Whether you're a traditional sports bettor or looking for something different, here are five benefits of betting on esports.
Esports is a booming industry, which produced over $1bn in revenue in 2019 alone. Not only that, but now professionals compete in multi-million dollar tournaments which are watched by millions of people worldwide.
As with any sport with a big following, it doesn’t take long for people to want to be able to bet on it. Fast forward to 2020, and a number of large bookmakers and exchanges offer extensive esports categories which you can wager on.
With that said, here are five reasons why esports is a great option.
It’s a growing market place
Despite the jaw-dropping numbers, esports is still very much in its infancy, especially when you compare it to the likes of football or horse racing. There’s no sign of the growth stopping either, with the participation and audience numbers continuing to rise year on year.
Also, unlike some other sports, it can be played all year round, meaning there’s no need to wait for a season to start. Not only that, but there are countless different games within esports, from League of Legends and Dota 2, to Call of Duty and even Rocket league - meaning there’s something for everyone.
That means that now is an opportune time to learn the ropes and get into it, making you a sharper bettor than most before it becomes mainstream.
It’s easy to access
As there are top-level esports clashes going on all year round, finding something to watch couldn’t be easier - especially as regular matches and even big tournaments are streamed for free on various websites such as Twitch. This is in stark contrast to more traditional sports that will often require you to subscribe to a costly service or platform.
The fact that esports are so easily accessible has resulted in massive viewing numbers for their tournaments - in 2019 the League of Legends World Championship pulled in 100 million viewers alone.
The same, but different
What can often be surprising to those who are unfamiliar with esports, is that a lot of the markets available are identical to the markets you would find on your average football match.
For example, you may be considering betting on your first Dota 2 match, but come across a market called the “Moneyline”. This is the same as the “winner” market on football matches. There’s also an array of handicap bets, just as there are in football - and even “first blood”, which is where you bet on a certain team to get the first kill in a match, exactly like the first goal scorer in football.
You can bet on esports with cryptocurrencies
After the much-needed crackdown on “skins betting” as it’s known, which is the wagering of in-game items as opposed to money, some websites made the move over to using the cryptocurrencies. This can range from known ones like Ethereum to more specialist cryptocurrencies like SkinCoin. This provides you with more ways to bet, and makes the marketplace even more accessible.
There’s always something new
The games that are used for esports are like any other piece of software, in the sense that they are constantly re-evaluated and maintained, with developers making changes and improvements to the gameplay. This can result in new characters, items, abilities and even stages/maps being tweaked - meaning there’s always something new to get excited about.
On top of this, new games are always in production, creating an ever-changing landscape which is almost possible to become bored of. So, whereas most mainstream sports stay mostly the same, esports are always evolving, keeping it interesting for gamers and bettors alike.
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