E-Sports Betting With NetBet

Never heard of e-sports? If so, you’re way behind. They’ve been big business for years, with numerous people tuning in to massive organised multiplayer tournaments of videos games such as Counter Strike, Call of Duty, League of Legends, Super Smash Bros, and Fortnite.

Originally a niche pursuit that most people barely realised even existed, e-sports have grown rapidly over the last 20 years. It’s not just something you do at home with friends and family any more – streaming services such as Twitch have allowed audiences from around the world to follow the exploits of numerous players, who have been able to build up massive fanbases. Nowadays, they’re hugely popular and only continuing to grow – in fact, it was estimated that at any one time more than 2 million people are watching e-sport competitions. In 2014, it was reported that just over 200 million people were watching e-sports annually; just five years later, that number has risen to 300 million – a rise of 33%! That means if all the people who currently enjoy e-sports were a single country, it would be the fourth largest country in the world! How incredible is that? It’s pretty clear from that fact that e-sports are certainly not a niche pursuit any more.

Watching and playing e-sports isn’t just a hobby, though. Revenues from streaming, in addition to the prize money given out to winners of various competitions and tournaments, is total over $1 billion annually. While many people might assume that e-sports are something that only men get involved in, a recent study found that 22% of women said that they were involved in e-sports, as opposed to 18% of men. So it seems that the girls are ahead! Who’d have thought? That’s not the only surprising demographic fact, though – while you might expect that this is something that only young people enjoy, it was reported last year that only 53% of e-sports viewers were under 35!

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All about e-sports

Virtually any game in which players can compete online can be considered an e-sports game, from Pokemon to Mario Kart to Rainbow Six and Halo. The most popular, however, tend to be strategy, shooter, and multiplayer battle royale games. Often, they’ll even have commentators present to discuss the players’ tactics. Gaming is serious business, people!

Perhaps unsurprisingly, e-sports are most popular in Asia, though the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia are all huge and fertile markets for the pursuit as well. Because of the huge viewership numbers, e-sports are highly lucrative ground for advertisers. In fact, it’s estimated that of the total revenue that comes from e-sports, over 75% comes from ads and sponsorships. The Asian market alone is predicted to grow to an astonishing $3 billion, and is currently responsible for over 50,000 jobs!

Should e-sports be recognised as a “real” sport?

Increasingly, e-sports are becoming more and more officially recognised, with some governments even legislating to regulate official games tournaments. While e-sports bear a certain resemblance to other forms of intellectual entertainment, such as watching a game of chess, some quarters have called for e-sports to be recognised and held to the same standards as professional sports, and even for it to be incorporated into the Olympics! While some might scoff at this notion, others argue that the precision, skill, and expertise needed to be a top-level e-sports player, as well as the vast amount of time required to achieve this status, is comparable to the similar hard work needed to become a professional athlete. It’s also the case that, among younger generations, watching e-sports is almost as popular as watching real-life sport games such as baseball and cricket – and, of course, with e-sports tournaments available to watch and enjoy comes with it the inevitable e-sports betting!

Whatever the case, you might be surprised to know that professional e-sports players are increasingly being recognised in a similar manner to professional athletes. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense – like any top-level athlete, they spend hours practising their craft and honing their skills, as well as studying footage and records of their opponents’ past games, and the fact that so many of them are capable of making good money from their efforts means that they end up being taxed in much the same way as professional athletes are.

Fun facts about E-sports

Did you know that the biggest cash prize pool that can be won is for the game Dota 2 (created by Valve Games)? Now entering its ninth year, the annual Dota 2 tournament is an example of a video game championship event with a crowdfunded prize that has increased every single year since 2013. This year’s championship is shortly due to get underway, and it’s estimated the total prize pool up for grabs is worth over $34 million. Not too shabby – this is certainly a prize that’s not to be sniffed at. Other massive prize totals include $30 million for the Fortnite World Cup Finals, and $6 million for last year’s League of Legends World Championship. There’s lots of money in e-sports, to be sure. Do you reckon that you’re good enough to be in with a shot of claiming some for yourself?

Get the best E-Sports odds with NetBet!

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