Until very recently, video games were not taken as seriously as legitimate sports. This has changed now that a multi-billion dollar industry has grown around this popular medium. Esport tournaments receive a huge amount of media coverage each year. It is possible to place lucrative bets on these events.
Top 5 Esport Games
It is best to gamble on a competition based around one of the top 5 esport games. This will make it easier to find a betting site that offers odds on it.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
The first person shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) was released in 2012. It became one of the biggest esport games thanks to coverage on streaming services including Twitch, Justin.tv and UStream. In 2013 the developers of CS:GO, Valve created the CS:GO Major Championship with a prize pool of $250,000. This has since become one of the most prestigious and important CS:GO tournaments.
In 2015 several esports organisations set up a trade union. A year later the World Esports Association (WESA) was established. Their goal is to regulate tournaments for games such as CS:GO and ensure that rules are standardised.
League Of Legends
League of Legends is a fantasy-themed battle arena game released in 2009. Over the years it has been greatly embraced by the competitive gaming community. In 2012 Riot Games created the LCS, a professional competitive gaming league. Two seasons take place annually. The League of Legends European Championship (LEC) has taken place since 2018. It is the biggest event of this type.
Fortnite
Few games have been as popular as Fortnite. It took the gaming world by storm thanks to its addictive multiplayer action and exciting concept. Fortnite belongs to the battle royale genre. It involves multiple players being dropped onto a limited sized map. There are items such as weapons and health packs which can be picked up and used. Players must fight to the death until one of them remains.
Fortnite has at least 125 million players. The company behind it, Epic Games has used $100 million of its profits to emphasise Fortnite as an esport. In 2019 the first-ever Fortnite World Cup took place. This event was very important in establishing esports as a legitimate form of sports.
Dota 2
Dota 2 is another fantasy-themed battle arena game. Between 2 and 5 players form into teams of 2. Their goal is to occupy their opponent’s base while defending their own. Each player controls a powerful “hero” character.
Dota 2 has become one of the biggest esport games. Large and small scale tournaments are regularly organised by the developer Valve. The majority of event coverage takes place on the live streaming service, Twitch.
Call of Duty
Call of Duty has also become an iconic gaming franchise. The games are first-person shooters set during real past wars, as well as fictional future conflicts. In 2016 the first Call of Duty World League took place. The instalments used for the competition were Black Ops III, Infinite Warfare, WWII and Black Ops 4.
During the 2019 tournament, the prize money totalled $6 million. However, in 2020 the event was discontinued. This was in order to introduce the new Call of Duty League.
Betting on Esports Successfully
There are numerous ways to place bets on an esports event. People already familiar and comfortable with traditional online sportsbook sites do not need to worry about changing the way they gamble. They can utilise the same kind of online betting services. Placing a wager works much the same way as with older, more established sports.
Fans of cryptocurrency will be happy to learn that the esport betting community has embraced this form of payment. It is fairly easy to engage in esport crypto gambling. This method is more likely to appeal to tech-savvy gamblers.
In the past, there was a “skins gambling” market on games such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2. These games had real money economies which players used to purchase in-game aesthetic skins. For a time there was a popular gambling community based around skins. However, this unregulated activity has since been cracked down on by international governments.
Do Your Research
It is important to have a full understanding of the game before placing a bet on it. Gamblers may want to try playing it themselves to help them recognise factors that could affect a betting outcome. They should also analyse the history and stats of different players. Doing so will help them to pick a potential winner.
Conclusion
We are only just seeing the beginning of this type of betting. For 20 years the industry has been focused on traditional sports. In the future, it is likely that there will be an overhaul of user interface and contextual betting on gambling sites. This innovation needs to happen to make wagering esport more engaging. For instance, as well as displaying the odds sites could also offer content/community data, info of matches/teams and more contextual betting.
