Esports has solidly integrated itself into the sphere of online casinos in our tech-oriented era. The harmony between digital betting and electronic gaming made the exploration of its potential by online casinos predictable. Esports, steadily rising in mainstream recognition, has huge growth potential despite unanswered questions about how it might incorporate in the future. Much potential still remains untouched.
The Present Situation of Esports Gambling
Data tracing the evolution of esports betting reveal a huge surge across the recent years. The market’s worth in 2021 was shown to be USD 9,748, and a CAGR of 13.7% is forecasted to increase its value to USD 25,556 by 2031. Although this growth falls a bit behind the expected CAGR of online casinos (14.71%), the growth in esports — with its appeal to a slightly smaller audience than traditional gambling — remains remarkable.
For online casinos, merging with esports betting usually isn’t complicated. Much like regular sports, it focuses on wagering on teams and individual performance, primarily during major tournaments. While this provides considerable flexibility for games and series like DOTA, LoL, and Counter-Strike, coverage of smaller games is less common. Equally important, online casinos sometimes find it problematic to connect with ongoing and upcoming tournaments. It is more the result of the decentralized nature of videogame tournament streaming rather than anyone’s mistake.
Creating a Futuristic Vision
The future of esports betting will likely witness an advancement of current systems rather than a radical change.
Consider online casinos which have seen a surge in popularity due to intelligent promotional strategies like offers and bonuses, with the deposit-free bonus being a main example. Free spins offered by renowned brands such as InterCasino and PlayOJO build upon traditional styles of welcome bonuses, appealing to potential players as they offer value for money and often free games. By providing deposit-free bonuses, online casinos have vastly extended player options, suggesting a potential route forward for online esports betting too.
An enhanced selection of game coverage represents the most apparent type of next-gen esports integration that notable websites will likely display. Ever-popular games like Smash Melee and StarCraft: BroodWar are prospective choices for exploration, but betting opportunities might also appear at other gaming events. For example, the immensely popular Games Done Quick speed-running event could see bets on completion times, errors, resets, donation targets, and other aspects.
Improved interaction with Twitch, the leading video game live streaming platform, could further enrich the spectator experience. Twitch is the go-to live streaming service for most major and minor tournaments, and its potential connections with the betting community are often unexploited. Streaming directly from a casino website via embedded video could provide significant benefit. Taking it a step further by allowing bets to contribute to future event prize pools could motivate Twitch staff to pay more attention to this relationship.
While these advancements might need more time, the improved integrations possible within esports and betting are a question of when, not if. The synergy between betting and esports holds immense possibilities that can’t be overlooked, and early adopters will inevitably position strongly in the future.