Exploring the Future of Esports Betting at Online Casinos

Esports is a truly global business, with millions of monthly viewers, whose ranks feed into betting markets, with growth in both industries fuelling each other, opening up further prospects on each side.

That means casinos see an opportunity to target millennial and Gen Z audiences who have grown up with digital entertainment. There are, however, important distinctions that make esports a specific problem in need of a novel solution.

Streaming

For those like me who have seen eSports enter the mainstream, the transformation from gaming culture to true sport has been astonishing. League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive attract viewership that rivals some linear TV sports, with prize pools that have reached the tens of millions – and that was before eSports betting was even available. Although regulation is a bit of a mess, and the legitimacy of eSports as a traditional sport is still hotly debated, the ascent of eSports betting into the mainstream appears inevitable.

With many online betting options and with the amount and regularity of esports contests and viewing continuing to rise, betting on esports events has exploded. Both licensing and the legality will vary depending on where one lives, and a regulatory body needs to set clear rules and licensing standards if consumer protections and fair play are to be guaranteed.

Streaming esports provides betting operators with the precious ability to distil real-time game data to inform the latest and most engaging new wagering experiences, thus engaging esports fans in new ways while also ensuring that bettors have a much better chance of winning. And finally, esports solutions that deliver speed can bring transactions to life in ways previously impossible, allowing bettors to take advantage of positive odds as they emerge.

Betting options

Despite any perceived complexity, the betting options afforded by esports are most certainly plentiful. From outright and handicap bets, to live in-play betting. The variety offered here allows gamblers to make informed bets, maximising your chances of success and claiming victory from the bookies.

Meticulous analyses of team dynamics, individual performances, match results, bookmaking strategies and social media trends all add to their arsenal of information that allows bettors to place well-informed wagers.

Finding an esports betting website that you can trust is vitally important for protecting yourself and your funds. When choosing a site, make sure that you select an operator who is regulated by legal authorities, offers secure payment solutions and provides you with some level of bonus or promotion to boost your bankroll – either in the form of a matched deposit and free bet or some enhanced odds – or the terms and conditions of their promotion are clearly stated, so that you’re fully informed in advance and can decide if the deal is right for you.

Legality

In terms of esports betting, it’s legal in all the States except Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware, and Montana. But laws differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and you should check the local regulations before you get into any sort of betting, and ensure you choose an authorised – and responsible – gambling site, because it’s illegal everywhere, and you want to be protected.

With the Supreme Court decision declaring PASPA unconstitutional, access to eSports betting has become much easier.

Research into esports gamblers has offered some suggestive findings. Abarbanel et al (2020) detected a causal link between gambling on esports events and watching them; Hing et al (2022a) and Macey and Hamari (2018a, 2021b) both found that skin gambling is connected to spectatorship; and Dagaev and Stoyan used CSGO data to reveal that there is a reverse favourite-longshot bias among esports gamblers (2020).

Regulation

Esport betting is a growing and highly lucrative subfield of internet gambling, with staggering audiences partly due to the complexity of gameplay and strategic moves in the games, as well as betting on specific in-game events or players’ performance. Esport betting is attractive to corporate sponsors as well as having one of the highest users’ engagement of known sectors on the internet and, therefore, is attractive to investors.

Such games have struck a chord with fans, who have made betting on teams and matches a lucrative space unto itself. Games such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) have dedicated bettors – Cloud9, FaZe Clan and OpTic Gaming have all had successful programmes, with fans able to bet with real money or skins on match results.

As an antiquity, every event in esports betting is a good experience for the fans. It cannot be over-stated that esports betting is very fun and exciting. However, understanding more about esports betting rules and regulations should be supported with technical operations like data protection and provision of online payment solution to avoid fraudsters and the manipulation of integrity of the system. All casinos online can harness themselves to ensure the dissemination of esports betting proves to be perfectly accelerated with the help of payment solution called Speed Bitcoin Payment Processor.