The rise of eSports happened more than a decade ago when Counter Strike tournaments dominated the world of online gaming. However, with the introduction of MOBAs – Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas, such as League of Legends, Overwatch, DotA and others, the official tournaments grew in number and gained so much popularity that the logical step was to include betting options on these events as well! With multimillion audience, there are a lot of potential bettors – so a lot of money is invested and gained on these games!
The eSports betting is at the same time similar to and very different from the traditional sports betting. It is similar to sports betting, for example, because you can bet on the outcome of the match – which of the two teams will win, which corresponds to some basketball or football games. You can also bet on the most valuable player – also called the MVP – and get great odds. Another similarity to traditional sports is that we can find offers for eSports on sites like bet365 and Betway.
But the differences are exactly what makes eSports betting so interesting! Apart from the usual betting with money, you can also bet on eSports for skins or in-game currencies! That is right – by betting and winning, you can earn cosmetic upgrades for the games you play or just resell what you get to other players. And the best thing is – you can bet almost on anything. People tend to bet on players with the best KDA (Kill/Deaths/Assist scores), or on the first blood – the first scored kill, or which team will get which side of the map. Other standard bets such as the length of the game or the exact score tend to be very popular. All the other smaller options vary from game to game and can be pretty lucrative if you are a connoisseur.
However, it should be noted that unlike sports betting, eSports do not have a long history – which means there is no systematic organization of data regarding the scores and the form of the teams. Bettors often rely on incomplete or partial data in order to draw conclusions. Some teams are more famous, so sites will have more knowledge about how they play or who they faced so far, but don’t expect the same kind of detailed report for the wildcard teams!
All in all, the eSports gambling craze will not die down any time soon. It will become even more popular, as the games became played on an even more massive level. New options for betting will arise and more people will be drawn to this option for betting fans. Just make sure to familiarize yourself before entering the online world of eSports betting, and you will do just fine!
