When Parimatch looks for ambassadors, they favour the bold; Connor McGregor, Mike Tyson, and most recently, Daniil ‘Zeus’ Teslenko. However, while the former two are revered for their physicality, Teslenko is famous for equal shows of fighting spirit in esports – a market that Stepan Shulga, Head of Esports at Parimatch, believes will be in the top three for sports betting by 2021.

Parimatch has shown its ambition to remain at the forefront of the esports betting market with the appointment of Counter Strike 1.6 and CS:GO legend Daniil ‘Zeus’ Teslenko as brand ambassador.

Sticking to its philosophy of signing ambassadors who share the brand’s abundance of fighting spirit, Parimatch’s announcement of Teslenko signifies a continued belief that esports will continue to move up the charts as a sports betting market, and Stepan Shulga, Head of Esports, wants Parimatch to remain a leader of it.

“We have long been at the forefront of the burgeoning esports industry, recognising its growth potential early on and paying it the same amount of attention as traditional sports. A significant proportion of R&D at Parimatch is focused on developing esports features to dramatically enhance user experience, which is why the brand is considered to be one of the top esports bookmakers,” he explained. “Having ambassadors in different sports is a great practice, but we think it’s especially important to have ambassadors that exemplify our values of fighting spirit. Daniil is a unique sportsman, his career spanned two parts of the history of the legendary game Counter-Strike, he was the world champion in version 1.6 and reached the same heights in the current version of CS:GO. To do it twice, in different eras, shows more than just talent; it displays an elite mentality, and that’s why we brought Daniil on board.”