The growth of esports betting market and leading bookmaker companies
Maksym YushytsynCompared to the majority of modern sports, the esports industry is relatively new. It is true that the major part of esports disciplines is less than ten years old. But their popularity is growing at an exponential rate among almost all segments of the population. It is not surprising that many online casinos and gambling companies are paying attention to this fact and they have been providing bettors with an opportunity to make bets on representative tournaments in very different esports disciplines for a few years.
The perspective of esports betting
Esports is moving forward with seven-league steps, attracting thousands of faithful fans every day. Such a living interest in any esports discipline is due to big financial investments, which keep growing every day.
According to The Esports Ecosystem research report from Business Insider Intelligence, the size of the esports market will be far more than $1,5 billion dollars in 2023.
It seems quite logical that betting on esports online features lines not only for major tournaments, but also for local events.
The interest increase of potential bettors does not become weaker
According to the major part of analysts who specialize in esports, it is far from being on the top of viewing popularity. it is considered that Asia, which is the most densely populated region of the planet, should provide the biggest increase of fans.
So far, due to the whole row of reasons, the development of esports was slowed down significantly in Asian countries. According to authoritative resources, this sector of the esports industry will increase its income in a couple of times in the nearest years.
These statements are proved with the whole row of representative tournaments, which are hosted in the region, the growing number of sponsors and the fact that esports is recognized as an official sport in the majority of Asian countries.
Besides, the amount of sponsors in tournaments, which are hosted on very different levels, grows regularly, which leads to serious growth of prize pools. And it, in turn, leads to a growth of a number of competitive teams in every esports discipline
Changes in the average age of the average bettor
Interest in esports has started changing the average age of the betting audience. This happens due to the fact that the popularity of esports disciplines is orientated on young people, considering their preferences and interests. You will agree that the average bettor is a middle-aged football fan and the average esports bettor is a student who hangs out in front of his computer, playing CS:GO or DOTA 2. The past generation bettors received all the required information with the help of TV and paper news, today’s generation can’t imagine betting without modern gadgets.
It makes sense because a modern user needs to be closely associated with brands, which reflect his value, and the respective social status of a bettor. The future belongs to young people even in the online-betting industry, despite someone says the opposite.
Advantages and disadvantages of esports betting
According to the statistics, one of the main pros of esports betting is bookmakers’ significant difficulties when they set odds on actual tournaments. It means that players have increased chances to beat a bookmaker company. Of course, it is only related to bettors who know features and a real state of things in a particular esports discipline nicely.
The advantages of esports betting include the fact that underdogs always have more chances to win here than the obvious favorites. At least, this happens in esports way more frequently than in the majority of other sports. As a result, it is way more difficult for bookmakers to predict expected victories.
Also, it includes the fact that any team, regardless of discipline, can play a few matches a day, which is almost impossible in every modern sport. it provides bettors with an opportunity to make more bets and it means that they can expect significantly bigger winnings.
Despite a big number of advantages, the esports betting industry has a row of serious disadvantages. At least, for now.
The main of them are data issues and match fixing. In the first case, the situation becomes more complicated because esports is a branch, which has diverse data. As a result, the optimization of any information and maximally full usage of its potential becomes almost an unresolvable issue. Due to a big frequency of tournaments, a wide range of teams, which take part in them, and also various sponsors, the required data becomes too fragmented and unoptimized in most cases. Besides, information is not always available in real-time, which is a reason for time delays, which can reach even a couple of minutes.
The second serious problem of esports betting is match fixing, which is the opposite of the fair play principles. Such difficulties exist in the majority of sports and it is impossible to beat them right now. The only right steps in the fight with such frauds are big penalties, provided by organizers of various tournaments, and usage of an anti-cheat software to fight unfair gamers.
Where should esports bets be made?
Considering the high rate of growth of the esports industry, bookmakers realize that it will bring them big profits in the nearest future. This situation had led to the fact that some bookmaker companies started taking bets on large tournaments in various esports disciplines a couple of years ago. Analysts guess that all actual bookmakers will come to this soon.
World betting leaders
Pinnacle sports
It is logical that leaders of the world online betting industry have reacted to the situation first. The company Pinnacle sportshas become one of the first bookmakers, which started working with esports bets. The bookmaker company offers bettors not just the highest betting odds but attractive betting limits.
The respective EGR rewards and the title of the best bookmaker company of the year by SBC reflect that the company is the recognized leader in this branch. It is considered that this company is an ideal option for professional bettors who are ready to make big bets on esports disciplines.
Betway
The company Betway, which appeared on the market in 2002, is another recognized leader among bookmakers in esports betting. It provides an opportunity to make bets on all the most demanded esports disciplines in the world, offering attractive odds and a wide catalogue of events on all matches of large tournaments. Betway is targeted on foreign bettors, it is not very popular in the CIS countries.
Bet365
The British bookmaker company Bet365 was one of the first, which started taking bets from clients on various esports events. Almost all popular disciplines are represented here, including Dota 2, CS:GO, Starcraft 2, League of Legends, and others.
It has one of the best catalogue of events among all bookmaker companies and the line even includes matches of not the most representative tournaments.
Bookmakers with esports bets in the CIS region
Parimatch
The fact that the most popular and authoritative CIS bookmaker companies have paid their attention to esports disciplines looks logical. Parimatch is one of such bookmaker companies. Esports holds the 4th place on the list of the most popular sports among clients of the company today. Only the best of the best are higher: football, tennis, and hockey. Parimatch is a sponsor of a row of tournaments and also invests money in one of the most popular teams - the Russian Virtus.pro.
Its catalogue of events looks to be one of the widest ones among all post-soviet bookmakers today. Almost all esports disciplines are represented on the line and odds make clients of other bookmaker companies jealous.
GG.BET
Very few modern bookmakers have such a detailed catalogue of events as it is in the bookmaker company GG.BET.
The only visible disadvantage of the bookmaker is the absence of a gambling mobile application. There is a hope that such a mess will be solved soon.