eSports

Introduction to eSports Betting

eSports Betting is a by comparison a relatively new concept to the online betting world and indeed eSports itself is also quite a new concept. Wind forward to 2016 and eSports as an industry was was valued at a mind blowing $748m. Thats right a staggering 748 million dollars with over $55m being attributed to eSports Betting alone - all in all the future looks bright for this eager new niche and love it or hate it as most people do, it looks like its here to stay. 

What are eSports?

Well if you're reading this you probably have already heard of eSports but just in case you haven't eSports essentially stands for electronic sports. Now you might be thinking, "how can a sport be electronic?" and you've got a pretty valid point! But nevertheless eSports exists and is basically just a competitive form of computer gaming, think Call of Duty, FIFA and Counter Strike for the common folk - but amazingly the big money is actually in Dota 2 and League of Legends where the sport got its boom.

What is eSports Betting?

Quite simply eSports Betting gives you the chance to bet on any of the major eSporting events that happen all over the world with sports betting companies now offering odds on a variety of different games and markets, including live or whats known as in-play betting. The action is pretty intense and can be difficult to predict, but for eSports fans there's plenty of opportunity to beat the bookiees as they adapt to this new type of betting.

What are the most popular eSports Betting Games?

There are plenty of eSports events going on all over the world, however the most popular and widely traded eSports betting markets are on the following games:

• League of Legends
• Dota 2
• Coutner Strike Global Offensive or CS:GO
• Hearthstone
• Starcraft 2

Brief History of eSports

Believe it or not according to wikipedias references on eSports the first ever competitive video game tournament took place way back on 19th October 1972 on a game called "Spacewar" which was named as one of the 10 most important games of all time spawning huge titles in the early 80s such as Asteroids.Following that you had competitions hosted by Atari such as the Space Invaders Championship in the 1980's. There were even TV shows created at the time will 100+ airings of a show called Starcade in 1982 which specifically televised video game tournaments where contestants would challenge high scores.

Video Gaming Goes Online

It wasnt until the 1990s with the internet booming that video gaming made its move into the online arena giving rise to a whole new generation of video gamers and raising the temparature on what was already a pretty hot industry. Games such as Quake, Counter Strike and Unreal Tournament made its mark setting the standard for what was to come. 

The Rise of eSports

South Korea were the early adopters and widely considered to be the people that pushed the online video gaming into what is now known as an ultra competive sport known as eSports. As early as the year 2000 they launched the worlds first 24 hour dedicated eSports TV channel that grabbed the attention of the public and forced the Country into taking steps to regulate eSports as an official sport with rules formed and governed by the Korean eSports Association - literally the FA of eSports.

Nowadays the market is huge with over 200 Million viewers having tuned in at some stage worldwide to view an eSports event during 2015. That number is truly impressive and with year on year growth continuning into 2016 we fully expect to see eSports Betting to be a big player in the years to come.