Why is esports betting gaining popularity worldwide?

William Davis Published 20/08/2022

Esports gaming has made major headlines in the last few years yet no one imagined it would spawn a multi-million betting industry. Though major tournaments like the League of Legends World Championship are relatively new, gaming as a sport been around since 1980.

While many are already dedicated to the esports betting world, it’s normal to feel hesitancy or confusion about how these games work and how you bet on them. Here’s a breakdown of esports, how to bet on it, and why it gained such positive worldwide popularity.

A quick history

The first official esports tournament was a 10,000-participant Space Invaders competition. Its popularity was something of an aberration as competitive gaming never really became a steady fixture after this. Games like Street Fighter 2 and the popularity of arcades gave gamers an opportunity to face each other directly in a competitive setting.

Once online multiplayer came to console and PC gaming, competitive gaming boomed. This manifested in different ways in different regions of the world, with Korean StarCraft, European Counter-Strike, and American Quake all becoming independent phenomena.

More recently, tournament organizers have established a presence for multiple games around the world. This has been amplified and largely funded by sportsbooks, including the best website for esports betting on India – 10CRIC. Fans and bettors can track their favorite teams and players and potentially make money off it.

Live tournaments can now play out in front of sold-out stadiums with fully televised and streamed coverage. Even colleges have begun to offer unique esports scholarships and competitive gaming teams.

Genres and tournaments

Though there are many draws to esports, one of the biggest draws of esports comes from its variety of content. There are many different competitive games used in world-class tournaments, which means there is something for everyone.

There are shooters, sports games, racing games, fighting games, battle royales, and many more. Beyond that there are other competitions like speed-running, where players are in an eternal race to beat a game the fastest.

Though not every genre is equally popular, 532 million fans watched some form of competitive gaming content in the last year. Competitions keep players and betters on the edge of their seats, and games like Dota 2 saw over 40 million euros paid out to players in 2021.

Here are some of the biggest tournaments, circuits, and leagues in esports:

Free Fire World Series
League of Legends World Championship
PUBG Mobile Global Championship
Fortnite World Cup
Overwatch League
Halo World Championship
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Asia Cup
The International Dota 2 Championships

While these are some of the major esports competitions covered by sportsbooks, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Companies like Red Bull, game publishers, and Twitch will sponsor small contests for their games, inviting a handful of popular streamers to compete for prizes and charity.

Esports betting tips

Though esports is becoming more common in the betting world, not every sportsbook covers everything and not all have the same offering.The good news is that there are a huge number of betting sites, so odds are that someone, somewhere, will offer action on your favorite game. Some esports betting sites also embed streams for the games directly into their site. This offers a unique experience that can’t be found in many traditional sports.

The ways to bet on esports are as numerous as its genres. Alongside outrights and match results, different games have different standard prop bets. Some of the most common are:

Match Winner/Loser
Outright Winner/Loser
Over/Under for timed matches
Odds/Evens for the total number of events
Correct Score
Game Rounds
Handicaps

Bets like first kill or first to 10 kills are common in some games. There are also other side markets that hone in on random elements of the games. Brush up on specific bet types before a Dota or League of Legends tournament so you know exactly what to add to your bet slip and their odds.

Get Your Controller Ready

Whether you’re following the high-stakes winner-takes-all DOTA tournament or following streamers speed-running the Minecraft Ender Dragon, you’re in for a world of fun. No two matches or tournaments are ever the same. With new games and better graphics released every year, the sport is growing bigger and better.

Join over 500 million fans worldwide in the growing sport, and watch as the games and the prize pots grow.

William Davis

About William Davis

View full profile