What Is Esports Betting? Esports Betting for Beginners

Even for fans of most forms of betting, esports may sound like an unfamiliar concept. That’s because esports and related betting are relatively new parts of the gambling scene. In general, esports is a new form of sporting entertainment made possible by the widespread use of internet technology. But what is esports betting exactly?

Esports are essentially video games played in a professional, competitive environment. Rather than traditional sporting teams, the “athletes” of esports are the video game players. There are many famous esports players already, though they might not have as widespread acclaim as the most famous soccer players, for example! They are still known and loved by millions of fans of esports.

To answer what is esports betting, we’ll delve into all aspects of this exciting entertainment. You’ll get an overview of the history as well as esports betting tips. We’ll cover top players, top games and competitions so you can feel confident about exploring esports further for yourself! You can use the list below to jump ahead and learn more about Daily Fantasy Sports or DFS betting, too.

• The Ins and Outs of Esports Online Betting
• Betting On Esports: Tips & Tricks
• The History of Esports
• Fun Facts About Esports Betting

The Ins and Outs of Esports Online Betting

If you love video games, esports betting may be for you. Esports are an organized form of video game playing that sets players against each other – individually or in teams – in front of an audience. The audience does not necessarily have to bet on the outcome of the game, but they can: This is esports betting.

The kinds of esports games out there vary widely, which means that there are a lot of different betting options for fans of different game types. There are team-based, multiplayer games (known as MOBAs). There are also FPS (first-person shooter) and other single player games. You might prefer survival-based games, on the other hand, or even games that recreate real sports matches, like the iconic FIFA and Madden NFL.

Despite the massive popularity of video games (an estimated 67% of adults play video games of one form or another in the US alone), the stars of esports betting are not exactly household names – yet. This is partly due to the fact that esports are so new, they are still seen as an underground subculture in some way, and as belonging to the internet rather than to day-to-day life in the way that other athletics belong.

Part of the confusion around esports online betting is also the fact that it sits in a legal gray area. Some places recognize esports in an official capacity while others don’t consider it to be a professional activity, and not all sportsbooks offer betting on esports yet either. We’ll explain more about this and give some betting on esports tips below.

Even though this gray area exists, esports are already extremely popular. Some tournaments draw a million viewers at a time. Still, esports’ top gamers are not always represented in commercial sponsorships like more traditional athletes because this is an aspect of betting that is in a lot of flux – at least at the time of writing. When rules are unclear on a form of betting, companies are sometimes hesitant to put money into sponsorship deals and other investments.

Betting On Esports: Tips & Tricks

Given all of this information, the main question you may want to ask is, is betting on esports legal and where can one do so? We’re happy to share our tips for betting on esports here. One of the first things that makes a difference in finding legal esports betting is the US state you are based in. As you probably know, sports betting is only legal in some US states at the moment, though these rules do indeed change all the time as more and more seek to regulate online betting.

As we mentioned above, esports are currently in a bit of a gray zone across betting sites and in terms of regulations. That means that some states offer them with no caveats, just like other forms of sports betting, but others have more complex rules around them. Esports online betting is currently completely available legally in these states: West Virginia, Tennessee, New Jersey and Nevada.

The rules are a bit more complicated in several other states, which allow esports betting but within a different set of parameters (depending on each state you are in). These states are: Arkansas, Delaware, New York, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Rhode Island, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Oregon.

The main tip we can offer for esports betting is that it works very similarly to regular sports betting. In other words, it involves watching and researching the sport (in this case, video game) you are interested in betting on. You want to analyze data from that sport and get to know players in order to make the most informed choices possible. It’s also helpful to note that esports are not the same as Daily Fantasy Sports betting, though both involve research.

Esports Games You Can Bet On Now

It is important to keep in mind that not all games are available to bet on in each state. Nevada has approved games like eNASCAR and Overwatch, while New Jersey offers some of the same as well as Call of Duty Rocket League and others. West Virginia allows betting on many more esports, including FIFA. These are just some examples.

As we said, these rules are changing rapidly, so it is important to research to find the latest information on what esports games are available. Just because a game isn’t on a betting platform now does not mean that this couldn’t change in the future, so keep checking your favorite betting sites to be sure. We’ll also share some of the sports betting platforms which offer esports betting in the US now.

Where to Bet: Esports Betting Sportsbooks

There are quite a few sportsbooks that also offer esports as a part of their roster! There are also some websites with valuable information about esports, which also help feed into the information available to bookmakers. This aggregated esports data is a vital source for calculating odds as well as providing live betting (i.e. betting while games are in progress, a popular pastime within many types of sports betting). Some of the biggest sites for esports information are GG.bet, Abios and Data.Bet.

Sportsbook operators currently offering betting in esports include:

• Betway
• Draftkings
• bet365
• LeoVegas
• William Hill
• Pinnacle
• FanDuel
• BetMGM

A Word About Legal Gambling

Though other online platforms may propose esports betting, even in states which are not listed in this article, we urge you to always check all rules and licenses before placing your bets. This is because there are many online betting platforms that do not necessarily have adequate licenses but still get away with offering betting online. This can be especially true for more unusual or rare types of bets, as with specific esports games. Illegal or sketchy gambling platforms take advantage of players who really want to access these games and have no other legal recourse, but be wary.

The History of Esports

As you can imagine, the history of esports is fairly fascinating and full of twists and turns. Its beginnings are actually inherently tied up together with South Korea’s economic history. In the 2000s, South Korea’s government was dealing with a financial crisis. To help with this issue, the government focused on increasing its internet capabilities. The fantastic infrastructure created as a part of this time resulted in high level internet cafes forming.

A strong community culture thus developed around these brick-and-mortar locations. They became popular meeting places for young gamers. Meanwhile, video gaming became more and more popular. Eventually, some places began hosting their own competitions for local players and these continued to grow in scale.

Here is where South Korea’s government again made a valuable decision. Seeing how popular this activity was for young people in the country, an agency to regulate esports was formed for the first time in the world. This is the Korean Esport Association (KeSPA). Together with the country’s television channels, KeSPA succeeded in broadcasting esports competitions across the country, which increased visibility of the games even more.

Though South Korea is still the heart of esports competitions, with thousands upon thousands of people taking part in some way or another, esports has of course grown in popularity past the country’s borders. It is now enjoyed almost everywhere in the world (more on that later!) and competitions are aplenty. That means, lucky for you, there are many chances to get involved in esports either as a player or as a viewer or bettor.

Interesting Facts About Esports Betting

One of the things that sets esports apart from regular sports, for better or worse, is the man-made element. Though other sports were also invented at some stage, they were not developed in the same sense that a computer program is developed. They are not owned by one particular entity or person. This can cause issues for esports players (and ultimately bettors).

For example, developers can choose to shut down a game that they deem unsuccessful, if they find not enough players are interested in it. Like computer programs that become obsolete, games may not consistently be updated after some point in time. This is scary for both players and bettors. Imagine becoming really good at a game and rising to the top of the ranks only to find that it is discontinued! If you get to know a game’s scene well as a bettor, you could be in the same position of having wasted time studying stats, and now needing to start over with a new game.

Lag time is also a serious issue for esports tournaments, in a way that does not affect other sports (though it can be a consideration for live sports betting of course). In big esports competitions, especially bad lag times can result in games being paused or postponed. On a larger scale, esports may not be available in some areas if developers have not created a good enough infrastructure there.

This is currently true across the continent of Africa. African countries lack a strong infrastructure, meaning they would suffer from serious lag while playing these games. This has effectively removed African players from being able to compete in many esports games, which of course probably feels unfair to those players. This also inspires the question of whether esports can ever be truly global in the way that other traditional sports like soccer or basketball are. This could also reduce the chances of esports becoming as widely recognized.