eSports Betting is Going to be the Next Big Thing

• A short history of eSports
• The crazy success of professional video gaming
• Will eSports betting come to the US market?

The eSports industry is rapidly growing in popularity in revenue—and as a result, so is eSports betting.

In 2014, GamingZion published an article analyzing eSports and the subject of gambling on professional video gaming. The article concludes with speculation that there would be an increase in eSports’ popularity and prominence on online gambling sites in US in the near future.

Boy, was there ever.

Let’s start from the beginning.

A short overview of eSports and its history

eSports began in the 1990s with leagues and tournaments for first person shooter games, sports games, and arcade style games. While its popularity flip-flopped for a decade or so, it really took off with new advances in the video game industry and the introduction of PC multi player games. As a result, more and more people started to play video games at home, leading to a significant increase in the popularity of the industry and eSport betting.

The Electronic Sports League (ESL) is the patron of the rapidly growing movement. Founded in Germany in 1997, it supports over 50 games in different genres and organizes competitions for popular ones such as “League of Legends” and “Counterstrike”. To date, it has over 5,000,000 registered members and 1,000,000 teams who have played over 22.5 million games. Out of all these participants, there is an estimated 10,000 professional eSports players, with the biggest earner in 2015 taking home $1.5 million in winnings.

In addition to a growth in the number of the industry’s participants, there has been a growth in the size of its audience. Millions of people watch eSports on the video platform Twitch every day—the average multi-day tournament takes in 7 to 9 million viewers—and even ESPN and other major sports channels have started to air live video game competitions. It’s not just online or on TV, however, that people are getting their fill of professional video gaming: US gambling news reports that over 40,000 people attended the 2015 League of Legends World Championship in Seoul, South Korea and over 17,000 people attended the Dota 2 Championship in Seattle, USA.

The facts and figures of eSports and eSports betting

Since professional video gaming was established as a sport, eSports betting has existed. For years fans from all over the world have placed wagers on their favorite eAthletes, however, it’s just recently that online bookmakers like Bet365 and William Hill have caught on and started to include it in their list of offers.

And wisely so: Gaming industry research firm Eilers Rersearch estimates that in 2015 eSports fanatics will wager more than $250 million on eSports events. eSports betting numbers are strongly believed to continue to rise, with the same firm project that by 2020 more than $23 billion will be wagered around the world on eSports each year.

Statistics from online sportsbook Pinnacle are a testament to this eSport betting prediction. Its numbers double every year, with it taking over 350,000 eSports wagers last year alone. The high amount of eSports betting on this and other gambling sites makes eSports the eight most popular sport to wager on in the world, according to NBC. It’s become so popular that online bookmakers have even started to dedicate traders and whole departments to eSports betting.

What’s the future of eSports betting in the US?

While eSports betting currently enjoys the most popularity in European and Asian markets, with the United States only accounting for 10% of gambling on professional video gaming, watch out for its appearance on more online sportsbooks in US soon. Daily fantasy eSports is currently legal in the US and companies such as Unikrn are preparing to bring eSports betting to America, and are backed with over $10 million dollars in investments.

eSports and eSports betting is nowhere near the peak of its popularity, which means that it’s only a matter of time before this underground industry-turned-mainstream phenomenon takes the US and the rest of the world by cyber storm.