How did betting websites become popular in the eSports industry?

The eSports industry has been around for many years now, but it was never as big as it is today. After many years, some of the world’s biggest companies learned that most eSports titles attract millions of viewers. As a result, they started advertising their products, which reflects on the prize pool of most events.

In addition to the various tech and car brands, one of the biggest sponsors for the eSports industry is the gambling websites. They have an important role, especially when it comes down to the tier two and tier three tournaments. If you are into eSports, you know that the lower-tier competitions have nothing to do with the big ones. That’s why gambling sites play an essential role in this industry.

Let’s take a look at a few things that helped some gambling operators become popular in the eSports department.

Organizing and sponsoring tournaments

One of the things that we already mentioned is that some companies such as Cyber Bet tend to sponsor numerous events. Besides gaining publicity, these sites also help with the prize pool, which attracts more players.

Apart from sponsoring tournaments, there are some sites that create their own events. Of course, this requires a lot more resources, which is why only a few brands can actually afford to do that. However, this will probably change in the future.

Helping teams and players

The second reason why betting websites are important for eSports’ growth is that they help many teams and players. Besides financial support, some operators also provide things like gaming gear and other special equipment, which definitely has a positive impact.

The easiest way to tell whether a given betting website sponsors a team is to look at their jerseys. In most cases, they will have the logo of the given site. You can also visit each eSports team ’s website, where you will probably find a tab called “Sponsors” or “Partners”.

Every gambling operator helps to deal with the match-fixing problem

Match-fixing is an obstacle that you can find in every sport. Until recently, it wasn’t a problem for most eSports titles, but nowadays, this is one of the biggest issues, especially for games such as Dota 2.

Many teams and pro players have been banned from taking part in the Dota 2 Pro Circuit and other big events due to their involvement in match-fixing scandals that took place in lower-tier tournaments. Unless one of the people who participated in those things confesses, the only way for us to learn about it is via gambling websites’ reports.

As you know, each bookie has a way to monitor how many bets have been placed on a particular sport or event. So, whenever there is some sort of “suspicious activity”, companies usually make an internal investigation. If it turns out that something is not right, they reach out to the authorities responsible for those types of fraud, such as the eSports Integrity Commission or even the police.