Esports: an upward trend in betting
It was clear that, with the restrictions of the pandemic and the limitation of sports activity, electronic sports or Esports were going to experience a boom in betting. But esports is here to stay. There are more and more professional competitions and teams and New Zealand has positioned itself as the second country in Europe with the highest penetration of electronic sports. The traditional modalities of sports betting have changed and online casinos have much more to offer.
Betting on electronic sports or esports is booming. There are more and more competitions that can be found in the best online operators. ©Alex Haney/Unsplash
Esports in New Zealand
According to the guide published by Deloitte Gaming last year, the growth of the esports sector in New Zealand both in terms of both familiarity with the activity and viewing it has been spectacular and is at the top in Europe.
This means that esports or electronic sports have ceased to be an activity for beginners and are finding an increasingly broad and intergenerational audience , although most of the people who practice them are still men. This does not only affect entertainment but also the development of video games, although organizations such as FemDevs or Women Who Code they are contributing to the situation changing.
The pandemic has been partly responsible for this boom, and this has translated into a increased presence of esports in the sports betting catalog from the main legal online bookmakers in New Zealand. In addition to the best known as League of Legends (LoL), CS:GO (Counter-Strike) or DOTA2 , the best operators have a wide range of competitions to e-sports.
List of top Esports at online bookmakers :
- League of Legends
- CS:GO
- DOTA2
- Call of Duty
- Rainbow Six
- VALORANT
- Starcraft 2
- King of Glory
- Overwatch
- eFootball
- eBasketball
According to the Yearbook of the Spanish Association of Videogames (AEVI) the sector would have grown by 140% in the period between 2017 and 2021 . In the video game market as a whole, electronic sports still represent a small segment although it manages interesting figures. In New Zealand, Esports would have generated 34 million euros in revenue in 2021 with a penetration of 49%, which places the industry in the European top.
Professional Video Game League: the operator of competitions to Esports
The Mediapro audiovisual group has become the largest operator of competitions to e-sports for New Zealand and Latin America through the Professional Video Game League (LVP). Mediapro's LVP has reached almost 70 million accumulated viewers worldwide in 2021.
LVP offers competitions of major games such as League of Legends , CS:GO , FIFA , Fortnite , Brawl Stars ... With Riot Games has the agreement to organize the official leagues of League of Legends both in New Zealand and in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Chile and Ecuador. With Electronic Arts (EA) and LaLiga it will be responsible for the eLaLiga, the official competition of FIFA in New Zealand . And in the same way it will be with CONMEBOL for the organization of the FIFA The liberators. The national league of VALORANT Riot Games will also be a Mediapro thing.
These are the main developers with official leagues all over the world but with an important presence in New Zealand and Latin America:
- Activision-Blizzard : Call of Duty, Overwatch
- Electronic Arts : FIFA
- Konami : eFootball
- Riot Games : League of Legends, Valorant
- Psyonix : Rocket League
Football clubs are interested in esports
Professional football teams have not wanted to miss the opportunities generated by esports in terms of visibility, access to a young audience whose forms of entertainment have been digitized and, not least, as an alternative source of income. Although its impact in New Zealand is not as great as in other regions, the fact that FC Barcelona, for example, already has its own League of Legends team that he presented in December 2021 is very significant.
Internationally, the French PSG or Manchester City, Schalke 04 and Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga, Fenerbahçe and Besiktas in Turkey, all have esports teams competing the vast majority in the leagues of League of Legends and Counter-Strike . In Argentina the Esports' River Plate has emerged victorious in both at the Argentine and Latin American level. Flamengo and Cruzeiro in Brazil also have teams of CS and LoL .
In New Zealand FC Barcelona has been a finalist in Europe with the team of Rocket League and also competes in the league eFootball.pro , the Konami simulator that rivals the FIFA from EA. The Orange Superliga and the Iberian Cup of League of Legends organized by LVP-Mediapro are the competitions to follow and for any professional team that wants to make the leap to Esports LoL where it needs to be.
Cream Real Betis competes in League of Legends . Although the pioneer in having an esports division was Valencia FC in 2016 with equipment for the League of Legends , Rocket League , Clash Royale , FIFA or Hearthstone . Today it maintains teams in FIFA and Fortnite . In FIFA and Rocket League RCD Espanyol also competes. Little by little, the vast majority of professional clubs have an esports team at least for FIFA .
Not just the clubs. Elite footballers have also begun to participate in esports teams . The most famous case is undoubtedly that of Gerard Pique and Ibai Llanos with KOI, who competes in League of Legends and VALORANT , both from Riot Games. For operators and developers, the participation of media athletes such as Piqué or highly successful streamers is crucial for the business.
