eSports in a nutshell, is basically electronic sports played between online gamblers and professional gamers.
Intel launched eSports back in 2007 at a digital conference and since then it has exploded onto the scene with the top 10 eSports companies thought to be worth in excess of $3.5 billion.
Following the explosive success of eSports, Intel unsuccessfully lobbied to try and have it actually recognised in the Olympics in 2018, but that’s a mark of just how big it became in such a short space of time.
In 2021, it’s estimated that almost 500m people watched and enjoyed eSports worldwide.
Teams at some of the most popular games receive millions of dollars in prize money plus many end up making much more money through various sponsorships and other endorsements.
The most popular eSports games of recent times have been things like FIFA, League of Legends, CS:GO, Hearthstone, DOTA 2, StarCraft, NBA2K, Fortnite and Rainbow Six Siege.
Dota2 is by far the most popular eSports game of recent times, released back in 2013, and is a multiplayer battle arena game.
It’s the sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DOTA): All-Stars and is popular across the globe, especially in America and Europa. The basics are teams of five have to defend their area of a map, and teams win by destroying a structure called ‘Ancient’ which resides in an opposing team base. The game was released back in 2013.
League of Legends has probably overtaken Dota2 in terms of recent popularity, but Dota2 still averages huge numbers of almost 500,000 players at any one time.
League of Legends was released in 2009 and is another multi-player real-time strategy game. This one is more popular in Asia, and is similar in gameplay to Dota2.
There are plenty more popular games on the eSports circuit, most notably Fortnite, which goes from strength to strength, along with Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Smite, Warcraft, Starcraft II, PUBG (PlayersUnknown’s Battlegrounds), Overwatch, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and Arena of Valour.
Betting on eSports
You can bet on all sorts of things these days, and eSports is no exception, man bookies offer daily odds on every aspect of competitive sports, both in real life and in a virtual world.
The audiences for some of the bigger tournaments easily ran into the millions, mainly watched on platforms such as YouTube Gaming, TwitchTV and Facebook Gaming.
The online bookmakers were also quick to punch and open up the opportunity to start gambling on all platforms, across all of the major eSports games and various online tournaments.
Like with all aspects of modern life, COVID-19 played its part in changing the landscape. With people not being able to travel and most people being locked down in their homes, they turned to eSports, something competitors and gamblers alike didn’t need to leave their houses to take part in. As a result, eSports betting saw a meteoric rise in competitors and gamblers alike.
Sponsorships also rose during the time of the pandemic, a rare sector which actually benefitted from the uncertain times around COVID-19.
What are the best gambling sites to bet on eSports?
So, what are the best online gambling sites to bet on Esport at the moment? Many sites these days offer the chance to bet on eSports, the main ones being GGBet, BetWay, Thunderpick, all reputable eSports betting specialists allowing customers across the world to bet on all forms of electronic sports.
Many of the sites offer deposit bonuses, and free bets to encourage you to join up and use them as your premier betting site. Betting is as simple as betting on sports in ‘the real world’, the same as you would on football, horse racing, basketball or golf, or any sport for that matter!
Dota2 and League of Legends are classed as MOBA which stands for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, and the best sites for betting on the outcomes of these types of tournaments are sites like Lol Betting and Dota2 Betting.
FPS (First Person Shooters) like Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty, Fortnite and Overwatch are also fair game for bettors, and specialist sites like CSGO Betting and Valiant Betting are your ‘best bet’ for these type of gaming sites.
Sports games such as FIFA (Soccer / Football), NBA 2K (basketball) and also Rocket League (football with cars!) are also very popular amongst the eSports betting audience, with specialist sites around to bet on these too. Sites such as FIFA Betting, Rocket League Betting are the best around for eSports betting on sports games.
How Do I Bet on eSports?
If you’ve ever had a bet on real-world sports, such as English Premier League football or NBA Basketball, eSports betting works exactly the same way. You just need to find the best eSports site for the type of game you’re betting on and register for an account.
Once your account is verified, you make a deposit, making sure to claim any welcome bonuses and away you go. Take some time to get used to the website, add your selection to your betting slip and deposit some cash. If you win, your balance will reflect the winnings.
There’s so much information out there about eSport betting so you don’t need to go in blind. There are plenty of Top Tips on the internet to help you get started and with anything where you stand to win or lose money, it’s best to put in the research before you go parting with your hard-earned cash.
Some sites offer virtual betting so you can play with virtual money before you commit to using real currency, and there are plenty of sites which will help you to research current form, past tournaments, teams and how they’ve fared in previous eSports tournaments and seasons.
It’s also worthy of note, that eSports betting is no different really to real-world sports betting in that you need to act responsibly and only bet what you can afford to lose. As mentioned, always best to do your research before you start, and any signs of things going badly, or you feel you might be addicted, seek help and shut your accounts down quickly.
