Comparison Between Gambling Tournaments and Esports Tournaments

Online casino gambling on licensed and regulated iGaming sites and professional video gaming at eSports competitions across the globe are both now more popular than ever but completely different from one another.

The term iGaming refers to a real money online gambling website that's legally permitted to operate in certain jurisdictions. iGaming sites can accept real money wagers from anyone of legal age in that jurisdiction.

The term eSports (which is short for electronic sports) refers to tournaments and leagues that involve video games, not gambling games like the ones you can play at online casinos, such as blackjack, craps, roulette, poker, baccarat, and slot machines.

On this page, we will compare gambling tournaments and eSports tournaments to determine the main differences and similarities between the two.

How are gambling tournaments different from eSports tournaments?

Anyone new to iGaming sites or the world of eSports might find it difficult to tell the difference between gambling tournaments and eSports tournaments. Here are some of the main differences between the two:

• eSports tournaments involve professional video gamers playing certain games in front of live audiences to win cash prizes and other real-world prizes. They are NOT considered gambling in any way, shape or form
• Gambling tournaments on today's best offshore gambling sites involve anyone aged 18 or above (19 or 21 in some countries) spending their hard-earned money on any of the selected tournament games. The aim is to try and climb the tournament leaderboard by landing as many big wins as possible and finishing in a paid position. If you have no money, you can't play gambling tournaments.You don't need money to play eSports tournaments
• eSports tournaments typically involve triple-A video games, MMO games, MMORPG games, and strategy/tower defence games like League of Legends, Call of Duty, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch 2, Fortnite, Dota 2, EAFC 24, World of Warcraft, PUBG (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Starcraft 2, NBA 2K, Rainbow Six Siege, Rocket League, and Valorant, to name a few
• Gambling tournaments usually involve online slot machines. One of the most famous network-wide slot tourneys is called Drops & Wins, which a company called Pragmatic Play runs each month at hundreds of online casinos
• The cash prizes that players can win in gambling tournaments sometimes have to be wagered X amount of times before players can withdraw their winnings
• The cash prizes won from eSports tournaments don't ever have to be wagered before winners can spend their winnings
• eSports tournaments usually start and finish at a certain time, and participants must be present for both. With online gambling tournaments, players can join and leave at any time they wish

The other major difference between eSports tournaments and gambling tournaments is that eSports tournaments can be played on consoles, PCs (desktop computers and laptops), smartphones and tablets, several other handheld gaming devices, and occasionally, VR and AR wearable devices.

In comparison, gambling tournaments are usually never accessible from consoles or handheld gaming devices like the Valve Steamdeck or Nintendo Switch. Finally, participants of eSports tournaments don't usually have to be of legal age in their country to take part in eSports events.

To play in gambling tournaments, you generally must be at least 18 years old (in most countries).

In the Canadian provinces where online gambling is legally permitted at licensed and regulated online casinos, it's 19, and in the US (e.g., New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, and Connecticut), it's 21.

Final note

When playing eSports tournaments, which are far more serious than gambling tournaments, participants compete for prestige, bragging rights, trophies, their names in the history books, and supremacy over other eSports players and teams.

In gambling tournaments, the only things people play to win are cash prizes and free spins for selected slot machines. Both are fun, but there's zero risk of losing any money in an eSports tournament. You are subject to losses in gambling tournaments, which means they are riskier.