The first large scale tournament to be held was the Space Invaders Championship held by Atari in 1980. The event was held as a best man wins, the winner getting a subscription to the magazine Rolling Stone. Sure only in the modern day can you follow these events from anywhere in the world, but as far back as the 1970’s teams of professionals were competing in what were then the very latest games.īack in 1972 a group of students at Stamford University in California started a competition for the game Spacewar, they called it the ‘Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics’. In fact, these types of competitions are as old as video gaming itself.

The idea of people watching and betting on video game competitions may seem like something that has only come about since the advent of super-fast broadband. In this guide we will tell you the top eSports bookmakers, where to find deals, how to bet and what types of wagers are available, history and more. Many betting sites now provide expansive markets and even promotions for eSports. Either way there is a huge following of eSports, particularly in Asia, and this is certainly an upward trend that cannot be ignored. Whether you can class eSports as an actual sport is open to debate, many would say these are just games, then again similar things have been said about the likes of snooker, darts and other games of skill in the past. Over £50 billion is now wagered on eSports worldwide, and that isn’t exactly small change, putting the sport above a lot of traditional sports already.

These are commercially available computer games based around real time strategy, first person shooters, multi-person battle scenarios or virtual sports, such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Call of Duty, Star Craft II, FIFA and others.Įffectively any game that attracts organised leagues and fans also attracts the bookies to give odds on the outcome of the games.

Most commonly when we talk about eSports however we are referring to multiplayer video game events and competitions played between professional individuals and teams. This can mean any sport or game where the primary mechanism of playing is driven by electronic systems. ESports is still a relatively new term and refers to electronic sports.

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