eSports Betting Scene: How Much Has It Grown In The Last Years?

It seems like technology even impacted the world of traditional sports, but not in the way that you might expect. Technology introduced a new player in the sports game, that has experienced a meteoric growth that even real-world sports are dreaming of achieving.

We are talking about eSports. The world is changing, and since digitalization is a global trend, we’ve seen some big shifts in the world of sports.

If you’ve been living under a rock, eSports are professional competitions where players play popular video games like Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, League of Legends, Valorant, Apex Legends, and many others.

But the most surprising thing about this industry is the growth of such tournaments and the interest that such competitions bring to the table. I mean, a while ago, professional video competitions never really existed, and now we are talking about a billion-dollar market that threatens real-world sports.

So, the question is, what can we expect in the future if we’ve seen such a big growth in the eSports industry?

The Incredible Rise of eSports Betting

This is without a doubt one of the best-performing industries in the world at the moment. We are talking about an industry that went from being too niche to dominating mainstream betting markets and competing with sports with a much longer history.

It transformed from a niche market to a mainstream giant in the online gambling space, and I think we can all agree that this growth is mainly fueled by the surge in the popularity of competitive gaming.

Let’s just take a look at the stats, just because they are mindblowing. If we go back four years (2020) we can find out that the eSports betting market was only worth $1 billion (that’s still a lot of money, don’t get me wrong). But if we fast forward to 2024 (this year) we can see that it grew 2.5 times or to $2.5 billion.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen such growth in a short period of time.

So, the industry doubled in value in just 4 years, does this mean that we’d see it climb to $8 billion in the next four years? Quite possibly, although some sources have pessimistic views on the growth of esports betting saying that it will reach only $3.3 billion by 2028.

I think that we’ve barely scratched the surface and eSports betting is far from being mainstream. After all, not everyone in the world is able to place a bet on eSports competitions due to market limitations and bookmakers not covering competitive gaming events.

How Did This Happen?

Well, I think that the eSports betting growth is impacted by two big factors. We have a technology-savvy younger audience that loves playing video games, and technological innovations.

But the first one is the biggest. People who have played video games their entire lives are now grown and they handle their own finances. This means that they are ready to make their own financial decisions, and they often choose esports betting over traditional sports betting.

Why Is eSports Betting So Popular?

Well, it's new, unique, and offers something that other sports cannot. eSports fans can try the games themselves and see what is like to become a pro. They have a better understanding of competition, which makes them even more passionate.

That’s not possible in real-world sports. After all, I am a die-hard Formula 1 fan, but I’ll probably never drive such a car in my life.

We also have a rise in competitive games that are actually good. Games like League of Legends, Dota 2, or even newer games like Apex Legends or Rocket League have huge player bases. This means that all of these players are potential viewers for a professional eSports competition.

What’s surprising is that around 4.5% of the online gambling market comes from esports betting, and that’s quite a lot.

How Do Bettors Engage With eSports?

Well, there are a couple of ways, although esports betting isn’t really available globally to the same extent as traditional sports.

People engage with eSports in various ways, through dedicated eSports betting platforms, live events, discord groups, and many other ways.

In fact, the industry is so big that we already noticed some crypto betting options for eSports events like Evo.io, which shouldn’t be that surprising since we are talking about an industry fueled by technology.

Top eSports Titles Dominating the Betting Scene

Not all games are created equal when it comes to betting. Some titles have risen to the top as the go-to games for eSports wagers:

• League of Legends (LoL): With its massive player base and yearly World Championships, LoL draws millions of bettors.
• Dota 2: Its annual “The International” tournament offers the largest prize pools in eSports, making it a huge attraction for betting.
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS): A staple in the first-person shooter category, CS

has a HUGE following in the betting community. Also, CS players love to gamble as we can see with the pack's opening features in CS, where people are hoping to get a rare knife.

So, eSports betting is growing rapidly and I don’t want to jinx it, but I think that this will be a dominating industry in the future.