Esports see boost on betting sites

For years, eSports games have been exciting sports to watch. But, many betting sites around the world failed to see the excitement or utilize their popularity. As such, these games and tournaments were often overlooked when it came to adding sports to betting sites. But not any more.

In more recent years, the rise of eSports has seen an increase in betting sites following the trend. With huge prize pools up for grabs, it's hardly surprising that, finally, the betting market has caught on. Impressively, there is now an estimated annual revenue in excess of $2 billion when it comes to eSports betting. But how did we get here?

The beginnings

As with all industries, the gaming world was pushed forward by technology. The 1970s was the start. This was when the first gaming consoles began to appear and although they were ball and paddle games, they were still popular. However, it wasn't long before improvements were to be seen. In fact, by the end of the 70s, the game cartridge had been created, allowing players to switch games on the same console.

At this point, the popularity of the space game, Atari was peaking. So much so that the first ever computer game competition or tournament took place. More than 10,000 players from around the world competed making this the first eSports event in the world.

Keeping records

Unfortunately, in the early years, no records or stats were kept. This posed a huge problem for any potential bookmakers. In order to set the odds and have a price on the bet, various statistics and form information needs to be kept. With no records, there could be no betting.

With this in mind, futures trader Walter Day bought a video game arcaded in 1981. The game? Twin Galaxies. Inspired by an article discussing game growth and the need to have a high-score database, he began travelling around the US to collect data. Soon, he was the go-to source for any high score information. Soon, his data was being used everywhere, and players had something to aim for, including beating those high scores.

Getting connected

As the 90s rolled around, the party was able to truly get started. This was due to the development of the internet and the ability to begin online gaming. With better computer power, players could compete with one another in teams, against each other, and communicate in real-time. It also meant that this was when eSports leagues could be created. By the time the 2000s had arrived, gaming was well and truly part of the culture and only getting bigger.

Placing a bet

Despite the relatively slow start, the first betting on eSports took place in 1998. And this was thanks to Austrian-based Intertops, who took that very first bet. The only downside here was that while the company or owners could see the benefits of eSports betting, they simply didn't have the knowledge to put it into practice. Not only that, but there still wasn't much in the way of interest in eSports betting.

Subsequently, it wasn't until 2010 that things really took off, when Pinnacle took up the mantle and began seriously offering eSports betting options. These included offering bets on StarCraft 2. As 2014 rolled around, Pinnacle had already taken 1 million eSports bets and the best betting US sites were soon to follow suit. Soon, more eSports including Halo, Call of Duty, DOTA 2, and more were all available for betting.\

With the arrival of Twitch, televised events were possible, increasing the consumer base further. And by the early 2020s, eSports betting was well and truly part of the betting scene. These days, it's expected that the global market will expand to more than $3 billion by 2028 and this is due, in large part, to the popularity in the US, the undeniably dominant market.