{"id":43236,"date":"2016-12-22T18:00:29","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T02:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=43236"},"modified":"2017-01-18T11:53:07","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T19:53:07","slug":"esports-betting-markets-overtake-hockey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-betting-markets-overtake-hockey\/","title":{"rendered":"Esports Betting Markets Overtake A Major Sporting League"},"content":{"rendered":"

The esports betting markets were 10 percent more popular than markets on hockey in 2016, according to the Pinnacle online sports book.<\/p>\n

Marco Blume, a trading direct director at Pinnacle told video games website PVPLive.com this week that Dota\u00a02 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) were currently leading the charge in eSports betting, fueled largely by the recent crackdown in skins gambling.<\/p>\n

\"Esports
With esports events regularly filling arenas, it\u2019s little wonder that it is beginning to challenge traditional sports in terms of betting and viewing figures. (Image: ESL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Valve Corp, the makers of Dota 2 and CS:GO<\/a> were forced to disrupt the billion dollar gambling industry that had grown up around the trading of \u201cskins,\u201d the colorful designer weapons attainable within the game with varying degrees of rarity.<\/p>\n

Skins Scandal<\/b><\/h2>\n

Valve had encouraged the trading of skins via its Steam platform, in order to establish a virtual economy around the games, but because third-party gambling websites could also open accounts on the platform, skins could be transferred to their sites to be used as digital casino.<\/p>\n

Valve shut down the industry having been threatened with at least two lawsuits that claimed they were facilitating underage gambling, an accusation the company flatly denies.<\/p>\n

Of course, the sudden dearth of sites permitting esports betting using skins after the crackdown means that bettors must now turn to sites offering real money markets on esports, like Pinnacle, hence the sudden surge.<\/p>\n

The fact that esports<\/a> has overtaken hockey in the betting stakes, meanwhile, can, to a degree, be explained by the fact that, outside Canada and the US, hockey is not a very popular sport.<\/p>\n

\n

Furthermore, Pinnacle does not take US bets, making the pool of potential bettors even smaller, although Canada is a huge market for the bookmaker.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Nevertheless, there\u2019s no denying that esports betting is getting big. Pinnacle recently said that it is its seventh biggest market and has already overtaken golf.<\/p>\n

Viewing Figures Challenge Traditional Sports<\/b><\/h2>\n

In terms of viewing figures, too, esports is snapping at the heels of more traditional sports. A recent study by esports and marketing intelligence firm Newzoo found that, among male American millennials, at least, esports matches were as widely viewed as hockey and basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe popularity of esports spikes among male millennials,\u201d it said. \u201cIn fact, 22 percent of this valued target group frequently view esports, placing it higher than ice hockey and equal to the popularity of baseball.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

The study researched consumer attitudes to esports in 27 countries in an attempt to discover just why so many big global and local brands, including gambling companies, are investing in esports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The esports betting markets were 10 percent more popular than markets on hockey in 2016, according to the Pinnacle online sports book. Marco Blume, a trading direct director at Pinnacle told video games website PVPLive.com this week that Dota\u00a02 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) were currently leading the charge in eSports betting, fueled largely by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":43238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEsports Betting Markets Overtake A Major Sporting League<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Esports betting markets are growing, with Pinnacle saying its own outstripped hockey by 10 percent in 2016, a major achievement.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Esports Betting Markets Overtake A Major Sporting League\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Esports betting markets are growing, with Pinnacle saying its own outstripped hockey by 10 percent in 2016, a major achievement.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-betting-markets-overtake-hockey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-23T02:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-18T19:53:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-22-at-10.41.22-PM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"812\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"459\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-betting-markets-overtake-hockey\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-betting-markets-overtake-hockey\/\",\"name\":\"Esports Betting Markets Overtake A Major Sporting League\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-betting-markets-overtake-hockey\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-betting-markets-overtake-hockey\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-22-at-10.41.22-PM.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-23T02:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-18T19:53:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Esports betting markets are growing, with Pinnacle saying its own outstripped hockey by 10 percent in 2016, a major achievement.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-betting-markets-overtake-hockey\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-betting-markets-overtake-hockey\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-betting-markets-overtake-hockey\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-22-at-10.41.22-PM.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-22-at-10.41.22-PM.png\",\"width\":812,\"height\":459,\"caption\":\"With esports events regularly filling arenas, it\u2019s little wonder that it is beginning to challenge traditional sports in terms of betting and viewing figures. 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