How big is eSports betting?

Wagering on the favorite video games can be as exciting as simply playing them. However, the distinctive feature of eSports betting is the possibility to make money, literally a lot of it. If the bettor possesses enough analytical skills, he might be successful in placing wagers for the outcome of the eSports match or even the whole tournament. For this reason we have created the whole list of the best esports betting websites here.

Many people wonder how big is eSports betting market and whether it is safe when comparing to well-established sports like football or volleyball. That is why we would like to approach this question from all the facets to help you see the bigger picture.

The size of the eSports betting market

There is no doubt that eSports industry is marked by the rapid growth and astonishing popularity. The market research published by Eilers tells us that esports bettors are about to wager nearly $23.4 billion on various eSports titles by the year 2020. From the perspective of the eSportsbooks, the total revenue generated would be around $2 billion.

It is worth admitting that the eSports betting market features different products that attract the increasing number of punters worldwide:

• Betting at eSports bookmakers
• Skin Betting
• Fantasy eSports

Both skin betting and fantasy eSports are attracting huge audiences, which is projected in the volume of transactions. For example, the total skin betting volume has surpassed the figure of $7.5 billion in the year 2016 according to Eilers Krejcik Gaming and also Narus Advisors.

Tournaments and Total Viewership

The most anticipated eSports events, like The International and LoL World Championship, gather millions of spectators watching the matches on air via Twitch and Youtube. The League of Legends World Championship 2016 had the remarkable number of unique viewers – more than 43 million watching the grand finale. The finale was broadcasted in 18 languages. On the flip side, the International 2016 has recorded 5.8 million of unique spectators watching the last match of the final series.

Tournaments are featured with quite big prize pools, which attract the attention of the eSportsbooks and whet the appetite of eSports bettors. The biggest prize pool in the eSports history was in the International 2016 reaching $20 million.

Conclusion

It is hard to precisely measure the eSports betting market though, mainly because of its decentralized nature and lack of visibility. We provided the figures solely based on the stats of the legitimate eSports betting sites, excluding the black markets.

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