UK esports organisation Into the Breach (ITB) Esports has today announced a new partnership with crypto casino and sports betting platform Shuffle.com.
The partnership includes a million-dollar yearly investment from Shuffle.com, aimed at ‘building top-tier CS2 and Dota rosters to compete on the global stage’.
After building a relationship with ITB as sponsors last season, this strategic move by Shuffle.com is its largest partnership to date in the competitive gaming scene.
In addition to the rebrand, ITB and Shuffle.com will introduce the Shuffle Masters series. This tournament series is designed to provide a competitive platform for rising Tier 2-3 level teams, offering an opportunity to showcase their skills and compete for ‘significant’ prize pools.
The ITB CS2 and Dota divisions will rebrand as ITB.Shuffle Esports, with all new rosters, including top players and coaches, to be revealed later this month.
Several community initiatives are also in the works, including but not limited to several series across FaceIt.
Sam Cook, CEO and Founder of ITB, said “Shuffle.com are a trusted brand and reputable in the betting space, and this integrated partnership will allow both brands to reach new heights unattainable before.
“It’ll mean long-term support for high-calibre rosters that’ll compete at the very top of the esports mantle, alongside tournaments, fan engagement and new community initiatives.
“”This is ITB bigger, better and with far reaching impact – merging Shuffle’s esport aspirations with our own infrastructure and talent. Skies the limit with this partnership – ITB x Shuffle Esports.”
Sam Cook, ITB
Noah Dummett, Shuffle CEO and Co-founder, added: “As someone who grew up playing CS, I’m incredibly excited to be further involved in the space through Shuffle Esports.
“We’ll be investing heavily in the team and the broader community to build a team that reflects the same ethos we have at Shuffle.com – we’re here to win and to have a good time doing it.
Despite choppy market conditions, Shuffle said that ‘2024 has been an incredible year for the betting platform thus far’.
This past spring, Shuffle.com announced its fundraise from angel investors and celebrated its one year anniversary with the launch and first airdrop of SHFL, a digital utility token designed for use on Shuffle.com and other similar platforms.
In March and April, the team consecutively surpassed $1 billion in monthly wager volume, and SHFL received its first centralised exchange (CEX) listing in May.
In a press release, Shuffle said that ‘ITB.Shuffle Esports is one of many partnership announcements this year from the Shuffle.com team as the gaming platform continues to expand’.
Into the Breach recently competed at the Halo London Major and Siege Manchester Major.
Read more Into the Breach news here
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
