The Rise of Betting on E-Sports

The world of e-sports has become more and more popular, especially in countries like Korean where e-sports players are treated with as much awe and respect as celebrities are elsewhere.

E-sports gambling has existed as far back as 1994, when it was a very niche market. Today, thanks to the popularity of competitive online games like Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft, there are world-wide e-sports leagues full of players. These players can win a lot of money in e-sports tournaments. Some of them even have sponsors and make their full-time living playing e-sports.

There are a number of different places for gamblers to place their e-sports bets. One of the biggest and most well-known is Pinnacle Sports, an online sportsbook based in the Netherlands. The company offers betting on online tournaments for games like StarCraft 2, Dota 2, and League of Legends. There are a few other betting operators that take bets on e-sports matches, but there still aren't a huge number of them. Most of the games that can be bet on are done by the bigger companies--you won't find many sites offering bets on indie games or those that have fewer players.

When betting on e-sports, players will find that most of the time, it's done exactly like it is on other matches. Bookies offer fixed odds on the different online players. Gamblers decide how much they want to wager, and the fixed odds show how much they can win. Spread betting is also sometimes used with e-sports. Here, you can add a handicap to one of the players or teams before you bet, making the odds a little better. Spread betting is often used when one player or team is overwhelmingly the favorite to win.

Those who are new to e-sports betting first need to understand that, like anything, betting on these online matches is all about probability. Just because a major name is the game is playing against a relatively unknown player doesn't mean betting on them is a sure thing. Of course, bookies may try to make the underdog look better just so people will make that bet. If they don't, then they may not make that much money off the match.