What betting has meant to esports
Bogdan LashchenkoNowadays use almost all Swedes use the internet and it is no wonder that even e-sports has become as big as it has become. Just like all sports, it has also started with odds and live odds, which in turn has led to a further explosion in popularity. Betting on e-sports can be found on the vast majority of betting sites today.
The launch of skins for CS:GO was also a big part in launching betting for an entire generation. People gambled with their skins wildly and the market was completely unregulated. This has changed since then and today the market is both more regulated and safer. In this text, we will go through exactly what betting has meant for esports.
Easier to find esports
A big factor that those of us who already love gaming may not think about is that it allows new players to find their way into e-sports. People who may have a great interest in betting but do not play games themselves can find esports via their favorite casino sites. In Asia, eSports is much bigger than regular sports, and we in Europe are starting to catch up. It is becoming quite convenient to bet, and today you can both deposit and withdraw the winnings with Trustly and Zimpler. For example, if you look at everyone zimpler casinos that exist, you can see how much they bet on it. The people who find the games there get curious and start looking for ways to check what it is. Then, because of how much fun it is, many people get hooked. Betting will become bigger and, by extension, esports will also become bigger.
Greater interest and increased audience numbers
To elaborate on what we wrote above, betting means that esports gains greater interest. Esports is no longer marketed only by eSports itself and the organic growth it previously had. Today it is marketed directly by large betting companies with extremely large budgets. It is also not unusual for these companies to step in and sponsor teams in the various e-sports either. It becomes a snowball effect and what is at first just a small odds on a game page grows into a great interest among many players. As you know, it's always more fun to watch sports if you've actually placed a bet on it, and esports is of course no exception.
The audience numbers have therefore also exploded. There are of course several factors to this, but betting is definitely one of them. The most recent League of Legends and Counter-Strike tournaments have seen online audiences at a level previously only dreamed of.
The money has allowed gaming organizations to grow
The money that is brought in through the great interest and the sponsorship agreements with betting companies has also led to the gambling organizations being able to expand explosively. Money is in eSports, as in all other industries, what it takes to grow and become a player to be reckoned with. Several of the big teams today, such as Team Liquid, started as tiny clans over twenty years ago.
Since then, the expanding industry has led to these small clans bringing in so much money that they have managed to grow into million dollar companies. Could anyone have believed this just 15 years ago? Probably not, but it's a development we welcome with open arms.
Scandals and Consequences
When you talk about betting and e-sports, you also have to mention the scandals that still marked the growth. Partly the big match-fixing scandal that took place in South Korea in the mid-00s, but also the scandal that the CS:GO team IBP caused in 2014. You could see these scandals as something negative and as damaging to betting as a whole, but it has rather had the opposite effect.
These scandals have led to the development of a system that facilitates betting and gambling. The consequences these players faced have discouraged new players from even attempting something similar. Betting has, in short, led to the development of a security that did not previously exist.
Bogdan Lashchenko – content manager at EgamersWorld.Bogdan has been working at EGamersWorld since 2023. Joining the company, he began fillin the site with information, news and events.