William Hill esports JV goes live
GLHF chief Niklas Grawé says new twin sites will bring entertainment to the esports community as well as a betting product
William Hill has launched its esports betting and free-to-play (F2P) product GLHF.GG.
The product, originally conceived by Mr Green before the Hills takeover, went live last Tuesday with a betting version at betglhf.gg and a F2P fan engagement site at glhf.gg.
The betting site is built on a GiG platform, with customers theoretically acquired and cross-sold from the sister site.
The engagement site offers a variety of esports streams, with customers getting XP for watching, that can then be used in an online store.
Players get more points for completing missions, challenges, quizzes and making match predictions.
The GLHF business is a joint venture arrangement with Gamingzone Entertainment, with Hills owning 55% of the shares in the business.
The JV is led by Niklas Grawé, the former chief commercial officer at the Swedish arm of 3 Mobile.
“We want to bring something new to the esports community, so we are not just focused on betting but on the entertainment aspect, so players are coming to the site every day, not just a round big tournaments,” Grawé said.
Grawé said the streaming site would therefore be a focus in its own right, with revenues coming from partnerships and advertising rather than just trying to cross-sell players.
“If players want to bet we will give them the opportunity, but we won’t be forcing it on them,” Grawé added.