Esports is certainly one of the fastest growing forms of online entertainment in the world and shows no signs of slowing as a growing casual audience are quickly becoming interest in the different genres that are becoming represented in the space – but one of the biggest things that pushes further growth in traditional sporting is definitely within their own gambling markets, and esports is no different as the number of different gambling markets continue to grow, but what are the different areas of esports gambling and how are they growing?
Esports betting – The most prevalent and the simplest, betting tops the list of one of the gambling markets available as it does for other major sports – it’s something easily recognizable and accessible to a large number of fans, so not at all surprising it tops the list. As popularity has grown, bigger bookmakers have started to add different esports games to their rosters as those found here at esportsbetting.site remain amongst the most popular. There are some draw backs, namely as a typically younger audience are prevalent within esports and there are concerns that pushing betting towards them come have a negative impact, but as esports betting as it stands is only a few years old, there’s still lots of room for change and growth.
Skin gambling – Before esports betting first started to emerge, it had been preceded by the few early years of skin gambling – it was popularised by the esports title of Counter-Strike, when an update came in 2013 to allow players an option to obtain different cosmetic items in game, and with a marketplace that assigned value to these items a skin gambling market quickly grew. In just a few years, the skin gambling market was valued at nearly $8 billion, and although changes were made in 2016 to make skin gambling much harder, some markets still exist. Skin gambling was replaced by the wider betting market, and skin gambling has slowly started to fade.
(Image from esports.net)
Unique Pick’Ems – Pick’Ems have been represented across other sports, but never as a really ingrained aspect of the sport – the biggest esports have managed to include Pick’Ems within their clients so when bigger events are underway, every player is met with a pop-up alerting them to take part if they’d like to. Many of the rewards are only cosmetic in-game options, but players who are able to obtain 100% on their choices have been in the running’s for big prizes outside of game – and this has helped launch Pick’Ems as a free gambling market that can offer a bigger prize.
As these markets continue to evolve and change, big changes will likely be made as each market is still very young – but as audience numbers and spectators continue to grow, the biggest operators are quickly jumping onboard to get involved in the fast growing market.
