There is a new giant in the entertainment market, and many are surprised that it is online video gaming. The reputation and popularity of online games are steadily increasing for years now, and in the year 2024, with people forced to stay inside more than ever before, it is reaching its peak. People that are not familiar with this are usually surprised when they hear that competitive gaming is an influential industry with a lot of people watching them live.
With how popular some of the online events get, we can not be surprised they are drawing so much attention of people who enjoys a good bet. Are you new to this world? There are sites like Unikrn, which will help you find online games you need to have a good time. You wonder how and why did esports betting become so popular? There are several very valid reasons.
1. Diversity of opportunities
The number of opportunities to bet on is astounding. The first thing you will likely notice is that they are more competitive esports games then you thought there is. They vary in different ways, some of them will be more familiar to sports fans because they are literally sports games like basketball, football, or some other sport. But you also have fighting games, strategy games, racing games and maybe most popular are MOBA games like League of Legends or Dota 2.
2. Faster completion of bets
In regular sports betting, usually, you have to wait for so long before finding out the outcome. Esports tend to be much more fast-paced. For example, if you want to bet on who will win a semifinal of some series, let us compare NBA with LoL. In NBA, there are potentially seven games in the series, each game being a few days apart. In LoL, teams will play several matches in the row until the winner is known. That way, you have to wait much less in online gaming.
3. Less research required
Some people want to leave it all to lady luck. Others, those who tend to win more often, do thorough research before placing their bets. When it comes to Esport, there is less research required for you to make an educated bet. That is especially true if you are already familiar with the game you are watching. But even you know nothing of the game, you still need far less research. For one, you don’t have to keep in mind are there any notable players injured, since online athletes tend not to have a knee injury, and even if they do, it will not prevent them from hitting buttons on their keyboard.
4. Similarities exist
One type of connection you can draw is between real sports and their virtual counterparts. If you are already familiar with the game of football, it will not be any problem to watch virtual football. You will even find it quite intriguing. Other similarities you will see when you compare video games to each other. Moba games tend to be quite alike, even if they don’t like that fact. Shooting games, racing games, strategy games, while different from each other, are highly comparable to each other.
5. Go safe or go wild
Just like in traditional betting on sports, here you can also bet safe or create a scalable bet. Do you have a desire to make a small and safe bet on the favorite winning the match or tournament, you can. However, let us say you want to place some micro-stakes for additional excitement. That is also a possibility because of the large variety of options you have in online gaming.
6. Growth is not stopping yet
While online games used to be a niche thing, it is becoming mainstream entertainment. Tournaments are growing in numbers, live audience, streaming audience as well, and of course, sponsors. Now that so many people are considering themself fans of some particular online team, it is natural that they watch their favorite team regularly. When you watch your heroes so often, you will want to place some bets on the games you are watching anyway.
7. It is now widespread with bookmakers
It was not common before to have bookmakers include competitive video game gambling. But all of that is in the past now. Today, the majority of betting sites must have them as well, because if they don’t, they are falling behind their competition. In case you are interested in betting not just on the biggest games out there, but also on some more obscure ones, you should investigate bookmakers a bit more before making your choice.
8. Supplementary ways of having fun
There is one more reason for the expansion of video games and online gaming betting. While it is challenging to find the time and people to play, let us say basketball, it is much simpler with games. You could make a bet on who will win an online game, and then play that game on your computer as you wait for results. That is a way of having fun that is hardly attainable in real sports because of numerous reasons.
9. Heroes that are like you
Someone watching real sports athletes and comparing them with online athletes will notice a huge difference. Gaming Professionals can look just like a regular person. It doesn’t matter if they are short if they are not muscular, do they have asthma or some other condition. Anyone who puts in the work can become an online athlete. That makes them more like us, and consequently, it is easier to identify with them, and that makes betting on them more attractive.
10. Unpredictability
Since it is pretty new to most of us, the bookies will have a more difficult time analyzing everything to perfection. Bookies tend to offer small odds on favorites in real-life sports, but here it is different. There are not even so clear favorites in online gaming, so upsets and underdogs stories are more likely to happen. And that is not only more fun, but it can also be more profitable.
As we can see, betting on online games is an industry that is growing, and we still can not see their celling. In the future, it will be as normal to watch a Counter-Strike match as a tennis match. So it is the best idea to join this new and exiting business as it is growing, and not to be the last person that comes to the party.
