Twenty years since the internet transformed gambling products and services, the convergence of online games and gambling has initiated a new means of consuming internet-based media.Gambling specifically connected to esports is a significant development, offering not only a new avenue for existing gambling products to be inserted into gaming media, but also affording several novel experiences (e.g. skins and loot boxes). This study assesses participation rates and demographic characteristics of esports spectators who gamble via an international online survey (N=582). The sample highlighted the prevalence of young, often under-age, males in esportsrelated gambling activities. Participation in gambling, and gambling-like activities, was found to be 67%, with rates of problematic and potentially problematic gambling in the sample being 50.34%. Finally, increased gambling is associated with increased spectating of esports. Although the results are not generalisable to the wider population, they suggest a need for increased attention, from academia and regulators, regarding newly-emergent gambling behaviours in contemporary digital culture.

While video games have been widely investigated from the perspective of play, an emerging online media phenomenon is the spectating of video game play, captivating millions of users daily. This study investigates the relationship of video game genres, content type and viewer gratification in the context of live gaming. To study this phenomenon, we employ an online questionnaire study (N=1097) to investigate six categories of gratifications: affective, information seeking, learning to play, personal integrative, social integrative & tension release motivations and their relationship with game genres and stream types. The results of this study demonstrate that "the medium is the message", highlight the importance of archetypal structure (i.e. the type of streamed content) over content topic (i.e. the genre of games being streamed), and help to build a better understanding of user generated content and the democratization of media.

An established body of research exists in which playing video games have been associated with potentially problematic behaviours, such as gambling. However, this position has recently been questioned in respect to the contemporary environments of both video gaming and gambling. This study investigates relationships between a range of gambling activities and the consumption of video games in general, and the newly emergent phenomenon of esports in particular. In addition, these practices are considered in relation to established measures assessing game addiction and problematic gambling. The study employs Partial Least Squares modelling to investigate data gathered via an international online survey (N=613). Video game addiction was found to be negatively associated with offline gambling, online gambling, and problem gambling. Video game consumption had only small, positive association with video game-related gambling and problem gambling. Consumption of esports had small to moderate association with video game-related gambling, online gambling, and problem gambling. The primary finding of this study are that contemporary video games are not, in themselves, associated with increased potential for problematic gambling, indeed, the position that problem gaming and problem gambling are fundamentally connected is questioned.

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Contemporary digital technologies have facilitated practices related to games whereby users often produce and consume content for free. To date, research into consumer interactions has largely focused on in-game factors, however, the intention to both play the game and to make in-game purchases are influenced by outside factors, including game streams and game-centred communities. In particular, the growth of competitive gaming, known as esports, offers a new channel for consumer engagement. This research explores the potential for esports to be a significant factor in understanding both intentions to play and spend money on games. Our study draws from Motivations Scale of Sports Consumption to empirically investigate the relationship between esports spectating motivations and game consumption: Watching Intention, Gaming Intention, and Purchasing Intention. This survey uses structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse data collected from a sample of video game players (n = 194). This research contributes empirical evidence of the relationship between esports spectating and game consumption, with the relationship between Watching Intention and Gaming Intention found to be particularly strong. Finally, while the MSSC is an adequate measure for esports spectating, additional aspects specific to esports require further investigation, consequently, there may be more optimal measures which can be developed.