There are various ways of placing bets online today. There are a large number of sports you can place a bet on, from football to basketball and even horse racing, all these sports stay the same as there hasn’t been any major newly invented sports which have gone mainstream. However, there is now a new kid on the block, a new sport newly on the rise and it is called eSports. The term eSports is short for electronic sports and it is a form of online multiplayer competitive gaming using a computer or consoles. It can either be played either as an individual sport, or as a team sport over the internet or a local network (LAN). eSport video gaming has become a phenomenon thanks to the efforts of South Korean gamers who have brought this style of gaming to the mainstream. Having the fastest internet in the world made it easy for twenty four hour PC Bang gaming centers to spring up. Online gaming in South Korea has become a national obsession with players going on long gaming sprees without food and toilet breaks. Special esports stadiums used solely for real-time strategy, fighting, first-person shooter (FPS) and massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) have being built to accommodate this new form of sports.
South Korea is also home to some of the world’s finest eSports players and teams. Top level players are famous and can earn millions while becoming national and international celebrities. Pro gamers have also started emerging in other countries like China and United States. The creation of esports in South Korea initiated the the first World Cyber Games, an annual international competitive video gaming event that draws over 500 pro-gamers from around the world. Games like League of Legends, Overwatch, Starcraft, Hearthstone, FIFA, Counter Strike and Age of Empires II have had championship tournaments held in huge arenas across the globe. Over 600 tournaments are being held globally with up to over a 100 million annual viewers. Other major esports tournament include Capcom Pro Tour, Call of Duty Championship, The International Dota2 Championships and eGames.
Companies like Samsung, SK Telecom, HTC, Microsoft have started to financing pro-gaming events due to its huge business potential. In 2015, the esports industry generated global revenue of $325 million from ticket sales, advertising, media rights and merchandising. There are also local and internationally organizations with licensed pro gamers. Now, how does gambling come into play with eSports? Who would have thought the idea of betting on a player or a team playing a console game would be a thing of the present? Well eSports betting is here to stay and it is getting more recognition as the years go by. As fans get familiar with the teams, watch matches, attend cup finals, they start to form opinions on who the best players are and who might win specific matches and are willing to place bets on their predictions. There are now several ways fans can place their bet on eSports matches. They include real money betting, skin betting, social betting and challenge betting.
Real money betting is very similar to traditional betting, place real money bets on odds such as winners of individual matches or the overall winners of tournaments. Skin betting is also known as “item betting” and this is where fans bet in-game items or virtual currencies as opposed to using real money for their wagers. Social betting involves friends or online contacts placing real money bets on the outcome of events. Challenge betting involves gamers competing against each other for real money, items or skins, there are websites established for a more formal setting. The only difference between esports betting and traditional betting is that you are betting on an individual competing in a computer game. The disadvantage of esports betting is its lack of appeal to non gamers, making it a very small but loyal niche.
Luckily, there has been some correlation shown between gamblers who play casual gambling games like slot machines games and casino table games, and gamblers who might be interested in eSports betting, so there could be some additional avenues for expanding the niche. We will just have to wait and see what the future holds for new budding online sport.