For as long as there have been sports, there has been gambling on sports. This has been due to people’s confidence in their teams or their own ability to understand the game and take their chances on their own knowledge. Now with the rise of esports, gambling and betting on esports has been an interesting topic of conversation. Do casinos and sportsbooks get in on it or not? What really is the future of esports betting?
Well for starters, esports betting is definitely still in its infancy, and this is through no fault of its own. The esports industry as a whole it still in its very early stages. This is mainly because people are still trying to find the sweet spot like they have with sports. There are many well-established leagues all over the world for sports but in esports, the same cannot be said.
Sure there major tournaments that are staples like The International for Dota 2 and the many different majors for CSGO. But even the teams for each of them are not exactly set. They do not have franchising and treat things more like Golf or Tennis when it comes to their professional play.
For those who are used to the MLB, NFL, NBA or EPL, there are historic teams that have been playing in some of those leagues for over 100 years. The sports that these teams play have been around much longer than any of those teams or leagues as well. This is probably the biggest advantage that sports have on esports and esports betting. They have just been around longer and the way things are done have been the same or pretty much the same for decades.
As for the future of esports betting, it is needed to be understood that as more esports establish themselves in the ways that major sports have, they will have a better chance of growing. One such example is League of Legends. The game itself has been around for over a decade and it does not seem like one that will be slowing down anytime soon.
Due to this, people have invested a lot of time and money into their professional scene. They have professional levels in nearly every major area of the world. Similar to many professional sports, these teams have franchised and are a true part of the ecosystem for their game. But one may be asking, where does esports betting and it’s future come into play with all of this?
The simple answer is that as teams and leagues become more established, so does the future of esports and its betting component. Individuals will gain more knowledge and similar to sports, they will feel more confident in that said knowledge. Thus they will be more willing to bet on their understanding.
The same can be said about teams that are officially established. For the major of the initial years of esports, teams and players were recycled constantly. Now with franchising that is mostly over in some of the major esports. The teams and players continue to garner more and more fans which means that they will be more like to bet on their teams as they want to see them win or are confident in them doing so.
Compared to sports betting, esports still has a long way to go. But as more teams, players, leagues and even the esports themselves are established, esports betting will catch up right alongside them.