Americans May Soon Be Betting On eSports
A few years ago, many Americans likely considered eSports a fad and thought of betting as something they could only do in Las Vegas or a foreign country. But a few years can make quite the difference. All of a sudden, both activities are bigger than ever, as well as more readily available to the U.S. market. Furthermore, it’s becoming almost inevitable that they’ll soon be linked together.
Where eSports are concerned, it isn’t easy to make a clear, overarching point because there are so many different games and organizations involved, not only in the United States but also worldwide. That said, there’s been a clear evolution for this pseudo-sport over the years. The intriguing, fledgling concept was less than a decade ago. Video game streaming has gotten huge, and as more viewers have been attracted, it’s become more sophisticated, competitive, and lucrative. Multiple high-end streaming platforms now regularly broadcast tournaments; various live games sell out stadiums worldwide, and there are competitive gamers worth millions. It’s not a phenomenon unique to the U.S., but eSports have grown, and Americans have noted it.
Meanwhile, on the betting front, things are at a younger – though still promising – stage of evolution. With a country-wide ban having been done away with a couple of years ago, laws are being written to accommodate well-regulated betting services in one state after another. At first, with the quickest-moving states in this process primarily concentrated in the Northeast, it was unclear how widespread the betting movement would be. Before too long, though, legislative efforts did begin to branch out, and sportsbooks’ availability in Indiana seemed to erase all doubts. With migration into the Midwest (Iowa adopted sports betting right around when Indiana did), it became clear that this wasn’t merely a Northeast movement. Legal betting is not universal just yet – but it now feels like it will be.
The puzzle’s final piece is that eSports betting is on the rise, not necessarily in the U.S. but more generally across the industry. As the events have grown more competitive and the streaming options have improved, audiences have begun to get more closely involved, and in some cases, this has meant gambling. In particular, some of the eSports world’s most popular games – CS: GO, League Of Legends, and a few others – now give rise to betting markets on a fairly regularly regular or sports betting platform that lists odds for these kinds of events, but enough of them do that a call has developed. In some cases, even more games are involved.
From this point, it’s easy to imagine that Americans, too, could be engaging in eSports betting in a fairly regularly year or two. As more states welcome betting services and the eSports industry continues to rope in new fans, it will be only natural for some overlap. It should make for a fascinating new element to U.S. gaming culture.
