Rise of Esports Betting: How Esports Became a Multi-Billion Dollar Business

Esports is on the rise. It’s leveling up. It’s booming. It’s fast approaching boss level. Officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee, esports comes with deep pockets, energy, engagement, and youth on its side. Not surprisingly, sponsors are lining up to grab a piece of the action.

In 2024, the inaugural Esports World Cup (EWC) was held in Riyadh. As the dust settled on the Paris Olympics, the fast-fingered and furious gathered in the Saudi Arabian capital to compete in 21 different game-specific events, including Call of Duty, Modern Warfare, Fortnite, Tekken, and StarCraft.

And where there is money and competition, someone is making a bet. Nearly every mainstream gambling platform now offers players a wide range of esports betting markets, props, and lines.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Quick Insights
2. Level One: Pong, Invaders & Atari
3. Level Two: High Scores, Stats & Tourneys
4. Level Three: First Esports Leagues
5. Level Four: First Bets & Exponential Growth
6. Level Five: Twitch & Betting
7. Level Six: Olympic Ambitions Achieved
8. Level Seven: Big Opportunities & Sponsorships
9. Level Eight: Games for the Boys, Still
10. Level Nine: Where's Next for the Future of Esports?
11. The Bottom Line
12. FAQs
13. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Quick Insights
2. Level One: Pong, Invaders & Atari
3. Level Two: High Scores, Stats & Tourneys
Show Full Guide
4. Level Three: First Esports Leagues
5. Level Four: First Bets & Exponential Growth
6. Level Five: Twitch & Betting
7. Level Six: Olympic Ambitions Achieved
8. Level Seven: Big Opportunities & Sponsorships
9. Level Eight: Games for the Boys, Still
10. Level Nine: Where's Next for the Future of Esports?
11. The Bottom Line
12. FAQs
13. References

Level One: Pong, Invaders & Atari

The rise of esports is a global phenomenon. It’s not surprising; video gaming is an industry driven by technological evolution. It shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.

In the 1970s, the very first consoles appeared, featuring ball and paddle games like Pong, Breakout, and Rebound. By the end of the decade, the introduction of the game cartridge was a seismic shift for the industry, enabling players to switch between different games on the same console.

The Atari 2600 was the dominant console, selling more than 30 million units. One of its most popular games was its version of Taito’s iconic arcade game Space Invaders.

The First Official Tournament

In 1981, Atari organized a Space Invaders Championship:

In the following years, the console and game developers hosted a range of different events and tournaments, always focused on a specific game or console.

Donkey Kong, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Golden Eye were a few of the popular games selected for competitive tournaments.

Level Two: High Scores, Stats & Tourneys

To be a bookmaker, you need to understand form, statistics, and data. Information is how you price a bet and set the line.

In the early days of esports history, there was no recorded information. It was a blank canvas; there was no ‘form’ to study.

In 1981, futures trader Walter Day bought a video game arcade called Twin Galaxies in Iowa. Day was inspired by a Time magazine article about the growth of gaming to create a definite database of video game high scores. He named the database after his arcade: Twin Galaxies.

Day traveled across the US accumulating data, as well as taking dozens of phone calls every day (pre-internet!). Within six months, Twin Galaxies was recognized as the definitive source of high scores. Day was hailed as the ‘King of Video Game Stats.’

Now, thanks to the existence of a definitive record, competitive gamers have benchmarks and goals – something to aspire to, achieve, and beat.

The Twin Galaxies database also enabled the inauguration of the industry’s first super gamer Billy Mitchell, who took the crown with a perfect score on Pac-Man, as well as the highest-ever Donkey Kong score. But this was not without controversy in later years, with allegations of cheating.

Level Three: First Esports Leagues

In the 1990s, online gaming and gambling both finally arrived at the party.

PC games offered players serious computer power and internet connectivity; multiplayer, collaborative gaming was de rigueur, with teams able to play, collaborate, and communicate in real time.

By the end of the millennium, video gaming was popular, ubiquitous, and here to stay; television shows like GamesMaster and Bad Influence showcased the latest video games, with live play and competition.

There were dozens of esports tournaments in play, many of which still compete today.

Level Four: First Bets & Exponential Growth

Online sports betting arrived in 1998, when Austrian-based sportsbook Intertops accepted the first internet bet. Decades later, esports betting sites now offer markets on all the major competitions.

Owners could see the potential but didn’t have the necessary knowledge to offer odds. In the early days, there was very little interest in esports betting. Some books did offer very low stakes, low-risk props, but the take-up was low.

In 2010, Pinnacle was the first online sportsbook to get serious about esports betting, offering lines on the legacy esports title StarCraft 2.

By 2014, Pinnacle had processed more than one million esports bets. More online sportsbooks were quick to follow, eager to capture a share of this valuable market.

In South Korea, high-speed broadband, combined with the popularity of LAN gaming centers and internet cafes, led to the foundation of the Korean e-Sports Association, a branch of the official Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

It was the first step towards making esports a real, widely recognized, official sporting event.

Esports were now defined by different types and categories, including:

Level Five: Twitch & Betting

The first televised esports event took place in 2006, when the USA Network broadcast a Halo 2 tournament. It didn’t catch on.

It would take technological innovation and evolution to put the world of esports into hyperdrive. This was sped up rapidly with the 2011 arrival of the live-streaming platform Twitch, which gave people immediate access to competitive gaming.

If you were a fan of games like League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike, you could now watch the masters at play and chat with them.

Esports News :

?? Most Watched Esports Games – 2024 Recap! ????

?? League of Legends – 749.6M hrs ?? Leading the pack and expanding its dominance!
?? MLBB – 475.8M hrs ?? The king of mobile esports, proving SEA’s untapped potential.
?? CS2 – 434.5M hrs ?? Still the top FPS,… pic.twitter.com/y8TQShHDF8

— MIRACLE PLAY (@miracleplaygg) January 26, 2025

Betting on esports is also now firmly established. The sportsbooks have the data, the experts, and the traffic volume.

Players of yesteryear are now grown and happy to add a little action to the tournament play by putting their money where someone else’s mouse is.

According to Statista, the global revenue in the esports betting market will continuously increase between 2025 and 2029. After the 12th consecutive year of growth, the revenue is estimated to reach $3.5 billion in 2029.

Level Six: Olympic Ambitions Achieved

You can debate endlessly about the sporting nature of esports and esports history. Is it vaguely athletic? The International Olympic Committee (IOC) certainly considers esports to be a sport.

The fact is that to be exceptional, you need to practice – a lot.

Modern gamers have professional coaches, nutritionists, and doctors helping them work on their posture and mental health.

The IOC has been collaborating with many international esports federations to create the Olympic Esports Series. It recently announced that it will host the inaugural Olympic Esports Games in Saudi Arabia in 2027.

The Saudi Arabian Minister of Sport, HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, said:

“Saudi Arabia is hugely excited by the prospect of partnering with the IOC and helping to welcome a completely new era for international sport. We believe that to take part in the Olympic Games is one of the greatest honors any athlete can achieve.”

Level Seven: Big Opportunities & Sponsorships

The Esports World Cup (EWC) is the most significant gaming event ever staged. It is a multi-genre competition involving many of the world’s top organizations, including Gen.G, Fnatic, G2 Esports, FlyQuest, and T1.

The EWC is providing a sponsorship opportunity for more than 20 major brands, including big hitters like Adidas, Pepsi, Amazon, and Sony, showcasing the cutting edge of esports technology.

Other sponsors include large brands like BMW and Nike, as well as alcohol, energy drinks, and crypto-trading companies. It’s fair to say that the sponsorship situation is ‘fluid.’

Clearly, big-label brands want to associate with esports.

With the growth of the esports betting market, it was only a matter of time before the sportsbooks would be seeking out sponsorship deals with esports clubs and teams.

In 2021, half the esports teams in Dota 2 and CS: GO’s world championship events were sponsored by gambling companies.

Gambling companies actively sponsoring esports teams include Betway, Bitcasino.io, Parimatch, VBET, FUN88, Letou, Betway, and Jing Ji Bao.

To get an idea of the scale: The teams sponsored by gambling companies had over 25.8 million followers across three social media platforms.

Associating with esports is a brand benefit, according to Pinnacle’s Head of Esports, Alex McBride. He said:

“What makes esports unique is that fans follow their favorite teams and not necessarily their closest team like in soccer. If we can align our brand with their team, create content that appeals to those needs and create cool activations that add value to the team by association, then we’re ticking the boxes when it comes to creating a favorable experience between those fans and what we set out to achieve.”

Level Eight: Games for the Boys, Still

There is, however, a huge gender-based elephant in the room: the sport is very much the domain of young men, mostly under 25.

The best-known and highest-ranked female player is Sasha Hostyn, aka Scarlett; the 31-year-old Canadian is ranked 601st among top esports earners. Hostyn earned $472,111 from 283 tournaments.

The next highest-ranked female player is Xiaomeng Ki, aka Liooon, who is ranked 1,389th. It’s very much a man’s world when it comes to banking the big esports money.

Meanwhile, the highest-earning player is Johan Sundstein. The 31-year-old, who plays under the moniker NOtail, has gamed his way to more than $7.18 million from 130 tournaments.

The Danish-Faroese professional Dota player has played in four Internationals, winning in 2018 and 2019, as well as winning four major championships.

Level Nine: Where’s Next for the Future of Esports?

Behind the scenes, the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) is establishing regulation and oversight and laying the foundations for gambling and sponsorship.

In June 2024, the International Olympic Committee and ESIC established a collaboration “to combat corruption and other misconduct in esports.”

Friedrich Martens, Head of the OM Unit PMC at the IOC, said:

“With numerous IFs organizing esports competitions and the IOC planning to organize relevant competitions as well, we need to ensure that we have all the information and intelligence available to make sure that these competitions are free of manipulations or related breaches.”

Today, esports is a multi-billion dollar market with the potential for huge growth – especially in Asia.

?? Southeast Asia is leading the esports boom! ??

Most rising orgs in the rankings hail from SEA, proving it’s the fastest-growing region in esports. ????

Notably, mobile esports is driving this surge—breaking into major tournaments is easier compared to the closed-off PC… pic.twitter.com/JxarV3VWSG

— MIRACLE PLAY (@miracleplaygg) February 3, 2025

“I really think that there’s so much more to esports than just being good at the game”

– @damnitbennett, Direct of Esports Growth & Development @FullSail pic.twitter.com/Jd31KuhLNy

— COPE (@COPEgg) March 17, 2025

The Bottom Line

Esports is the future. The average age of a typical fan is between 18 and 34. Players are aged between 20 and 25. Money is pouring into the sport from every direction: government, sponsors, gambling.

If little Johnny hasn’t emerged from his bedroom for six days because he’s taking a deep dive into Dota 2 – don’t sweat it. Send up some pizza, keep him happy, and get him a coach. He could be paying off your mortgage before he learns to drive a car.

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