Will eSports Soon Become an Integral Part of the Online Gambling Industry?

The eSports industry is growing at such an astounding rate that it is now impossible for other major sectors to ignore.

Competitive gaming viewership is expected to be up to 646 million in 2023, and it has so far attracted more than $4.5 billion in investment. Instead of trying to compete with eSports, some sectors have begun to think of ways to merge the industry with their own. An example of this is the vast number of huge eSports arenas that are now being built in casino complexes all over the world. This could pave the way for eSports to become an integral part of the online gambling industry as well.

Which Casinos Have Added eSports Arenas?

With spectator figures on the rise each year, eSports arenas are being built with haste. For some events, existing sports stadiums are used to house viewers. One of the biggest eSports crowds to date was at the Sang-am World Stadium in Seoul for the League of Legends finals in 2014. There were 45,000 gaming fans in attendance at the epic event.

Casino owners know that eSports and casino games are closely linked in the thrills that they offer, so shrewd developers have attached arenas to their resorts to attract the competitive gaming crowd. From there, these players may then be interested to take part in the other games in the gambling house.
In the world’s biggest gambling city, Macau, casinos are already embracing eSports. The Studio City casino resort has opened up an eSports venue which can accommodate up to 300 people. In Las Vegas there is the HyperX eSports Arena at the Luxor, and it appears as though eSports will soon make a big splash in the Entertainment Capital of the World.

How Could eSports Become a Part of Online Casinos?

With eSports arenas swiftly becoming interlinked with land-based casinos, it would be safe to assume that online casino operators will try and follow suit in the near future. When looking at online casinos such as the ones listed here, it would be hard to pinpoint the main differences between the digital versions and brick and mortar options. They have the same game selections, and online casinos now even feature live links to table games.

Online casinos won’t be able to have eSports arenas in the physical sense, but they could try to incorporate channels like Twitch which allow spectators to view professionals playing the games.

There is also the possibility that iGaming developers may try to make certain eSports accessible to gamblers. Card games like Hearthstone, for example, could potentially be modified to involve some staking on the hands.

Staking on competitive gaming events is already widespread in the online betting industry, and it only seems like a matter of time before online casinos become more closely linked with eSports. How developers plan to bridge the gap between games of skill and games which feature staking on instances of chance remains to be seen.