History of eSports betting

Sure, a newbie is on the doorstep, but by no means a small one – esports in general has taken the world by storm. With betting being such a fundamental part of traditional sporting events, it has always been the case. when instead of , if for its entry into this emerging sport - and so much so that non-gamstop betting sites have even taken a step into the market. But where did it all start?

early years

The whole scene started in the late 90s or early 2000s with games like CS1.6 and Starcraft, but the betting scene was almost non-existent, especially in the west. Even though there were several betting options, they were certainly not widely accepted or considered something too safe. This went on for more than a decade, until 2015, when a more public form of betting found its place.

rocky start

This early form of betting took the path of virtual cosmetics - the popular title Counter-Strike Global Offensive introduced in-game virtual cosmetics through an update that could be bought and sold on the in-game marketplace for real money, adding value to them. This was quickly used as a pseudo betting tool, players could deposit these cosmetic items that had a certain value and use them to bet in games - at a time when traditional betting was still almost non-existent or very obscure, this was the first step. to the real betting scene.

But it hasn't been without controversy - with some early match-fixing scandals and some sites questionable at best, the game's developer has taken steps to ensure this type of betting is stopped once and for all, and the companies that run these sites, faced lawsuits.

A new era has come

This change will prove to be arguably the best thing to happen to esports betting in general, however, as it was the catalyst for what we see today. The scene has grown, more and more non-gamers have been watching these games, and as skin betting has shown, demand is growing here as well. In late 2016 and early 2017 we are seeing esports betting really start to emerge - events and some teams are starting to find sponsors through betting sites, the big three games League of Legends, DoTA2 and Counter-Strike continued to grow in popularity and now it shows. . millions of players per day.

The future of betting

It has been suggested that around $5.5 billion was invested in popular games in 2016, and that number will rise to around $12.9 billion as more and more people move to esports from traditional sporting events. this number will continue to grow. It has already been suggested that in the next few years most esports events will be bigger than all traditional sports historically, but that was an understatement as it has already been confirmed.

Either way, now is a great time for esports fans, especially if you love betting.

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