The History of eSports Betting

Details: Category: eSports News; Created: Monday, 25 March 2024 14:48

The History of eSports Betting Betting on sports has been around for a very long time with some of the earliest records dating back to ancient Greece when spectators would place bet on which gladiator would win the fight. Since then, sports betting has evolved into a complex machine that let’s anyone bet on pretty much anything.

Over the past decade and the development of the internet and new technologies, betting on sports has added several new ways to gamble like live dealer casinos, live betting and virtual sports betting. Now, one of the latest gambling trends that has become increasingly more popular in the past few years is eSports betting.

Of course, some may argue that eSports is not a real sport and should be classified as a competition. However, an increasing majority of people like John Skipper, the president of ESPN, consider it a sport. This is because to be a professional eSports athlete requires tremendous motor skills and tactical understanding.

And since it is a sport, people will bet on it!

A short History of eSports

For those who are not familiar with e-sports, it pretty much started as simple competitions between fans of video games that go as far back as the 1970s when games would get together and hold private competitions for games like “Spacewar” in 1972 to the famous “Space Invaders Championship” held by Atari in 1980.

As technology improved in the field of video games and especially multi-players game technology, so is the need to prove who is the best gamer. This led to more tournaments for larger and larger cash prizes around the world.

Today, eSports is a huge industry that continues to grow in revenue and attracts many investors. In fact, Business Insider estimates that by the end of this year, eSports will bring $1.8 billion in revenue.

Some of the most popular video games played at eSports tournaments are League of Legends, DOTA2 (Defence of the Ancients 2), Counter-Strike and Fortnite. If any country was to be considered the hub of Esports it would probably be South Korea, which has the Korea e-Sports Association (keSPA) which is the managing body for eSports in the country under the umbrella of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Betting on eSports Today

Today, you will not find gamers playing video games for its health benefits or for fun at an eSports tournament. eSports is no longer a sport for amateur. It is now an arena for professional gamers with real professional teams that earn actual salaries ranging from $36,000 to $250,000 a year with top super star gamers earning millions of dollars per year.

As in all professional sports, there will always be some form of betting involved and eSports are not an exception. If you Google eSports betting you will find that most sportsbooks now offer eSports betting options.

Bookies, betting shops and top sportsbooks are always looking to offer more events and competition for their players to bet on. If there is a demand for it, they will make odds for it and take your bet.

Since the early 2000s, several sports betting shops have offered betting on eSports. At first, it was more of a proposition bet for larger eSports events. As the popularity of eSports increased, it brought about a new clientele for sportsbooks. Gamers began to bet on eSports on a regular basis which led to many sportsbooks offering regular eSports betting odds on events everywhere in the world.

eSports betting has become so popular that players have been indicted for match fixing. One of the latest and more widespread match-fixing took place in 2015 leading to several indictments in Korea. This is when Lee “Life” Seung and Jung “Bbyon” Woo Yong were indicted for match-fixing along with 7 other professional gamers. Each player was punished with jail time ranging from 10-18 months, fines and banned for life from eSports.

Sports betting sites and bookmakers certainly seem to think that eSports gambling is here to stay. Thus, many people are beginning to start an eSports betting business. In fact, today it is now nearly impossible to find a sportsbook that does not offer eSports wagering odds on their website. After a year it is only a trend but after 12 years it is a fact.