With the development of esports, numerous local, regional, and world championships have been launched to thrill fans of Smite, Mortal Combat, or Call of Duty. Their prize pools start at a few hundred thousand dollars and reach tens of millions. Valve is obviously ahead of the curve with its record-setting $34 million for The International 2019. The Fortnite World Cup and the LoL World Championship follow it closely in terms of both popularity and huge wins.
It comes as no surprise that global and local bookmakers have already included major esports competitions in their selections. Some bookies have even chosen to focus on video games exclusively. GGBet, an emerging platform targeted at betting on electronic sports, illustrates the trend at gg.bet. However, even dedicated sportsbooks cover only big events, turning small tournaments and rising players out in the cold. Surely, advertising providers also don’t stand in line to sponsor battles with the participation of little-known folks.
So, many talented gamers lack the opportunity to earn money and reputation with the help of their gaming skills in the early stages of their careers. Though it’s kind of fair, holding smaller tournaments could be a nice support for novice gamers through both offering prizes and attracting attention to future big names in esports.
In this vein, crypto-powered tournaments created by gamers themselves are of the utmost interest. The new system will allow arranging something like friendly tournaments with fairly good jackpots (at least for beginners) and wider betting opportunities (with the involvement of crypto tokens). Such small-scale competitions can be completely independent or partially sponsored.
For example, one of the blockchain platforms launched a CS:GO competition that had a prize pool exceeding $2,000 in crypto and featured Nathan Schmitt (NBK), Kevin Susanto (Xccurate), and a couple of other pros. Fans could place bets with native tokens, while advertisers got their share of the audience via an online video platform. This win-win combination gives a perspective on what the future of esports betting might be.