and the sector emerged and grew with the onset of associated technologies and access; from video games themselves, to the platforms (PC, Console, Mobile), to the internet (speeds and access), live production, streaming platforms, gaming peripherals and more. Communities were created, and in-person events such as DreamHack (LAN events) began to emerge.
In 2025 the Esports World Cup boasts a prize pool of $70 million dollars with tournaments across 25 different esports titles, and professional players in multiple games earn eye-watering sums. The sector is experiencing a number of ‘growing pains’ but the demand for competitive gaming (esports) is plain to see, including both online and in-person viewership.
In June 2025, the BLAST.tv Austin Major, a Counterstrike event, sold out in half a day, selling close to 40,000 arena tickets, with 220M+ projected views across 150+ territories in more than 30 languages, 15 broadcast days and 59 hours all live from Austin, and an event set to deliver a $30M+ economic impact to the city.
We’ve mentioned the number of esports players and the industry’s overall worth but it’s important to note the breakdown of esports players with regard to age, remembering that esports first appeared as a tournament in 1972.
Estimates vary but there are a reported 318 million plus ‘esports enthusiasts’ worldwide, and 322.7 million occasional viewers. Importantly the breakdown of viewers are:
- Millennials (25–41 years old) – 50%
- Gen Z (16–24 years old) – 26%
- Generation X (42–56 years old) – 20%
- Baby Boomers (57+) – 4%
Our team
Growth of the Online Betting Sector & Context
The opportunity to effect this change is immediate and valuable given the stratospheric growth of esports in the last decade with its worth in 2023 at $1.72 bn and an expected rise to $9.29 bn by 2032. The number of players is also impressive with an expected 318 million esports enthusiasts around the world in 2025. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.7% from 2024 to 2032, potentially dwarfing the 7% CAGR of gambling which is a seriously impressive rise.
In 2024, online gambling revenues reached an all-time high of US$97.15bn globally. This is estimated to increase to US$132.90bn by 2029. The UK market is valued at US$13.78bn in 2024 and is projected to reach US$16.46bn by 2029.
Including front-of-shirt sponsorships and other sports-related deals as a whole, spending is estimated to be around £100-120 million annually
Connect with us
Connect with us to explore how we can elevate your esports team's sponsorship opportunities.
Get in touch