BETER jumps high with the Asian Basketball League

Focus Gaming News talks to Nikolay Vernydub, BETER Sports Deputy general manager, about the ABL’s potential for the gaming industry and the future of commercial basketball tournaments.

Press release.- Nikolay Vernydub, BETER Sports Deputy General Manager, spoke with Focus Gaming News and provided details about the Asian Basketball League (ABL), its growth, and its great appeal to the gaming industry.

With exciting action on the courts and a world of opportunities off them, the ABL is a fast-paced, engaging and exciting series of basketball tournaments held in Bishkek in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The league is distributed by BETER, the industry’s leading provider of betting content and gaming data, and is organised in partnership with the Kyrgyz National Basketball Federation.

The league contains eight teams who play three 5×5 games a day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Each tournament is made up of two round-robin stages and a play-off, where the first four teams compete for the championship and the second four compete for fifth place. 

All this action means there are 66 basketball matches played in one tournament cycle, with 10 or 11 tournaments held in a season – more than 130 matches have been played across all the tournaments held so far. The ABL’s third season began on 24 February and will end on 14 April.

BETER’s Nikolay Vernydub said the huge demand for basketball among the public was a driving factor behind the company’s decision to strike up a partnership with the ABL. 

“Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world and there is a worldwide demand for commercial basketball tournaments as well,” he said. “That’s why the ABL is one of our priorities this year.

“As a sports discipline, basketball is dramatically evolving around the world, uncovering new sports talents and attracting more spectators to its matches. We feel there’s even more room for basketball to grow and BETER has a clear plan and focus on maximising its potential, both among our existing customer base and for new bettors too.”

BETER’s decision to broadcast all games from three angles with high-quality streaming makes the ABL an exciting spectacle, especially considering that many companies don’t pay enough attention to the quality of their broadcasting. It makes the action far more engaging and noticeably different to other kinds of sports viewing experiences. 

The same eight teams that competed in the ABL’s second season will compete in its third. Each of the first two seasons saw a different team win the championship, which is testimony to the high quality and strong competitiveness of the teams in the league. 

In order to maintain these standards, there is a break between each tournament of between 7 to 14 days. It allows players to recover and helps these athletes to show their maximum potential in games. The break also gives enough time for the organisation and preparation of the next tournament, to ensure all the games run smoothly and to a finely tuned schedule.

This ensures that sports fans and bettors are able constantly to enjoy dynamic games and observe competing teams in action. Meantime, they can concentrate on following the high-scoring action, thinking about the best ways to place their bets. 

Nikolay also explained how the tournaments are subject to intense scrutiny by BETER’s integrity team, to ensure complete fair play in each and every game. 

“Because of the professional approach taken by the specialists in our integrity department, the players who participate in our tournaments feel as prepared and protected as possible in the event that they are presented with any suspicious offers, with any risks remaining visible and within our control.” 

Nikolay described BETER’s agreement with the ABL as being based upon “transparency in work, a commitment to developing the project, and complete confidence in the transition to our market’s global standards”.

He added: “The league has shown the greatest commitment to the development of its championship. This was a key factor in why BETER chose the ABL as our starting point in the world of top-class basketball.

“But we’re not going to limit ourselves to just this particular sport. We’re working hard to please all our customers with a new and exciting range of attractive offers across a range of different sports, such as MMA fights and table tennis, with even more to be added in future. 

“There’s plenty coming up from BETER for sports fans to look forward to, no matter where they are or what sport they love to follow.”