How The iGaming And Esports Industries Have Grown Together
We look into the relationship between iGaming and E-Sports, and how they have grown together.
Modern industries and modern technology are constantly growing together. In recent years, we’ve seen a number of industries that have gone stratospheric and grown to new audiences.
Casinos have continued to reach more people (hundreds of millions worldwide), iGaming, specifically, gambling, is a growth area, and esports have also got to the point where they have millions of people tuning into streams and even tens of thousands turning up at events – in South Korea, brand new esports arenas are even being built to accommodate this huge industry.
Esports and casinos may be more closely linked than a lot of people realize, and the two industries have grown together in many ways, hand-in-hand as the world of technology reaches new heights and opens up new worlds of gaming.
You might be forgiven for thinking that the similarities end with the fact that both esports and casinos revolve around games. On the face of it, you might not see other similarities, but they are definitely there.
Sharing Technology and Infrastructure
Gambling sites have a huge level of infrastructure that has come from a lot of investment. With money pouring into the industry, there have been multiple ways in which casinos have grown, and this technology has also helped esports. Live streaming is a large part of both of these industries.
Over time, the appetite for streaming was driven in the casino industry as people wanted a way to interact live with dealers and have more of a similar experience to that which they enjoy when visiting physical casinos.
This led to the introduction of the innovative live casino in Australia – quite an impressive new phenomenon where players are able to connect to dealers via a video feed.
Live streaming went from being mostly utilized by table games and casino games to a brand new option for gambling companies to offer people the chance to watch live events – this includes both sports (for sportsbook gambling sites) and esports for the many gambling sites that have embraced the esports industry and its many markets.
Gambling sites may have different arms and offer both casino and sports gambling, including esports markets. Some companies run multiple gambling brands, including both sports and esports gambling, as well as casino games, allowing them to grow together. Video games in general enjoy enormous popularity these days, with almost anything you could imagine being made a reality by creative developers.
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That said, esports is the area that’s attracting particular attention lately, so let’s focus our attention here.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship is huge in sports, and now it is huge in the world of esports. You don’t have to look far in certain sports and tournaments to see sponsorship from gambling brands, whether that means casino brands or sites that offer betting on sports.
There’s a huge crossover between people who enjoy gambling and people who watch sports, and marketers are now seeing similar patterns in esports.
Esports sponsorship comes from a number of different brands, including technology and entertainment brands. Sponsorships are a key source of revenue, both for individual esports teams and some of the bigger esports tournaments. Without it, the face of sports would look… well, “pretty different” might be an understatement.
Revenue in the esports industry can come from a few different places. Prize money is massive for esports players and teams but revenue is also generated by ticket sales. Additionally, selling the rights to streaming can bring in another source of money for esports brands.
Teams may have their own channels for streaming and sharing information and this also makes them a popular target for sponsors, who may put money into a specific team to be shown on their shirts, sponsor their streams, and be mentioned on their web presence. Gambling brands are often some of the key players in driving revenue to these teams.
Esports Themed Slot Games
A quick look will show that there are some slot games out there that are themed in the style of the top esports titles and even the esports industry itself. Games have the look and feel of the esports arena or share the sort of imagery that we see in esports games and in competitive gaming.
Slot themes can be incredibly diverse and there are so many different kinds of games, based around everything from zombies to Mexican cuisine, and even esports.
Games that feature esports help to raise awareness of the games and are another nod to the growth in both of these industries. Pretty impressive how much variety there is, isn’t it?
Conclusion
Superficially, you’d be forgiven for not noticing the ways these industries are similar (and how they rely on each other to some extent) but there is no doubt that the two have contributed somewhat to each other’s growth. Casino gaming and sportsbook gambling have been huge for some time, certainly for a lot longer than esports, but in the digital age we’re in, they all have become more accessible and simple for players to join in with. You could say esports and gambling are two parts of the same machine.