Betting on sports has long been a favorite for people – in fact, it even goes as far back as ancient Greece as well as the Roman games at the Colosseum. But, throughout its history, there has been a constant desire for novelty with gambling fans always looking for the latest way to try their luck.
With the steady growth of online gambling over the last few years it has started to introduce more and more niche sports and games to players including ones like ice hockey, table tennis and squash.
But the one which is exciting both gambling fans and sports betting sites the most at the moment is esports. For the uninitiated, this involves the playing of computer games either online or in huge organized tournaments with the winners often taking home prizes that run into seven-figure sums and prize pools at events like The International 2019 Dota 2 championships that are simply staggering.
Equally astonishing are the numbers behind esports. For example, by the end of 2019, the estimated total of viewers worldwide had reached 454 million, a 15% growth on the previous year’s figure. By the end of 2023, it’s estimated that the worldwide audience for esports will have nearly reached 650 million viewers.
Despite these figures, esports still remain something of a mystery to many people who may not be in the key demographic for this sort of activity, namely generations who are older than millennials. But it’s very much hoped that the inclusion of competitive gaming alongside other games included in sports betting at Leo Vegas and other sites will start to attract more interest. The fact that sites make it simple and straightforward to bet on esports teams and players will certainly help, as will the fact that esports lend themselves so well to in-play betting.
Having said this, there are a few hurdles to climb to pull in a whole new audience. The main one is getting to understand the games themselves if you’re not already a player. Imagine if you’d never seen or played cricket before. Just understanding the rules would take quite a long time before you could even see how they’re being applied in a particular game. Then add the fact that there are lots of words and phrases that may mean very little the first time you come across them. The same issues apply when people are getting to grips with the various different esports games.
But, as the saying goes, where there’s a will there’s a way and anyone genuinely interested in learning about esports will be able to pick up all they need to by trying out the games themselves or even watching the experts play on Twitch TV, the streaming site that has around 15 million watchers every day.
So we can confidently expect to see esports getting a real foothold in sports betting in the very near future – and for many this simply can’t come soon enough.
