Betting on Esports? Better use the Blockchain.
Betting on Esports? Better use the Blockchain.
If a crowd wandered into the Spodek Arena on February 24th, they could be forgiven for assuming that they were at a raucous sporting event.
After all, tens of thousands of screaming fans, decked out in their team’s swag, filled the arena. There is theatrical lighting, a hype team, and an MC. It has all the hallmarks of a major championship game except that there is no field, no ball, and no goal. Instead, the stage is filled with large screens and players operating high-powered gaming PCs.
Welcome to the world of esports. Video games, which were once criticized by culture for being the lazy activity of the disengaged, are now a professional sport. This isn’t a niche activity or an enthusiastic preoccupation for select few. It’s more popular and more prolific than most can imagine.
This particular tournament, the Intel Extreme Masters, hosted more than 173,000 people for the event. According to Forbes, the crowd set a record for attendance at a live event. Additionally, the tournament drew an online audience of 46 million, which exceeds the Nielson rating for Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration. Perhaps more impressively, robust attendance numbers are routine in the world of esports.
Business Insider estimates that, in 2017, esports had a total audience of 385 million. That number is expected to skyrocket to nearly 600 million by 2020. All this attention makes esports incredibly lucrative for the winners. For example, the total winnings of the Intel Extreme Masters approach $1 million.
A 2017 esports event at KeyArena in Seattle had total winnings that surpassed the $20 million.
The winning team split the $9.1 million grand prize among its five players, and as Sports Illustrated wrote, “Each team member took home $1.87 million for his triumph. For his Masters win in April, Danny Willett won $1.8 million.”
Data provided by Statista indicates that the esports industry will boast revenue of more than $1.5 billion by 2020. To bolster its legitimacy, esports has its own page on ESPN and Sports Illustrated manages a Twitter account dedication to esports news and updates.
In short, esports are both spectacularly lucrative and inconceivably popular. Unsurprisingly, it also has a robust secondary market where fans and curious onlookers alike are placing bets on the outcome of the tournaments.
Secondary Participation Hits a Hurdle
In April, The Washington Post reported on the rise of esports betting and found that it is a $6.7 billion industry all by itself. In the same way that projects expect esports to grow in revenue and popularity in the years to come, esports betting is projected to more than double by 2020.
The proliferation of this secondary market is head-turning. For the past several years, it’s growing at nearly 100% annually.
Many expected the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize sports betting to have a positive impact on the industry. Unfortunately, New Jersey legislatures introduce a bill that would ban all esports betting. The decision prompted an uproar among esports loyalists, but it still has considerable potential to upend the esports betting market.
Esports hasn’t known anything but ostentatious growth for the past several years, and New Jersey’s proposal could reorient the entire industry.
Not So Fast
Before legislatures upend this expanding and exciting industry, it’s important to consider all the possible solutions to their concerns.
In a very timely manner, blockchain technology is emerging as a viable and compelling solution to a cadre of tech-based problems. Its decentralized network, tokenized transactions, and smart contracts have tremendous potential to provide a viable solution to esports betting.
More specifically, companies can build upon its technology to apply those features to specific problems. Our platform, MeVu is pursuing this market directly. We use blockchain technology to allow users to place bets on all types of personal bets and sporting events, including esports competitions.
For those concerned about the authenticity of these wagers or their effect on the actual competitions, there is a permanent record of bets and earnings. Since transparency is inherently prioritized, it’s much easier to assuage outsiders’ concerns. In addition, the use of smart contracts means that winnings are paid automatically and efficiently. Any nefarious activity surrounding conflicts and payouts is swiftly avoided with blockchain technology.
However, in the likely event that New Jersey’s legislation fails, platforms like MeVu still look like the future of esports betting. Participants in the esports movement are inherently tech-savvy, and they imbue a mobile-first mentality. The notion of these fans traveling to casinos is far-fetched and unrealistic. Instead, as The New York Times recently wrote, “Placing bets will be done on mobile devices, fueled and endorsed by the lawmakers and sports officials who opposed it for so long.”
With decentralized platforms like MeVu, fees are significantly reduced, payout happens quickly, and esports betting can be enjoyed in a fun and safe environment. Moreover, the platform lets users bet in Ether, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, which is ideally suited for the generations flocking to esports.
The prodigious growth of esports and the ancillary esports betting scene makes platforms like this necessary and critical to its future growth and maturity. Esports feel like an established trend that’s not going away any time soon, and better access to betting markets means those secondary games are just beginning.
