Milan Rabszski has recently been getting into the betting scene, one game at a time. He’s reached the footsteps of the massive eSports industry and is looking at it in awe. New to the sports betting game, he finds himself questioning which scene is better, eSports or live sports. Considering the popularity and accessibility via the internet, the answer is a resounding majority towards one industry. Which is…
Esports Gaining Popularity
Competitive video gaming, or “esports,” is a rapidly growing sector around the world. Esports, or electronic sports, are tournaments in video games similar to those found in more traditional sports such as baseball, basketball, and football. Despite widespread belief to the contrary, esports is a legitimate, expanding, and potentially profitable enterprise, not just a fad amongst unemployed millennials playing video games in their parent’s basements.
The number of individuals that watch esports, either online or in person, has risen to over 380 million. When the 2016 season of the popular esports game League of Legends concluded, 43 million people had tuned in to watch. The numbers have only gone up since. Given the decentralized nature of the esports industry and the digital nature of its platform, there is considerable profit potential.
Why Is It the New Favorite?
Betting on esports offers a better consumer experience than betting on traditional sports, which has contributed to the growth of esports betting.
The growth of esports betting can be directly attributed to the availability of more and better data. Betting, which heavily depends on data to influence odds and determine results, is a natural fit for esports because of the large amount of low-latency data they generate. The instantaneous distribution and millisecond-by-millisecond updating of game data make esports a considerably superior betting experience for customers than traditional sports.
Who Makes It Big?
It’s no secret that the esports industry is a maze. People are making the most of it.
Players
Players advance in skill and standing by honing their focus on a single game at a time via intensive competitive practice. Talented gamers have essentially two paths to a professional esports career:
- Those that broadcast themselves while playing video games online are known as “streamers.”
- Those elite few who make it to the professional ranks get to test their skills against the greatest teams from all over the world in tournaments held in every region of the globe.
Teams
Teams consist of paid professionals who band together to play for monetary rewards.
Organizations
Just as a college or university may field football, basketball, and hockey teams under the same NCAA banner, the top esports teams are recruited to be a part of organizations with multiple teams that specialize in their respective video games but operate under the same name.
Leagues
Leagues Esports teams compete in a league where there are regular seasons, playoffs, and global finals for their particular video game.
Publishers
As in any other industry, the “publishers” create and release a game. They hold IP rights and make all the final calls regarding the game’s usage.
Live Streaming
Sites to watch games, services to watch games on, game highlights, and data analysis of esports.
Sportsbooks
Markets for betting and in-game items, including fantasy sports and fantasy sports betting, as well as in-game item marketplaces.
How Are They Making It Big?
Since esports is featured at the 2022 Asian Games, the gaming industry has a chance to create new revenue streams analogous to those of the media industry.
Advertising
Ad sales to viewers of esports events, whether during live broadcasts, VODs, or traditional television broadcasts, provide for the bulk of the industry’s advertising revenue. Advertising in esports, across all of its mediums, is still significantly less expensive than in more traditional sports.
Merch and Entry Fees
Money made from the selling of goods and tickets to live competitions is known as “merchandise and ticket revenue.”
Media Rights
Esports content can only be broadcast on certain channels after the owners of such channels pay a fee known as “media rights revenue” to various industry players.
Publisher Fees
A sizable amount of today’s video game market is made up of publisher fees. The developers have spent a lot of money advertising their games in an effort to make them more popular for longer periods of time.
Sponsorship
In addition to the well-known gaming and technology companies, lifestyle and non-endemic brands are shifting from testing the waters to allocating substantial resources to esports. Furthermore, local clubs, leagues, and events are starting to tap into new marketing dollars to attract this population.
The Poles Have Always Been There
Poland has been making waves globally in the esports sector. In the 1990s, eSports gaming became a phenomenon, and Poland’s first amateur esports teams were formed in internet cafes. Since then, it’s grown into a huge marketplace for gamers and everyday people, with 47% of Polish gamers being female!
The market includes not just gamers but game producers too. Who doesn’t remember The Witcher? Techland and Dying Light? Ten Square Games and PlayWay earn roughly a billion euros annually. In fact, Poland’s video game industry has a whooping 440 developers.
With this, Poland’s infrastructure is pushed to grow quickly. Top clubs participate in professional leagues. The European Superleague (ESL) and the Polish Esports League (PLE) are two organizations working to build esports tournaments that showcase each club’s best players and influence the industry as a whole. Polsat Games channel airs the Ultraliga League of Legends tournament. Both the internet and the local broadcasting network play a role in their popularity
Wrapping Up
Polskie kasyno online has consumed Milan’s life until now. He’s excited to learn new things again with sports betting. Follow his journey and learn along with him on his podcast at topkasynoonline.buzzsprout.com. You will find more of his work on TopKasynoOnline, a passion project of his where he works as the editor-in-chief. This is a Poles for Poles enterprise located in Złota 59, 00-120 Warsaw. You can also phone him at +48 22 595 14 00 or email [email protected] to ask him your queries. Note that at the time of writing in Poland, in September 2022: Blik, Przelewy24, Paysafecard, Bitcoin, Ecopayz.
On the date of issue (October, 2022), Note: Unfortunately, gambling is illegal in Poland, so the content in this article is used only for informational purposes and is available to users outside of Poland.
