A look at Tipico's influence on esports betting

There's no doubt about it - esports betting has been gaining in popularity over the past few years. If you just go by the numbers, eSports betting is expected to top $ 1.5 billion in revenue by the end of this year. If you consider that the fan base of eSports betting is just beginning to emerge compared to "real" sports, this is not to be sneezed at. It is very common that average sports fans or people who are not interested in the eSports scene don't have the slightest idea what eSports betting is all about, but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has changed that drastically.

The lockdown in all parts of the world has forced people, organizations and companies into a new online and digital paradigm. The ongoing crisis has spared only a few sectors. Land-based casinos from Macau to Las Vegas have been abruptly forced to shut down in the face of the pandemic. Professional sports leagues and events around the world have been suspended as a preventive measure to contain the spread of the virus, and just as sporting events have disappeared virtually overnight, so has the revenue from all sports betting around the world.

However, that does not change the fact that betting providers have been starving for action and betting opportunities in lockdown in recent months - and this is where eSports comes into play. It is still difficult to find betting companies that offer a range of eSports bets, but Tipico's eSports offering has pioneered this. Tipico has developed from a betting agency to the leading provider of sports betting in Germany.

But what exactly is eSports?

Simply put, eSports is a collective term for playing video games in a professional, competitive and organized manner. Granted, video games and competing against other people is nothing new and has been going on since the first video game consoles hit the market. Today, however, esports is a multibillion dollar business with professional esports teams training like professional athletes, playing for hours, developing strategies and tactics, building teams that work well, and winning millions of prize money in front of millions of screens and viewers around the world.

Individuals from esports leagues or teams are pitted against each other in popular retail video games that are then followed by millions of fans from around the world - either by participating in tournaments or streaming over the Internet via services like Twitch. However, it was mostly a marginal phenomenon of sports betting providers and until recently did not really attract the attention of players, which has changed drastically since the pandemic.

We already know that esports encompasses virtually all forms of competitive video game play with multiplayer support. While the list of esports games, genres, and subgenres is innumerable, there are a few specific game genres that are among the most popular types of esports. These games therefore have the most major tournaments and major betting markets - and high prize pools all around. More and more games are being introduced as premium esports to bet on. Here are the titles that are some of the most popular types of esports:

• NBA 2K
• EA SPORTS FIFA
• eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer (Winning Eleven in Japan)
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO)
• Call of Duty
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
• Defense of the Ancients (Dota 2)
• League of Legends
• Starcraft 2
• World of Warcraft (WoW)
• Fortnite

And, as we shall see, it is in the light of the events of 2020 and the foreseeablefuture be an important market to which the sports betting must focus.

While eSports was only a marginal phenomenon for a long time, it is now seen as the key boost sports betting markets needed in light of the impact the pandemic had on the sports calendar. That's no understatement of the fact that eSports have grown in popularity over the past few years. Because it's been a long time since there were StarCraft tournaments in competitive sports for the first time.

Today, and perhaps more than ever, eSport is becoming increasingly accepted, and games have been offering more and more games since the early years of competitive gaming. Major sports tournaments and competitions have since been held in some of the largest venues and broadcast to a global audience of millions around the world. And now, more than ever, it has found a bigger audience because people have seen it as a sport to see the best players in the world compete against each other. Part of this growing audience has also found that betting on such sporting events puts it right in the middle of the action. Just like traditional, "real" sporting events do for their respective audiences. Traditional sports have always been intertwined with betting synergies and interests. And if there's anything that the recent pandemic has shown, it's the fact that it is In its current form, the global esports market is already a billion dollar industry - and it is what keeps sports betting alive even as professional sports leagues begin to expand.

Granted, the sports betting industry is extremely competitive these days, which comes with the increasing saturation of online gambling providers. Because of this, the industry is always on the lookout for the next novelty to constantly attract and retain customers - and esports is proving to be just what the doctor ordered.

The rise of e-sports as a professional sport and thus as a new betting market, especially with regard to the pandemic, marks the beginning of a new and promising frontier in the game. The interest of the traditional sports betting world in eSports is unprecedented. That means there's a colossal window of time for new investors, new ideas, and new players in the field. It's an exciting time for the esports industry as we see it flourish and take off around the world - and we've only just scratched the surface.