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The majority of the US population is familiar with playing video games for fun. Kids probably spend way too much of their free time hooked to eSports games. Adults, especially young men are also known for their infatuation with competing against their buddies in the latest eSports gaming options. What has traditionally be though of as a leisure-time activity to kill some downtime between school or work, is turning into big business with lucrative cash rewards for a select few eSports’ players that have taken this hobby to a whole new level.
In a recent report on The Every1bets.com website, it goes on to explain how extreme eSports has quickly grown into a billion-dollar gaming industry. Much of this revolves around staged competitions, but an offshoot of this growing industry is the phenomenon of eSports betting. Citing a recent eSports competition in Sydney’s Qudos Bank A rena, the attendance topped 18,000 to fill the Australian venue to capacity. The three-day professional video game tournament known as Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) featured competition between some of the best video gamers in the world. At this event, 16 professional teams specializing in playing Counterstike:Global Offensive (CS: GO) from areas such as Europe, Brazil, China and the United Statestake aim at winning the lion’s share of the $310,000 total prize pool. This report goes on to state that individual games last fewer than two minutes and a tournament round consists of a best-of 30 format. Whichever team is the first to win 16 games wins that round and the team that wins two of three rounds advances on in the competition.
These five-man teams are not made up of your typical amateur gamer. Players are considered to be professionals in pursuit of cash prizes as well as individual sponsorships along with fame and glory just like any other professional athlete. Participants and their fans consider eSports at the professional level to be an athletic competition complete with injuries, doping scandals and contract disputes just like most professional sports.
More and more teams are being added to the World eSports Association according to this Every1bets.com report. It is designed to regulate activities across the entire realm of the professional gaming industry. Some of the biggest names in this association include Fnatic, Cloud9, and Legacy. Each team’s uniforms reflect its primary sponsors through the use of logos. Some of the biggest corporate sponsors include Audi, Dr. Pepper and Vodafone.
Identified as DickStacy in this A-Sportbook.com report, Australian gamer Oliver Tierney just turned 21 and he has been a professional for a little more than a year. He has played in any number of international CS:GO events in London, Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia and New Zealand. His team, Grayhound Gaming is schedule to compete in Dallas later this month. Tierney is one of the up-and-coming celebrities among the growing IEM fan base and he is widely recognized wherever he appears.As a result of the tremendous popularity of these IEM events, betting on the competition is also on the rise. You can find posted odds for the competitions at some of the top online sportsbooks At A-Sportbook.com taking action on eSports.
