Is Esports Betting The Way for Bookmakers to Connect With Millennials?
Published: Dec 10, 2019 - Last Updated: Oct 10, 2022
A short while ago, we looked at the topic of esports and how the industry provided an ideal opportunity for the worlds of gaming and gambling to converge. Although this article provided us with a broad overview of both the esports and, to a lesser extent, the esports betting community, it is something of a hot topic at present.
As Stepan Shulga, the head of esports at Parimatch, pointed out in a recent interview in iGaming Business Magazine, one of the key questions and dilemmas facing anybody with a real interest in the betting industry is “how to attract and retain customers from the generation of players in their 20s and 30s.”
Difficult to Reach
This Millennial generation has proven something of a difficult to reach section of the population and the reason for that is that the things which interested the generations before them, now no longer hold the same level of interest for this generation of people, who were brought up alongside the development of the Internet and digital age technology.
Just how have the tendencies of the Millennial generation changed? Well in years gone by, large sporting events would always draw the biggest audiences across the globe and would also see huge number of people betting on the outcome.
In 2018, there were 98 million people confirmed as viewing the Superbowl, which is the largest single sporting event held in the United States in almost every year. In contrast, the number of unique online viewers for the League of Legends Worlds final reached 100 million.
Those figures make stark reading for the betting industry, especially when you consider the percentage of millennials in each, with considerably fewer tuning in to watch the traditional sporting contest, whereas millennials make up a far greater percentage of those tuning in to watch the League of Legends Worlds, or indeed many other top esports tournaments, online.
Esports Betting is the Only Way Forward
It is abundantly clear that the fundamental aspects of betting on sports for the millennial group has changed and as such, betting companies have needed to address this. As such, esports betting is now gaining a far more important and distinct profile on many sites.
Indeed, there are a number of sites, such as Unikrn, betway esports, bet365 esports, BUFF.bet, Lootbet and more, where esports is given an incredibly high profile within its betting options, and in some cases, the site is solely dedicated to esports betting in itself.
There was a time when bookmakers only offered cursory markets for esports and in emerging markets, such as the United States, where esports betting is now only just starting to take off, that is still the case.
However, as Mr Shulga points out in his interview:
“the popularity and growth trajectory of esports is only going to increase. The value of the vertical has already been demonstrated, so bookmakers need not consider moving into esports as a ‘risky’ move. Its audiences are engaged, passionate and use new technologies, so bookmakers must carefully consider their approach in order to reflect this and thus ensuring they attract fans.”
In terms of connecting with the typical millennial for betting purposes, esports betting offers bookmakers a far safer bet than continuing solely with traditional sports. The world today is very different for a millennial or generation z bettor. Bookmakers need to adjust to reflect that and esports betting is by far and away one of the simplest and best ways to connect with this demographic.
Read also: Esports Betting Came to New Jersey But Will It Be Back?
Image courtesy of LoL Esports
Since: August 10, 2015
