Casinos with virtual sports and esports: rankings and terms

Every reputable bookmaker offers its users esports bets as one of the options to increase their bankroll. This is a fairly new discipline that quickly and firmly took its place in the lines of official dispute platforms.

Some visitors to bookmakers’ sites already understand this topic at a professional level and make 📈 successful esports predictions, some know what it’s about and have placed bets on luck without information about teams and their experience, but there are also those who avoided this betting category entirely and finally want to learn more about it. If you belong to that category of readers, the article below will be perfectly timed. The information presented allows you to learn: what esports is, tells about the events that contributed to its emergence, about the stages of development and some facts from its history, future prospects, and when bookmakers allowed betting on electronic competitions. Also mentioned will be 🎮popular games, 👨‍👨‍👦 some esports teams and what you should primarily consider when betting or making strategies. The article also covers how esports is doing in Russia, who sponsors such events and prize pool sizes of tournaments in different years.

It’s possible that not only amateurs in this field will learn something interesting. Although professionals who never miss esports news and are always aware of events will probably find the material not new. Nevertheless, if they deem it necessary, they can supplement it with useful information in the comments. We will now proceed with our educational tasks. 🤓

🕹️💪What is esports

There are opinions that contests based on computer games have nothing to do with sport and are typical teenage play, from which large corporations made another advertising method, created an opportunity to earn money and provided an additional niche for bookmakers’ revenues. Even if all that is true, let’s not forget that poker is considered a sport, even though it’s a 🃏 card game, and ♟ chess is officially recognized as a sport in more than 100 countries and by the Olympic Committee in 1999, which, however, did not include it in the Olympic Games program.

Additional arguments in favor of such statements are that  sport, first of all, is overcoming previously achieved results, working on oneself, training, applying tactics, controlling the psychological component. All of this exists in esports  and even more: professionals, coaches, analysts appear and everyone gets paid a salary. That is, esports has reached a scale that makes you understand it cannot be ignored. Moreover, some esports events gather an audience larger than stadiums during hockey, tennis or basketball.

We will return to talking about teams, popular games, the scale of current tournaments, prize pools and other components of modern esports. But the history of any direction or activity that has become a traditional part of various fields often reveals interesting facts and events that some people did not know, suspect or even think about before.

We must also touch on the stages of esports formation:

• when its first shoots broke through,
• the time of popularization arrived

and other significant dates that became turning points in the past for such an unusual discipline as if it had come to us from science fiction.💠

📺 History of esports

Undoubtedly, the time point from which the rapid development of esports can be traced is the end of the 20th century. In the second half of the 1990s, when computers began appearing in homes and online servers provided multiplayer access to battle arenas located in digital space, computer game enthusiasts got a new opportunity for joint competitions. Participation could involve not two or four people, as with a game console, but many more. Also the locations where battles took place became numerous: from typical neighborhoods copied from reality to unimaginable spectacular landscapes invented by highly imaginative minds.

But that concerns the beginning of the rapid growth of multiplayer games’ popularity, while in fact few know that esports originated several decades earlier.

Early computer games

What do you think, when did the first computer games appear? Not in the 80s and not even in the 70s of the last century.🔢 Experiments with algorithms began back in the late 40s-early 50s.

To say that it was very primitive then is one thing, but at the same time  the computer’s size back then barely fit in a spacious room , and the game medium was a punched tape with five rows of holes. One could only play against the computer.

The first multiplayer game is considered to be “Spacewar!”. It was developed by students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1962 for the PDP-1 computer. The machine was at least as big as an English “system unit,” and the monitor was a small round screen where the game’s action took place (see picture👇).

🧑👱 Two players each controlled their own 🚀space ship🚀 with the main task to destroy the opponent. The duel was complicated by: the gravitational well of a star, limited fuel and torpedoes.

But “Spacewar!” became a game that was later compiled for other microcomputer systems, retained its popularity and for a long time successfully competed with new games of that era.
And “Spacewar!” is directly related to the topic of our article also because in 1972 Rolling Stone magazine organized the first officially recorded tournament for this game. It took place at Stanford University and the main prize was a one-year subscription to the magazine.📖

The second official computer game tournament was held by Atari in 1980. Players competed in Space Invaders and more than 10,000 people from across the United States took part.

Then such competitions began to be held more often, mainly initiated by console and arcade manufacturers. Gradually the prizes for victory became more valuable and serious. For example, in 1990 the winner of a tournament organized by Nintendo received $10,000.

The gaming field gained new opportunities and transformed significantly:🖥️ PCs displaced game consoles from the market and appeared in almost every home; game developers released their masterpieces, some of which would take an honored place in gamers’ rankings for a long time.  The term esports appeared in the late 90s  and soon received official status, and tournament prize pools began to please winners with sums significantly exceeding prizes of past years.

Birth of esports

Although the first PC game with the possibility of corporate battles was Doom II, for the first official competition with many teams Quake was chosen, and a tournament was held in 1997. That year is also notable because Angel Munoz announced the creation of the first esports league: CPL – Cyberathlete Professional League. In the same year the first esports league held its tournament with valuable prizes.

But similar events were also held a couple of years before that, and their organization involved companies that were little known at the time.

In the mid-90s another game was released that later became very popular in computer clubs. We are talking about “Warcraft”. Several tournaments that did not particularly attract press attention also took place.

Also, for some reason many sources do not mention that Bill Gates contributed to the formation of esports. In 1995 Windows95 was released, and by the end of the year Microsoft together with the publisher of Doom II and the online service Dwango held a tournament. To participate you had to purchase a subscription for $9.95. It was bought not only by players from the United States, but also from Australia and Europe, so the competition can be considered international. The final took place in Redmond on October 30, 1995, and 22 players from the US and 2 from Europe were selected for this stage.

South Korea quickly picked up the initiative of holding computer game tournaments. If in the US the first esports athletes proved their mastery in Quake, then  in South Korea in 1998 the first major tournament in Blizzard’s new game StarCraft was organized , which later became one of the popular multiplayer games. By that time Blizzard had already earned a decent income from the first and second parts of Warcraft and realized how promising multiplayer-capable gaming projects were. The company was the first to embed a game service for connecting to an online platform directly into its games, while others still used external interfaces.

Later South Korea showed itself as a country that significantly supports esports. In the late 90s several professional associations, communities and esports teams were created there, and changes were even made to legislative regulations, allowing control and regulatory activities in this area and imposing severe penalties for match-fixing. It is noted that just as hockey in the Russian Federation or football in Brazil, esports is treated at the same level in South Korea.🧿

🎮 Popular esports games

We have already talked about several games that were adopted by players for multiplayer battles. StarCraft and Warcraft got continuations at the beginning of the third millennium and retained their popularity among amateurs and professionals, but esports history has another game that saw the light at the end of the 1990s and whose continuation remains in the top-3 to this day.

Counter

 The computer game Counter-Strike  was known even in those days when hardly anyone had a computer at home.

For multiplayer games people gathered in clubs and held team battles for hours on end. Time flew by unnoticed, but technology developed, computers became more accessible, and once combined with the internet they seated a new generation of players in their rooms.
20 years have passed since the release of CS!🥳 The official release of Half-Life: Counter-Strike took place in November 2000. But the beta version was playable already in the summer of 1999. Online servers became available then, and the game was actively discussed on several websites. Another significant factor that influenced the game’s success and contributed to the rapid growth of its audience was that it was free. This allowed it to immediately compete with then-leaders of multiplayer computer games such as Quake III, Warcraft II and Unreal Tournament.

Despite the decades, the shooter is still played with the same undying enthusiasm. CS can be attributed to that esports game that was continuously accompanied by popularity, recognition and a huge audience, both when Counter-Strike: Source was released and after the release of Global Offensive.

GO was released in 2012, and it still holds the status of an unchanged leader. All these years the positions adjacent to “CS: GO” in the ranking of well-known esports games were shared by very different projects. Let’s pay attention to those that were most recognized by the audience and on which popular esports games a gambler can bet.

Dota 2

Of course, in the years esports has existed, CS GO is not the only game that has attracted gamers from around the world. StarCraft II long held top spots, and in 2013 a modification of the Warcraft III map called Dota 2 was released.

The game introduced the MOBA genre as a fuller version of the predecessor DotA (Defense of the Ancients) and quickly gained its players, becoming a full-fledged esports discipline with professional teams.

The game was released in 2013, but developer Valve had launched beta testing since 2011 and  began holding The International tournaments.💰 Initially the prize pool was $1.6M.  This was already a figure capable of attracting public attention and demonstrating the seriousness of competitions. But in subsequent years the prize pool became even larger,💰💰💰 because its formation began to include a share from the sales of tickets and items that players buy in the game. Thanks to this 👉The International’s tournament prize pools are regularly noted as the largest in esports history at the time of the event: in 2013 – almost $3M, in 2014 – over $10M, and in 2019 the amount became a record again and will be announced a bit below. 🏆

League of Legends

League of Legends has been in the top three for many years; it first saw the light in 2009 and was significantly updated in 2014.

LoL gathers 100 million players monthly, and the revenue figures it produced for the company in some years were the best compared to competitors. Championships for League of Legends have been held since 2011. Initially the prize pool was 🏆$100K, but  in subsequent years esports teams competed for prizes from funds of several million .

Other esports disciplines

FIFA, Tekken, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, World of Tanks, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch – this is far from a complete list of esports disciplines played today. Some games also first appeared in the 90s,💾 after which they were improved and updated,💿 according to modern requirements, and likewise Football, Mortal Kombat or Tekken were played on consoles before personal computers appeared.📺

The plots and features of each of the listed games deserve attention, but you can learn about them on themed sites or by spending time playing. Hollywood has made films 🎥 based on some games and even those who are not into gaming could learn about the storyline and game universes through cinematic productions.🎞️ Moreover, the spectacle and special effects of the movie “Warcraft” are quite impressive.

Genres of esports games

According to statistics showing player numbers, views and prize pools, the most popular genre of games chosen for online competitions are team role-playing games. These include League of Legends and Dota 2. Also among leading genres, thanks to CS: GO, are shooters.

In addition, esports disciplines include categories:

• technical simulators (World of Tanks),
• strategies (WarCraft, StarCraft),
• simulators of sports competitions (FIFA, NBA).

Speaking about esports, besides the wide variety of online games, there are other sides that need to be touched on in this material.

🧑👱 Esports teams

Esports competitions are a team sport. Mostly they are played by young guys who managed to turn their hobby of computer games into a good additional income. Even in small tournaments you can win decent money, and as for international competitions, those figures are quite attractive🤑 and parents no longer reproach such athletes for spending nights at the computer fighting in virtual space. However, when it comes to esports athletes and recreation turns into work, a psychological factor appears. After all, team members work for a salary and cannot refuse to play when they are bored with it or simply want to spend time differently.

A professional esports team includes:

• main players;
• two-three substitute players;
• team captain;
• coach;
• manager.

As of December 2019, the leading positions in the world rankings of esports teams are occupied by:

📔 Esports education

From the information presented it is already possible to notice that the sums circulating in tournaments are quite serious and amateurs will no longer be admitted to such prize pools. Now there are even organizations like esports schools that train professional members of future teams. For example, at the Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism each academic year there is an enrollment for the specialty “Theory and Methodology of Computer Sports”. At this faculty you can not only become a bachelor in 4 years, but also a master if you devote 6 years to study. Moreover, esports needs not only players, but also coaches, managers, commentators and analysts.

Esports schools and faculties operate not only in the Russian Federation, but also in other former Soviet countries. Looking at the prize figures won by the most successful teams, it becomes clear that there is incentive for training and young gamers have something to strive for.💪

A reader interested in the material may have another question regarding the age category of esports athletes.

🎂 Age of esports athletes

For those who only vaguely know what esports athletes do, the imagination may picture scruffy pimply teenagers🧒 in teams who can’t think of anything other than computer games. But the more you study information about the discipline, the faster the stereotypes dissipate. However, many jokes circulate about the age of esports athletes.

Nevertheless, due to some legal regulations, no professional esports organization will cooperate with people younger than 16. Therefore this age should be considered the lower limit.

🧒Most players started their careers at the age of 16-17. 🧑The average age of team participants is around 25, and those over 30 are rarely seen at professional esports tournaments. As a rule, this is related to health: carpal tunnel syndrome, neck and back pain, reduced vision – all this is the price for long hours spent in digital duels.

🧔Those athletes who turned 30 and continued to play confirm that colleagues and the audience already consider them old. Moreover, this is the age most suitable for starting a family 👪 and most professional esports players aim to leave virtual arenas by that time and invest the capital they managed to accumulate into another, more adult business.👨‍💼 But some stay and begin coaching the young or engage in esports marketing and management.

💲 Salaries in esports

As for money, we already mentioned sums that were played for in tournaments of the most popular disciplines. But it should be taken into account that a CS team divides the cash prize among participants and part of the funds go to the organization’s fund that it represents.

That concerns the leaders. Salaries of participants in ordinary CIS teams range from $300 – 1000. Those who manage to show good results earn about $2,000.

🏆 Prize pools in esports over the years

For general statistics and to have a visual picture of increasing interest from sponsors and the public in esports, let’s list some prize pools collected for computer game competitions in different years.

• 1972 – of course we will note the annual subscription to Rolling Stone, although back then the concept of esports did not exist, but as a starting point it will do;
• 1997 – at the Red Annihilation tournament the main prize was a red Ferrari (approximate price of the car at that time was $60,000);
• 2011 – Valve announced a Dota 2 tournament with a prize pool of $1.6M and this was considered an incredible figure – the largest fund at that time distributed among winners of esports teams, but later The International increasingly raised the bar, and a million or two became standard for major tournaments of popular esports disciplines;
• 2019 – over $30M, and the year was marked by two events with such budgets: one traditional from Valve – The International 2019, where the total prize money was $34M and still remains a record in computer battles; the second was organized by Epic Games for the battle royale Fortnite and that tournament’s pool was $30.4M.

🇷🇺 Esports in Russia

The countries of the former Soviet Union had little time for esports in the 90s. Nevertheless, a new generation was growing up in the newly independent states and many guys were certainly interested in computer games. Some spent time with games occasionally, also interested in other things. But there were gamblers who never left computer clubs or didn’t move away from their home PC, logging thousands of hours in online duels.

👨‍🏫By the way, by that time “Theory and Methodology of Intellectual Sports” had already been taught at RSUPESMYT for two years, and Russian esports teams were actively competing at international tournaments.

In 2018 students of ITMO University in St. Petersburg who were noted as talented and promising esports athletes began receiving a scholarship of 10,000 rubles per month. And Russian operator Tele2 in spring 2019 launched a platform for esports streamers, and in summer held a mobile esports competition during which ₱1.2M was played for among the winners.

💵 Esports sponsors

As esports history shows,  the first major sponsors of computer game competitions were console manufacturers and the game developers themselves . What could be better for a company than having its game or the platform it created mentioned in all publications dedicated to computer games and other bright events in the world. Sooner or later even those who have not paid attention to such a game but are inclined to relax with computer games will download and see what it’s about. And then… Many have experienced how games can hook you – you sit down to pass the evening and then realize you were engrossed for 🕐days, 📆months, or even 👴years. Thus a casual player who at first was a single statistic gradually discovers talent as an esports athlete, moves up to a higher level and becomes part of a team on which the results of an international esports tournament depend.

Thus, for example, among the operators closer to a domestic bettor that sponsors an esports team is PariMatch. In 2019 Virtus.pro team members at the world championship in Seoul appeared before viewers in jerseys bearing the bookmaker’s logo.
Other operators also take part in supporting esports athletes. For example, the Leon bookmaker is also known in esports circles as sponsor of team Gambit.

But to show how different the brands investing in esports are, let’s list the most famous whose logos have adorned participants’ shirts or advertising areas of esports arenas: Coca-Cola, MasterCard, Aviasales, Snickers, Red Bull, USM Holdings, Strongbow, MegaFon and that’s far from all.

💻 Esports bookmakers

Accordingly, the attention of betting platform owners also turned to esports disciplines. Among the first bookmakers to start accepting esports bets was Pinnacle. Top Russian bookmakers also did not wait long and included this section in their listing.

But there are platforms that take into account nothing but esports events. If a bettor analyzes and is interested only in this sphere, turning to such esports bookmakers may be more convenient. Because the information, news and announcements published on their platforms are mainly devoted to one topic and other articles do not distract from analyzing current information.📊

As platforms for betting directly on esports, adapted for Russian-speaking users, one can mention:

• EGB (Egamingbets) – began operating in 2011, received a Curaçao license and represents almost all disciplines active in esports, but as users note, the live-betting section and the collection of statistical data on tournaments still require improvements. At the same time the same site visitors note a good information base, favorable odds and early publication of lines, as well as generous loyalty programs, bonuses and various giveaways. There is also a shop where accumulated loyalty points can be exchanged for various accessories, skins and real money;
• Rivalry – a bookmaker specializing exclusively in esports, started operating in 2017, but quickly garnered attention from many bettors as it made good competition for companies already established in the market. It stands out with quality service, decent odds (for some events even the highest available), a modern and convenient site, a great choice of live events and the quality of current match broadcasts. Players from CIS countries will be pleased not only by the presence of the Russian language and convenient ways to top up an account, but also by the ability to bet on esports competitions of teams from various corners of the former Soviet Union, which is not available at many well-known bookmakers. Therefore, it is quite likely that the esports bookmaker Rivalry will firmly establish itself as a reliable operator with a special focus. Moreover, its honesty is confirmed by a license from the Isle of Man;
• BK GG.Bet initially started accepting esports bets, but later decided to expand its assortment and attract more bettors by opening lines for other sports events. Since development began with esports competitions, those interested in this topic will find certain conveniences both in the platform’s functionality and in the section for covering information and current news.

But the bookmakers that are ranked among leaders also have a section for esports: Liga Stavok, Fonbet, 1XBet and others. However, on such platforms, as a rule, only the most large-scale competitions are offered for betting and many regional events are not paid attention to. Nevertheless, reputable bookmakers employ good analysts and their reports and predictions can be useful when forming your own strategies for placing a bet on CS or another esports game. So they should not be excluded from the list of resources that help make the right single bet or when forming an accumulator of several events.

Odds and strategies

Undoubtedly, even the dullest esports competition will be much more interesting to watch if you placed a bet on CS or another discipline.💵 An interest and excitement arises about the event outcome. But that is not the only plus of betting on esports and here  a fact can play into the bettor’s hands that not all bookmakers employ competent analysts in this area and sometimes the user may know more than the operator, which increases his chances of a good win.  Therefore esports is one of those disciplines presented by bookmakers that allows single bets to be won with four-, five- and higher-multipliers with greater probability than in other sports. Those who understand the game find arbitrage opportunities and get guaranteed profit. Especially earning on bookmaker arbitrage is relevant during live broadcasts of matches.

Even recognized specialists in esports note that outsiders often prove how underestimated they were. But if the discipline includes several rounds, then in such a strategy it’s best to consider the advantages of more experienced favorite teams.
 Esports analysts who play against bookmakers consider many factors: rumors, accidental information, try to attend tournaments.  All this can help make the right bet and multiply the bankroll several times. The main thing is not to forget about proper bankroll management in the strategy: do not use the entire sum on one event, do not get involved in a large number of games at once and do not try to increase the odds by adding a favorite to an accumulator assuming its “guaranteed victory”, since we mentioned the unpredictability of teams’ success in esports. Also an important point – don’t give in to emotions, try to assess the situation as soberly as possible and better exclude alcohol consumption both when working on the strategy and during its implementation.

At home and 📰 reading news on themed resources, you can also make a profitable bet on an esports team. Each chooses:💵 earn a living betting on esports,📈 regularly follow events and apply strategies to stay in profit or just place an occasional bet for entertainment 🎱 and thus increase interest while watching an esports tournament.

Future of esports

There is no doubt that esports has a promising and bright future. This sphere will still reveal many facets that were not realized due to technical and software limitations. Virtual reality is currently developing rapidly: software development is underway, gadgets and devices are being created that will be available not only to people with large capital but also to the average network user. Soon we will see new types of duels that will leave ordinary monitor screens and move to displays visualizing virtual space.

These trends will find application for people engaged in physical training and various martial arts. Wouldn’t it be spectacular to watch a duel in which a person’s real abilities, who, say, trained kung fu for many years, are combined with the possibilities of fantastic characters from Mortal Kombat as elements of augmented reality? It will be a truly interesting fight to watch. A particular advantage is that no one will be hurt during it.🤼‍♂️

👉Already now the turnover of funds in esports exceeds 🤑 $3 billion, which outpaces some sports disciplines, even such as ⛳ golf or 🎾 tennis. And there is no doubt that in the coming years these figures will grow, and esports may surpass even real ⚽ football or 🏀 basketball matches in popularity and viewership. Moreover, these sports may simply take on virtual forms, and the spectacle of future esports duels may well surpass even the boldest imaginations.💎