Esports Gambling Statistics: Market Size, Growth and More

eSports are one of the newest sports to hit the mainstream, and their growth has been astronomical. From a relatively niche activity twenty years ago, they’ve become a worldwide phenomenon, attracting millions in sponsorship and enormous audiences as they’ve done so. And, as with any sport, as eSports have gained attention, so has betting on eSports, with rapidly increasing numbers of bettors putting their money on eSports players in recent years.

Just how dramatic has this been? We’re hitting the statistics to find out.

What Are eSports?

eSports are the competitive play of video games. Once regarded as a bit geeky, eSports have now become pretty mainstream - although the hours upon hours of training required to become a player proficient enough to compete might still be considered somewhat on the geeky side.

eSports tournaments take place both remotely and in person, and between both individual players and teams, depending on the game in question. Multiplayer games have, of course, been around in video games for a long time, but as platforms such as YouTube and especially Twitch got going, it was possible to bring those contests to a wider audience.

Although there are thousands of video games out there, a select few have become cornerstones of eSports. This is partly because certain games are better suited to the eSports format, but even so the success of just a few games is wildly disproportionate. The biggest games, which enjoy millions of viewing hours each week, include League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Valorant, Dota 2 and CS:GO.

Whether eSports can truly be counted as ‘sports’ has been an ongoing debate. There isn’t exactly much in the way of strenuous physical activity involved in the playing of eSports - but then the same can be said of darts, or snooker. And high level video gamers must have excellent fine motor skills and exceptional reaction speeds to play competitively, both of which are undoubtedly physical skills.

On the other hand, eSports can actually be detrimental to both the physical and mental health of players, given the number of necessary sedentary hours in front of a screen.

Regardless, eSports don’t seem to be going anywhere - they’ve even been considered for inclusion in the Olympic Games. Although they weren’t successful for the 2024 Paris Olympics, a dedicated Olympic eSports Games has been approved, and will take place in 2025 in Saudi Arabia.

eSports Growth In Recent Years

eSports have enjoyed dramatic growth in recent years, although Covid has somewhat hampered their rise since 2020, as in person tournaments were kiboshed for quite some time. In 2023, however, eSports were responsible for revenues of $870 million just in the United States, and a total market value of roughly $1.98 billion worldwide.

Source: Statista eSports market size report

This has increased from $1.64 billion in 2022 - over a 20% rise in just one year! In 2024, meanwhile, conservative projections value the market at $2.06 billion.

Viewership has had a similar dramatic increase. The 2023 League of Legends World Championships had as many as 6.4 million viewers - which, while not quite matching the viewership of the 2022 football World Cup (at just under a quarter of the population of the entire globe, according to FIFA) is still a very respectable audience for a sport still in its infancy.

It’s worth noting, though, that growth hasn’t been entirely linear. The International 2021 remains the tournament with the largest ever prize pool, having given away over $40 million to its winners. Since then, the prize pool has dropped dramatically to only $3.38 million in 2023. This is, of course, still a vast amount of money, but, as its prize pool is funded through crowdfunding by selling battle passes to players, it does indicate that some of the enthusiasm for this particular tournament may have died away.

There are other signs that eSports may be plateauing as well. In the second quarter of 2024, live streaming viewership was actually down ever so slightly, compared to the second quarter of 2023. Admittedly, the decrease was only 1%, from 661 million hours down to 654 million hours, but even so, it’s telling that what was expected to be exponential growth appears to be tailing off.

Source: Stream Hatchet 2024 Q2 Live Streaming Report

Gambling On eSports

As a general rule, if a sport gains a modicum of popularity it will inevitably attract gamblers, and eSports are no exception. The value of the eSports betting market continues to increase, especially in regions where betting is relatively loosely regulated. In Asia, the eSports betting market is seeing particularly strong growth, in South Korea especially. In the USA, however, eSports betting is only legal in certain states, hampering its rise, and it faces similar restrictions in countries such as Germany, which have stringent gambling regulations.

Interestingly, a large amount of eSports betting is done with cryptocurrency, in stark contrast to sports betting generally. This isn’t altogether surprising, though, given that eSports are inherently reliant on the newest technologies, and cryptocurrency allows for both anonymity and convenience.

eSports gambling isn’t nearly as widespread as gambling on other, more mainstream sports, but is catching up. The size of the global gambling market was $0.43 billion in 2023, and is dominated by East Asia - though other areas are seeing significant growth too. Countries including China, Japan and South Korea have enormous dominance in betting on eSports, with the size of the market reflecting enthusiasm in this region for eSports generally.

In the UK, William Hill, Bet365 and Betfred are some of the biggest players in the eSports betting market, and they will no doubt continue to encourage their customers to bet on eSports. After all, from a bookie’s point of view, the more sports customers want to bet on, the better!

Projected Growth In eSports Gambling

It’s anticipated that eSports gambling will continue to increase, with projected revenue expected to reach as much as $2.5 billion in 2024. The market is expected to continue to grow year on year by 6.72%, which would result in a global market value of $3.5 billion by 2029.

Source: Statista eSports Betting Statistics

Of course, it’s important to bear in mind that the market doesn’t always do what pundits expect. After the $40 million dollar prize pool in 2021 for The International, when for several years that prize pool had grown in size, it would have been reasonable to expect it to continue to do so. But as eSports, and eSports gambling, are a relatively new market, they’re also relatively volatile - so projections are likely to involve even more guesswork than statisticians would usually employ.

The rise of mobile gaming, and in betting on eSports via mobile apps, has also contributed to the rise in both eSports and eSports betting. When a gambler can quickly and easily place a bet via their phone, it makes it much more likely that they’ll do so. Online tournaments and events are also becoming more common in the aftermath of Covid - and while this may take something away from the experience of anyone who attends in person, it also means that there’s no limitations when it comes to audience engagement. Both of these factors are likely to contribute to the continued growth of the eSports gambling market.

Demographics In eSports Gambling

It probably won’t come as a surprise to learn that the majority of eSports gamblers are young and male, mirroring the demographics of eSports fans (and players) generally.

Overall, gambling on eSports in the UK is still quite niche, with only one in ten adults ever having bet on eSports in 2020 - although a fifth of people between 18 and 34 said that they had ever bet on eSports (compared to just 1% of those over 65), and as many as a third of men aged between 18 and 24.

Source: Gambling Commission Report on Online Gambling 2021

Given the popularity of eSports among young people, there have been concerns that those under 18 might be engaging in illicit gambling on eSports, however in the UK at least that hasn’t so far been proved correct. In 2023, the Gambling Commission produced a report on young people and online gambling, which found that only around 1% of those under 18 had ever spent their own money on eSports betting, a tiny proportion.

This would tend to indicate that the UK’s gambling laws are working well at keeping underage people from eSports gambling, especially taking into account the fact that the majority of eSports fans are members of the younger generations.

Matched Betting Potential For eSports

As eSports grow in market size and audience, it’s likely that more and more eSports offers will crop up from bookies, who are always looking to expand the range of sports their customers bet on. As with any other sport, if you come across a great eSports offer with a bookie, it’s worth seeing if you can take advantage of it through Matched Betting (for more information about Matched Betting, check out our full guide).

However, as eSports is still a fairly niche sport, it’s not always easy to lay a bet. Finding close odds at an exchange relies on there being a good number of people placing bets on that event through the exchange - and for less popular sports, there will be fewer bettors. Not all exchanges feature eSports at all, which further reduces your options for laying a bet. For this reason, we recommend double checking the odds available before committing yourself to an eSports offer, to avoid finding out too late that making a profit won’t actually be possible.

Summary

eSports have demonstrated rapid growth over the past few years, and there’s every indication that they’ll continue to grow - although perhaps at a somewhat slower pace. Betting on eSports has grown correspondingly swiftly, coinciding with the rise of cryptocurrency, which is commonly used for eSports betting.

Young men are the main driver of eSports betting, but as eSports become mainstream, and as its current fans become older, it’s likely that the demographics will start to shift.

When it comes to Matched Betting, eSports probably isn’t the most profitable opportunity at the moment, but as eSports themselves continue to grow, eSports gambling is likely to follow - and the bigger it gets, the easier it’ll be to take advantage of. Whether you’re a player, a bookie, or a matched bettor, there’s an excellent chance of future profits to be made from eSports.