Esports Gambling: Market Structure and Biases

Abstract

Esports is one of the fastest growing avenues of entertainment in the world today, projected to have revenues approaching US$1.5 billion by year 2020. The large growth of this market has led to similarly large growth in the gambling industry around esports, with some estimates predicting over US$7.4 billion in wagers made in 2018. In this article, we explain the nuances of the esports gambling market that differentiate it from the traditional sports betting market, such as “skins” betting, and empirically examine the biases present in wagering for two different esport titles ( Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2) at two esports gambling websites. We find that real money and skins gambling markets have different types of market biases. In particular, we find that bettors in real money markets tend to overbet large underdogs, particularly when those underdogs are European teams playing against non-European teams.

Esports Governance: Exploring Stakeholder Dynamics

“…Sustainability 2020, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 16 [8,9]. However, their efforts to do so have been beset with incoherence and crises.…”

“…Unsurprisingly, the financial rewards on offer have induced an increasing number of integrity-eroding activities-similar to regular sport-such as cheating, doping, match-fixing and illegal gambling [5][6][7]. As this problem has not been addressed through traditional policy or law enforcement mechanisms, the esports industry has initiated its own integrity-promoting activities [8,9]. However, their efforts to do so have been beset with incoherence and crises.…”

The societal impact of electronic sport: a scoping review

“…The esport gambling and betting market is currently barely arbitrated, therefore, susceptible to irregularities, match fixing, or betting abuse (Sweeney et al, 2019). Addictive gaming behavior in the context of esport is treated thrice, indicating that a risk of developing gaming disorder or addiction, heavily depends on psychological and social factors of the consumer, not necessarily by the games themselves (Bertran & Chamarro, 2016;Choi et al, 2018;Whalen, 2013).…”

Geli̇şen Dünyada E-Spor'un Vergi̇lendi̇ri̇lmesi̇

“…E-sports stands before us as a candidate to be one of the most important concepts of the digital age. The fact that the ratings compete with traditional sports branches and even surpass them in many countries attracts the attention of teams, advertisers, and other stakeholders (Martin-Niedecken and Schattin, 2020; Sweeney et al, 2021). In this context, the fact that e-sports gradually establishes its own identity and the states recognize e-sports have brought the formation of federations.…”