Ollie swapped the abacus for Sonic on the SEGA Mega Drive at neighbor Frank's house at an early age and has never looked back. With thousands of hours in Dota 2 (and no ability to show for it), he still clings on to the hope that one day, he will replicate Natus Vincere at gamescom 14 years ago and lift the Aegis of Champions. Ollie has been at the intersection of video games, esports, and gambling for over ten years and has also worked in consultancy in the gambling industry. Ollie's work can be found on the likes of: BBC, Red Bull Gaming, Esports Insider, CasinoBeats, PC Gamer, Green Man Gaming as well as his own thought-leadership substack "Esprouts" looking at specific studies and stories where games meet gambling.
Image: Ollie Ring/Esports Insider The BFBS Esports Pro League finished this weekend at the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon. A place I remember fondly from my childhood was awash with esports activity. A panel featuring voices from across the forces was followed by an expertly steered production (kudos Jon Winkle & the EPIC.LAN team), culminating in a Rocket League Champion for 2026.
BFBS started as a radio station during the Second World War and now supports the armed forces community in many ways, with gaming a growing part of that. Before the event, Esports Insider (ESI) spoke to three people behind it: Ben Chapman, BFBS CEO; Adam Waters, BFBS Director of AI Culture and gaming; and Robert Wylie, Head of BFBS Esports .
ESI: BFBS is best known for broadcasting and supporting the Armed Forces community. Where does esports fit within that wider mission?
Ben Chapman : You said it yourself. We’re all about supporting the armed forces community whether they are listening to radio on ops, watching the latest film releases on Royal Navy ships thanks to our clever tech, or helping them game.
ESI: Your role combines AI culture and gaming. Having these grouped together almost tells me that BFBS has a forward-looking view on technology in military life. How does your role break down?
Adam Waters : My job involves helping everyone working for us use AI safely and confidently. We want to be the home of gaming for the UK armed forces community. And I also look after our charitable Academy that works to get veterans into the creative industries.
It’s a great role and it’s never a dull life at BFBS. We’ve got to keep innovating and it’s something we’ve always done since starting out as a radio station during the Second World War. If more serving people are gaming, then that’s where we’ve got to be.
ESI: Looking several years ahead, what role would you like gaming and esports to play across the armed forces community?
Ben : We want BFBS to be at the heart of gaming for the armed forces community. Our ambition is to provide consoles, games and subscriptions, and exciting esports competitions as broadly as we can. Whether it’s a Royal Navy submarine or a UK base, we’ll bring gaming along with everything else we provide.
ESI: What is gaming culture within the UK Armed Forces actually like? What’s a misconception members of the public that see a video game competition being held might have, and why are they wrong?
Adam : In many ways just like the civilian world! Most young people are gamers in one way or another. It’s very common to find serving personnel gaming together after a hard day ‘at work’ or on voice chat gaming with friends. One differen…