Challenges Mounting for the Future of Esports Betting

The continued growth of eSports has led to expansion in related markets. For example, there’s been a proliferation of gaming peripherals, as well as official merchandising deals between leagues and top brands, like League of Legends and Louis Vuitton.

There’s a new Twitch streamer to watch every week and an ongoing reel of roster rumors from the world’s leading teams like Fnatic and Team Vitality. Clearly, the future of eSports is bright and ever-expanding. With a global market worth over $1 billion this year, according to Statista, it should come as no surprise that betting on eSports matches has also become popular.

In places like the US, where sports betting was recently legalized in 2018, there’s added interest in all things sportsbook-related. For example, Arizona recently launched its online market which means sports betting in Arizona is more accessible than ever. Still, not all sportsbooks are offering lines on Overwatch League or Dota Pro Circuit.

While this might come as a surprise for those who have been following eSports for the last decade, the developing market of eSports betting has a long way to go before it’s on par with major league options. Let’s take a closer look at why this is the case.

Stream Delays Wreak Havoc on Live Betting

There’s one glaring issue with eSports and its live betting sector: stream delays. For the most part, top leagues and events have hashed out ongoing issues related to latency for live events. However, there’s still an issue for remote viewers hoping to watch the action live or, in the case of sportsbooks, bet on live games.

In traditional sports, live betting has been the breakout trend of the last few years. It allows bettors to update their bets, or wager live on micro-events in a game. It’s quick, dynamic, and challenging—which bettors look for.

But eSports streams typically run on a 60-second delay. For some, this might be as long as ten minutes. As such, there’s no way for bettors and bookmakers to leverage these live events into betting opportunities. Until there are reliable live streams for major events, eSports betting will face growing pains.

A Lack of Trusted Names

Another challenge for eSports betting is the proliferation of new sportsbooks. For the most part, sports fans interested in betting will opt to sign up with a brand they recognize. In the US, that’s names like Caesar’s Sportsbook, BetMGM, DraftKings, and FanDuel.

So far, only DraftKings has expanded its eSports options—and even those are rudimentary compared to sportsbooks that were developed with a boutique eSports experience in mind. In other words, the eSports betting industry is still quite young, and there’s yet to be a clear winner when it comes to diversified betting options. In fact, it’s arguably an oversaturated market at present.

Will a staple like DraftKings or FanDuel be able to pivot and capture some eSports bettors? Or will they be replaced by other groups that offer an optimized and elevated eSports betting platform?

Time for Organic Development

Similar to challenges related to brand recognition, eSports betting also faces a period of organic development. Traditional sports betting has a range of wagers that can be applied around the board, such as a moneyline or outright winner. But most bettors have a niche interest, such as applying statistical probabilities to player props.

However, eSports is a largely digital and mechanized construct. Most of the lines offered by sportsbooks focusing on eSports are based on machine-learning algorithms. In other words, sportsbooks are likely to face challenges with odds and pricing algorithms, which can affect how reliable a bettor finds a given site.

Before the eSports betting market sees the same success as its traditional counterpart, it needs time to mature organically. In other words, there’s likely to be further growth and change related to how bettors wager on eSports events. And, with a vast diversity of games now becoming official eSports, there’s also likely to be great variation in bet types by title.