How Betting on Esports Has Evolved

One of the most commonly heard stories about esports is how the number of people gaming exploded during the COVID pandemic. With little else for people around the world to do because of lockdowns, there was a rise in people logging on and playing games – and esports titles were particularly popular.

A knock-on effect of this was the steep rise in the number of people betting on esports events. With very few traditional sports events happening, betting firms had to look elsewhere for business and found that esports fitted the bill perfectly. Soon, all the best online sportsbooks were offering markets on Valorant and CS:GO games – and the legend was born.

But there is more to the rise of esports – and esports betting – than simply a global pandemic forcing more people to get involved. Now we have moved on from the lockdowns, we can see that esports betting is still evolving and changing both the gaming and betting industries.

Natural Progression

It would be wrong to say that pandemic lockdowns had no effect on the number of people playing and betting on esports. But an argument can probably be made to suggest that that increase was also just part of a natural trend in something that was already becoming popular.

Illegal betting had always been a part of sports and esports and when the US Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act  (PASPA) in 2018, the floodgates opened. Millions of Americans were suddenly able to bet legally and many headed to esports markets – well before the pandemic hit in 2020.

Growth in Tournaments

The evolution of esports and esports betting works in a very cyclical way. More people have been introduced to esports because of the greater exposure possible because of the investment from sponsors (including betting companies) which has encouraged those companies to invest more – and so on.

As with any traditional sport, there is more attention given to the major esports events. That also means that there will be more money wagered on those larger events. As tournaments grow in size - and prizes increase – it is only natural that more people will bet more money on the outcomes.

Retaining Fans

At the height of the pandemic lockdowns, there were some who wondered whether this newfound market of gamers and bettors would disappear as soon as everything went “back to normal”. Once traditional sports returned, would there be a mass exodus from esports events?

Esports has managed to retain those new fans who “discovered” the games during the boom and the entire ecosystem – including betting on events – has evolved. With so many elements of the esports world growing in the last few years, it is not just betting that has pushed it into the mainstream.

Micro-Markets

We are not downplaying the impact betting has had on the growth of esports though. There may be a number of reasons why it has gotten so big but the increased opportunities for fans and gamers to place wagers on events has also been important to the situation we have today.

Esports betting has followed the lesson of traditional sports, with sportsbooks offering more nuanced and niche betting markets to a more esports-educated audience. There may not be the same kind of prop bets available for Super Bowls offered for esports events but more titles, such as Valorant and Halo, have been included in the betting roster in recent years.

Changes to Games

When we talk about esports and betting the familiar story is of how esports has helped betting evolve. But there have now been instances of that evolution working in the other direction. In the same way that the development has been cyclical, betting habits and practices have made developers think about updates to games.

Counter-Strike 2 is a good example of this. CS:GO was a hugely popular title and had a big betting following too. But the game could take a long time to compete. CS2 was specifically changed to have shorter games with an MR12 format, which would be less demanding of audience attention and provide more betting opportunities. 

Esports Changing Betting

We have now arrived at a time when it is not strange to esports events listed alongside traditional sports events. In fact, if you were to take a look at the markets at some of the big sportsbooks, you would see FIFA games listed alongside real-life soccer matches.

Betting companies are never slow to catch on to a growing trend and have been able to exploit the increased interest in esports to make more money. But the micro-markets that we mentioned earlier have also prompted the sportsbooks to look at what other kinds of markets they can offer on traditional sports too.

The Future of Esports Betting

The general consensus is that the future of esports and esports betting is bright. But there have been reports in recent months that there has been something of a stalling, if not a decline. Teams and broadcast partnerships have ended, as income has fallen below some projections.

There are still a lot of success stories in the esports world though. Maybe the ones getting out of the game now were only interested in the supposed quick-fix riches, much as in the cryptocurrency world. Even if the amount of money bet on esports doesn’t rise in the same way in the coming years, the fact that it is now part of the mainstream betting industry is sign enough of its arrival.