How does eSports betting compare with sportsbook wagering?

The increase is just one of many observations made in the latest ESI Gambling Report, which also details a rise in the volume of accumulators and match result bets – markets popularised by sports betting.

As you can probably imagine, casual punters who are normally more willing to engage with traditional sportsbook betting are thought to be behind the surge, but how do the two experiences compare?

“Currently, I see eSports betting separately from traditional sports betting,” Mark Balch, Head of Product & Partnerships at Bayes Esports Solutions, which is a joint venture of Sportradar and Bayes Holding, told Gambling.com.

“With the bigger, traditional sports, there are large existing communities of fans for teams and players. That simply doesn’t exist for eSports at the same scale, and that carries over to betting as well because people tend to bet on things they know.

“However, I do think that as eSports continues to grow in cultural relevance and a few more stars emerge, it will truly rival traditional sports betting.”

The curse of Covid-19 has prompted a previously unfathomable situation whereby Russian table-tennis and Belarusian football are the most popular sports to bet on in April 2020.

Blind Leading The Blind?

One might argue that traders and punters walking blindly into the world of eSports betting would be just as vulnerable to losing money as those opting to explore niche eastern European sport for the first time, but that is not necessarily the case.

That is because the quality of the data available with which to make reasoned judgement on a potential outcome in eSports far outweighs the value of basic statistics compiled on, say, the Belarusian Premier League.

“If you look at a sport like soccer, there’s up to 15 data points that matter, sometimes you can gather a bit more,” adds Mark.

“Take League of Legends, for example, there’s at least 25 data points per player and there’s 10 players playing at once. So there are a lot more things happening in the game. For eSports there needs to be a technical solution to effectively collect, extract and monetize all of that data.

“Data consumers want data with a high level of detail for all events and games preferably from a single source.”

That’s where Bayes Esports Solutions come in, occupying a central stage in the industry with its marketplace, BEDEX, which allows game publishers and tournament organisers to sell in-game data to bookmakers, eSports media, pro teams and other analytics partners.

“Betting and media companies often only have access to the data of individual organisers or tournaments which severely limits coverage,” says Mark. “It is at this precise intersection of complexity where Bayes Esports Solutions picks up the reins with BEDEX.

“The bookmakers we work with rely heavily on our data, pre-match odds and live odds services. Given the amount of data that’s being produced by eSports, there is a ton of information to analyse and numbers to crunch. We then use data science and advanced modelling to predict what’s most likely to occur in any given match or at any given moment.”

Most Popular eSports to Watch

With eSports such as Rocket League, FIFA and F1 eSports increasing in popularity, viewership is reportedly growing 15% year-on-year, but that figure could drastically increase if the genre’s new followers stick around once normal service is resumed in traditional, mainstream sport.

Streaming platforms such as Twitch and YouTube have enjoyed substantial increases in viewership of eSports gaming too, leading to a simultaneous rise in registrations, but the western world is still playing catch-up to the east in terms of figures.

“When it comes to viewership numbers, the only region that matters is China and they have embraced multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs), especially League of Legends,” adds Mark.

“However, these games are next to impossible [to understand] for any casual viewers who do not specifically play the game, which is why we see healthy numbers in other games like Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – which is the most popular eSports game in the west.”

As with any other business, gambling operators are promoting whatever is in vogue, and despite criticism from the media for suddenly pushing products such as eSports, online casino and mobile poker (what else are they to do?) traditional bookies are starting to warm to the idea of eSports as a major venture.

Whether it can eclipse sports betting in the long-term is questionable, but in the interim at least there’s no doubt eSports is breathing life into a struggling industry.