Unibet has been revealed as the official betting partner of the Blast Pro Series.
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament is set to welcome six top tier teams to Copenhagen as they bid to take the lion’s share of the $250,000 (£190,000) prize pool. The tournament is organised by RFRSH, who also have ownership stakes in various esports organisations.
The first iteration of the tournament will take place in late November, with the grand final taking place on November 25th. The organisers anticipate over 10,000 esports fans to attend the final day at the Royal Arena as big names such as SK Gaming and FaZe grace the stage. There will undoubtedly be palpable home support for both Astralis and North, with both being Danish fan favourites.
Ebba Ljungerud, CCO of Kindred Group, commented: “We are excited about the BLAST Pro Series partnership because it is a new step for Kindred into the world of esports. The fresh ideas and new concepts that will be on offer at the event have been put together by RFRSH Entertainment with the players’ and fans’ front of mind. Sponsoring the first in the series of events demonstrates our commitment to professional sports and the recent deal RFRSH signed with ESIC (Esports Integrity Coalition) supports our continued efforts to maintain integrity of the sport. We’re looking forward to kicking off the first event later this month.
Jordi Roig, CCO at RFRSH Entertainment, added: “We have been looking for the right betting partner for the global tournament, and we are delighted to announce this partnership with Unibet. The esports scene is growing fast, but it is also a very proud scene with high integrity. Our organization is built upon extremely strong endemic talents and heavyweights in esports, and on our side the deal was designed and carried through via our co-founder, Jakob Lund Kristensen, who is one of the strongest creatives in esports globally. We always evaluate, which partners we bring in and how a partnership is activated as our focus is to renew and expand while paying full respect to the existing scene. On this basis and in general, we are very excited about the plans Unibet has presented to us and look very much forward to working with them to take esports and BLAST Pro Series a step further”.
Esports Insider says: Great to see another regulated and well respected betting operator entering the space and supporting esports. Unibet have yet to make significant moves in the scene so this is somewhat out of the blue. Nonetheless, we’ve come a long way from skin betting sites sponsoring every tournament.