It’s undeniable that esports is becoming a bigger industry and more people are now taking it seriously. The biggest esports tournaments for games like DOTA 2, Fortnite, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, and many more now offer millions of dollars worth of prize pools, and they just show how competitive and lucrative the esports industry is.
More and more people are now starting to follow esports events and the betting industry knows this very well. If back then, only traditional sports odds and Online Casino games in India and in the world were available, but now, more people are starting to participate in esports betting.
MarketInsight Reports stated that the global esports betting market size is expected to grow from the years 2020 to 2025 with a CAGR of 13.1 percent. With that, the value of the esports betting industry alone is forecasted to grow as big as 13.05 billion US dollars by 2025.
The Pandemic’s Role in the Growth of Esports
While the esports industry has been steadily and somehow slowly growing over the past years, it was in 2018 to 2020 that significant growth was seen. Before the pandemic, it was estimated that there were only around 170 million esports fans but when the pandemic came, this number rose to 250 million. It was last year when the UK Gambling Commission reported that the growth rate of esports betting reached an astounding 2992 percent in just 12 months.
The pandemic has negatively impacted many industries and the sports industry, was, unfortunately, part of it. When the pandemic broke in March of last year, many major sports events had to be either canceled or postponed. For a few months, people just didn’t have much to see from the sports scene and punters didn’t have a lot to wager on.
To survive what was happening, many bookies turned their attention to non-traditional sports events. Some focused on real-life and entertainment events, but many also have taken a look at the esports scene. Despite the pandemic, there are esports events that we’re able to push through and many bookies took the chance to offer esports odds on their sites.
Now that things are slowly getting better in some parts of the world, many are wondering whether esports will still be huge. After all, traditional sports events are already back, and betting sites now have plenty of odds to offer on sports like football, cricket, basketball, and many more. Well, it is still forecasted that esports will continue to get bigger in the next few years. Some reports suggest that the industry will double in value within the next few years.
The Continuous Growth of Esports Betting
Many experts predict that esports will continue to do well despite the comeback of traditional sports. News UK even wrote in an article, “With such a large viewing audience, it was only a matter of time before betting sites got involved. While traditional bookmakers were understandably skeptical about the rise of esports, there has now been a wave of fully licensed esports betting sites that now give people an easy way to bet on massive games… Such a large number of esports betting sites have helped many people enjoy a legal and safe way to bet on competitive gaming as a form of entertainment.
“Some early incarnations of esports were fairly amateurish affairs. In some instances, this led to match-fixing in games like Counter-Strike. Thankfully, such examples are becoming increasingly rare, and there has been the development of regulatory bodies like the Esports Integrity Commission to oversee the standards of competitive gaming.
“Plus, the fact that esports betting sites only accept real money bets rather than permitting skin gambling has helped the activity enjoy more legitimacy. Skin betting blighted esports betting for many years as it was commonly linked with underage gambling. But with the widespread use of licensed real money betting sites offering esports odds, it is hoped that skin gambling will soon become a thing of the past,” explained in the article.
With how big the esports tournament is getting, people are just really starting to see how fun and competitive these could be. Many people watch traditional sports for competition and this is also something that esports could give them.
Some of the popular esports games that people follow today include titles like League of Legends, Call of Duty, FIFA, NBA 2K20, Warcraft II, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Fortnite, World of Tanks, DOTA 2, and many more.
