eSports betting has now been fully integrated into the lives and betting routines of professional punters all over the world. With so many different types of eSports and with a continuously growing and expanding fan base, there is a wealth of tournaments and competitions taking place every year across the globe. There is so much going on in eSports, that punters have plenty of chances and opportunities to bet on relevant events.
eSports are not a niche any more. In fact, eSports have developed so much that they are now entirely incorporated and absolutely assimilated into the core betting markets offered by every sportsbook, every online betting site and every bookmaker in this world. And as a local expert once said: “Šodien spēlētājiem ir diezgan neiespējami atrast licenzētu un uzticamu totalizatori, kurā nebūtu pieejamas eSporta likmju iespējas.”
Why do bettors hesitate?
While eSports are getting more and more popular among punters, there is still a considerable portion of bettors, who are hesitating to experiment and try out wagering even on games that have become mainstream.
They consider betting on games like DOTA2, CS:GO, League of Legends, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Fortnite or other highly popular games, a challenging and unknown thing to them. They are reluctant to test their betting skills on eSports and so they are missing out on the opportunity to an exciting experience.
It is quite likely that some bettors deliberately avoid eSports betting because they believe it to be vastly different from traditional sports betting. And the truth is that all the buzz about how to stay safe while betting on eSports, how to avoid pitfalls in eSports betting or even what to watch out when placing wagers on competitive video gaming events, has indeed created a rather intimidating atmosphere around eSports betting.
So, we come to agree that many people believe eSports’ betting to be different from conventional sports betting and to some extent, more difficult and more challenging as well. But this is not the reality.
eSports betting and traditional sports betting: Not so different
There are some fundamental differences but these are more technicalities. They have nothing to do with betting per se. Let’s break these down and make things clear.
eSports betting and traditional sports betting generally use the same principles, same strategies and the same approaches. Whether you are betting on the US Open or on a CS:GO tournament, you will follow the same steps and go through the same procedure.
Of course, you’ll have to look at different things in each case, but the bottom line remains the same: you search for an edge and this can come from reading, analyzing and predicting. In the US Open you’ll look, for example, at the tennis players’ skills on the type of court, the weather conditions, the rankings, the previous match-ups, the shape and form of the players and so on. In CS:GO you’ll look at the team roster, the motivation, the previous performance but you’ll never be bothered about the weather, let’s say or the type of tennis court. It’s the same thing, only in a different way.
Another difference between the two, that intimidates bettors, is that they feature different betting markets. There are some betting markets in eSports that are nowhere to be found in conventional sports betting. Number of kills, first-blood and other similar bets that sound bizarre in traditional sports, are actually thriving in betting on eSports. But this doesn’t make any real difference for a bettor, because at the end of the day these bets are simply events upon which you are called to place a wager.
And then there is the notion that eSports are very volatile and so they are riskier than traditional sports. But there are so many volatile betting markets in conventional sports -think for example a tennis match or a basketball game – that it is unreasonable to think of volatility as a key feature and distinctive characteristic of eSports.
So, if you are thinking of betting on eSports, but you are hesitant because you believe it to be very different from sports betting, then you should rethink that and consider gaining an exciting experience!