Last month, casinos and racetracks in New Jersey began taking bets on esports tournaments, a move that further expanded the already thriving sports betting industry in the state. Needless to say, esports is a multi-billion industry that has sparked a lot of interest among investors in several different sectors. Esports betting is, therefore, a very lucrative market that is beginning to slowly become one of the key offerings in a number of popular online markets. As expected, this has been primarily driven by player interest across several states.
While esports betting seems to have just started being a disruptive force in the world of gambling, it has existed for much longer than that. In the United States, the first legal and regulated esports bet was placed back in 2016 and since then, a number of gambling operators have moved towards investing in the sector. There are now a decent number of esports betting facilities and offerings from all over the world.
Gaming companies have set their sights on the new audience that is full of the rather newer crowd of players who have a deep interest in video games. New Jersey and other states considering the regulation of esports betting are already aware of the potential of drawing revenue from a totally new and different demographic.
FanDuel in the Lead
In the United States, FanDuel became the very first online sports betting operator to offers bets on esports events and tournaments. The operator’s customers are able to enjoy bets on their favorite esports teams and games right on their mobile apps – there is no need to download anything extra. While the betting volumes are still relatively low especially in comparison to other verticals, the esports betting offering is showing signs of immense growth. Time will tell how everything turns out.
We have already seen the potential of the esports betting industry in the short term and, as it turns out, New Jersey is not the only state that will benefit from esports betting. FanDuel, for instance, has plans for a number of other states including West Virginia, Indiana, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.
The Future Looks Bright, Very Bright
In 2019, experts predicted that the video game industry would generate as much as $150 billion in sales. Keeping that in mind, esports betting will be able to attract up to a whopping $12.9 billion in wagers next year. These figures are simply indicators of the confidence that investors have in the esports industry. It is quite justified owing to the immense growth of the industry and increasing interest.