The report (read part 1) considered two main types of bets: eSports betting, which is similar to traditional betting with real money, and eSports fantasy, which is similar to fantasy football bets. A third area, called “mediated bet game” allows people to wager items instead of cash (as weapons, abilities, cosmetic improvements from the game itself), but was not included in the estimates of the industry.
According to the study, Unikrn based in Seattle is the most visible of these bookmakers, thanks to highly publicized funding events by investors, including actor Ashton Kutcher and Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks. But he adds that Unikrn is definitely not the largest. The group also includes EGamingBets, VitalBet, Pinnacle and Betway. Meanwhile, the field of eSports fantasy is led by Vulcun and AlphaDraft where both are dealing with real money.
This gaming industry, however, is relatively new. Reportedly, Pinnacle took his first betting in eSports in 2010, but it was not until recently when other bookmakers began to take notice of the potential, with Bet365, William Hill and Bodog, all adding eSports to their business in the last year. One of the main drivers that interested the gaming industry in electronic sports, is the large size of the audiences precisely for eSports. For example, the 2014 end of the game League of Legends, attracted an audience of 27 million people, exceeding the number of viewers in the United States for the 2014 World Cup among other popular sporting events as stated in part one of this article.
The report’s authors concluded that eSports are an extremely hospitable environment (technologically, logistically, culturally and demographically) for online gambling with real money.
An increased betting in eSports among the huge community of players, was somehow blocked so far by structural barriers that now are weakening, the report added. At the same time, betting on eSports is beginning to benefit from the gambling industry surge in interest that generates positive trends for both the electronic sports and the online gaming also.
