Here at NetBet, we’ve got a whole load of great markets for sports betting, and we offer some of the best E-Sports odds around. We don’t just take bets on individual contests, we offer online betting on plenty of markets across different games and tournaments on our UK betting site. If you want to place any sport bet, here’s a quick guide on how exactly you should go about it.
What are E-Sports?
Electronic sports – more commonly known as e-sports – is the term used to describe competitive online video gaming. E-sports competitions can take place on pretty much any game across any device, with players usually battling it out individually, or in teams for a cash prize. The growth of e-sports has opened the door for it becoming a great spectator sport, with thousands flocking to venues for major events.
As is the case with all elite level competitors, e-sports professionals spend hundreds of hours honing their skills on a particular game to get them to a level where they can compete against the best from all around the world. Specifically in team games, most teams have managers and coaches that are responsible for analysing and coordinating gameplay.
Some of the most popular games for esports include Call of Duty, League of Legends, Dota, StarCraft and Counter-Strike. The biggest tournaments can reach millions of viewers both in person and through online streaming platforms such as Youtube and Twitch. To put into perspective just how important and lucrative e-sports have become, Dota 2’s ‘The International’ tournament broke all the records for prize money with a pot totalling around $40 million. The 2019 Fortnite World Cup ($30.4m), 2021 Honor of Kings World Champion Cup ($7.7m) and 2021 PUBG Global Invitational ($7.1m) are some other huge recent tournaments.
History of E-Sports
The first ever video game tournament took place in 1972 at Stanford University in California, where students went head-to-head in a Spacewar competition for the chance to win a one-year subscription to the Rolling Stone magazine. Throughout the 70s, video game tournaments continued to grow across the world, particularly in Japan, where Sega hosted the All Japan TV Game Championships. This was the first time an attempt had been made to bring video games to a wider audience, and it was incredibly popular.
During the 70s and 80s, e-sports were pretty much exclusively games where players had to beat each other’s high scores. Major changes came around in the 1990s, with the surge in popularity of Street Fighter II. This encouraged direct, head-to-head competition between players and made for a more entertaining spectacle. Nintendo also entered the scene in this decade, hosting World Championship Finals at the Hollywood Universal Studios in 1990.
The incredible improvement of modern technology has made online gaming even more popular. Not only are games more responsive than ever before, the graphics are also stunning, making the viewing experience better for all parties. The growth of streaming platforms – especially Twitch – have helped in making e-sports a global phenomenon, with plenty of major tournaments free to watch online. This meteoric rise has also led to e-sports being classified as a ‘real’ sport in many places. Russia and China were two of the initial countries to recognise competitive gaming as a sport in the early 2000s, whilst Canada were the first to grant a visa to an e-sports competitor that is typically reserved for athletes. There has even been talks to include e-sports at the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee have rejected the proposal thus far, but e-sports are set to feature at the Asian Games and pilot at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
There is no doubt that e-sports is growing in popularity. There is hope that including competitive gaming in international sporting events could attract a younger audience, thus having more eyes on the tournament.The one thing seemingly holding this process back is the nature of some of the most popular games. The Olympic Committee has deliberated over the inclusion of e-sports, but only for games that encourage healthy lifestyles, such as NBA 2K and FIFA. However, it is surely only a matter of time before the world opens its arms to competitive online gaming.
How do I bet on E-Sports?
Here at NetBet, we have a wide variety of markets available for all the major competitions in this year’s e-sports calendar.
These are:-
- Outright – Bet on a player/team to emerge victorious in a particular tournament.
- Winner – Place a bet on a player//team that you think will win a specific match.
- Over/under FT – Predict whether a certain team will win over or under a certain number of games/maps.
- Spread – Place a bet with a handicap on a team to win by, or not lose by a certain number of games/maps.
- Winner map 1/2/3 – Predict which player/team will win each individual game/map.
- Over/under map 1/2/3 – In shooting games, predict whether a certain team will achieve over or under a certain number of eliminations on a specific map.
However, there aren’t just these to choose from. Occasionally, we might choose to Boost a price which you can find at our Promotions page.
When you choose NetBet Sport, you can enjoy a whole range of top quality sports and markets. Whatever you choose, always remember to bet responsibly. Here at NetBet, player wellbeing is our number one priority – check out our Responsible Gambling tips and tools page for more information.
