Esports betting: The future of online casinos?

Professional gaming and online gambling have both grown dramatically in popularity in the last decade. The parallel rise of these different niches that have so much in common made crossing paths inevitable. 

Indeed, the two industries need each other to keep growing in territories all over the globe. In many ways, it’s a match made in heaven. 

Esports is the future of entertainment

Esports has been regarded as one of the fastest rising forms of entertainment, but it’s already reached a stage where it’s impossible to ignore. In 2020, the number of esports enthusiasts and casual viewers hit a whopping 496 million. According to experts, the annual growth rate will be bigger than 10% in the next several years and that number should be approximately 646 million by 2023. 

Online casinos tend to follow the latest trends

Online casinos and popular online gambling websites have one big thing in common. All sites in the business need to quickly adopt the latest trends in technology, gameplay, banking methods, and promotions to stay competitive in a crowded market. This is why players constantly have an opportunity to find the most recent casino gaming innovations at the most popular online gambling websites. 

A match made in heaven

Since it’s imperative for online casinos to explore all potential resources to stay ahead of competitors, their interest in esports is only natural. That aging baccarat gambler needs to be replaced by younger guns, and it’s easy to guess where they can find a youth demographic.

Younger generations make a vast majority of the aforementioned esports audience, with almost everyone checking in at under 40 years of age.  

The dominant esports titles

Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and League of Legends make up the esports’ holy trinity and stand as the most enduring games in esports. From popularity to stability, these three games have everything online casinos need. Not only that, but each of these games have tentpole events that are guaranteed to attract large audiences. 

Dota’s most famous event is The International, CSGO has two Majors a year, while League of Legends boasts the LoL World Championship. These events see well-organized professional teams face off in a battle for supremacy. 

Invictus Gaming are essentially Dota 2’s Los Angeles Lakers, while Fnatic has fielded one the strongest lineups in LoL on an annual basis for years. One significant difference between esports and the NBA is the duration of the final events. LoL’s Worlds takes place over the course of a month and sees dozens of games take place, while the NBA Finals usually runs just two weeks. 

How do online casinos set odds for esports events? 

Setting the right odds for an esports event is one of the biggest challenges online casinos and sportsbooks face when attempting to break into a new market. Esports teams constantly change their rosters and unlike regular sports, a fixed schedule does not exist in esports. It is much harder to find accurate stats and data on the teams involved. 

On the opposite side, such circumstances do provide a phenomenal opportunity for bettors to take advantage of errors made by the bookmakers. While these incidences aren’t necessarily common, there’s a fun opportunity there for gamers. 

Esports and online casinos need each other