For the first time in almost two decades, the esports industry has surpassed the one-billion-dollar revenue mark this year, as well as 450 million for its global audience. And the growth is substantial year after year: over 20%. At this rate, esports will reach incredible heights in just one more decade. And with that growth comes the inevitable growth of another industry that’s closely associated with it: esports betting.
The Growing Popularity of Esports
Esports appeals to young people who are casual gamers. And that includes almost every male nowadays. Over the past couple of years one can clearly see that more females are getting into the world of video games, albeit that not being specifically esports.
The road from casual gaming to esports is straightforward for anyone who is into video games, simply because competition is something that we feel naturally attracted to. We enjoy the thrill of winning a game, of getting better at it, of crushing enemies, of cooperating with others, of using our creativity in unique and personalized ways. All of these features make electronic sports a very appealing thing for the new generations.
Another key aspect of esports titles is that they’re guaranteed to be fair in most cases and are also either free to play or very cheap. They don’t require a massive investment such as most traditional sports do, and have very well designed systems. As soon as you’ve learned to rules of a game, you know what you need to do to get better at it and strive to reach a higher and higher rating.
The Inevitable Growth of Esports Betting
When people watch tournaments, they often like to bet on a certain team in order to be more emotionally invested into what’s going on. It’s a simple way of doubling the intensity and even a small bet will ensure this effect. The same thing happens in traditional sports, which is why sports betting has always been such a massive industry.
In esports, betting is still in its infancy. That’s because the industry itself is still very young and the audience is aged 18 – 35. For sports betting, everyone above 21 gets involved. Assuming an average lifespan of 81 years (which is fairly accurate), this means that the industry appeals to a massive number of people.
However when it comes to esports, the market is much more limited. And not only that, it’s also much poorer. That’s because most esports fans are below 25 and have little money to spend on gambling activities. But with the passage of time, a lot more of them will reach a certain age and better financial situations that will allow them to get involved more often and with larger amounts. And this inevitably translates into growth for the esports betting industry.
Initially, esports betting revolved around the really old esports such as Counter-Strike and StarCraft. But these days, you can find anything from StarCraft 2 betting to PUBG betting. The flexibility is incredible and it’s only a matter of time until every significant esport will get proper coverage from the main esports betting sites.
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