Esports gambling revenue set to double to US$14 billion in 2020
New research looks into the role of Esports in becoming a new driver for revenue in the iGaming industry
Esports gambling revenue is set to double from US$7 billion in 2019 to US$14 billion worldwide in 2020, reveals new research from global consumer research agency 2CV and market researcher ProdegeMR, as gamblers seek to shift spend away from other forms of gambling impacted by the worldwide spread of the COVID-19 virus.
2CV and ProdegeMR conducted a survey of 1,028 gamblers aged 18-64 looking at how the current climate, which has been impacted by COVID-19, is affecting gambling in the UK and the potential role that Esports could play in becoming a new revenue driver for the industry.
The survey found that 59% of gamblers have reduced spend in gambling, with 32% agreeing that they have actively looked for new things to bet on and 24% having already shifted spend on other forms of gambling. The most impacted form of gambling was sports – in which 69% of respondents said that they had reduced spend, whilst 54% stopped spending on sports gambling altogether.
The research also reveals a shifting interest among gamblers towards other forms such as Esports with 36% of gamblers having made a bet on Esports in the last 3 months, and 30% of consumers betting on esports having started only within the last month. Moreover, 22% of gamblers who have not tried betting on Esports before revealed that they will consider betting on Esports within the next three months, with the most popular forms being football, motor sports and tennis.
The most popular responses as to why gamblers are not already investing in Esports was that they needed more information (62%), Esports did not have enough sport-based games (45%) and the assumption that they were more inclined to being fixed (45%).
Moreover, 2CV and ProdegeMR looked at the differences between sports and Esports gamblers. The study revealed that the top reasons that betters were more inclined to gamble on sports or esports were due to the following factors:
- Ability to cash out: 73% sports; 67% esports
- Best odds: 72% sports; 62% esports
- Large variety of games: 51% sports; 48% esports
- In-play betting: 44% sports; 49% esports
- Detailed stats on players and teams: 40% sports; 50% esports
Martin Bradley, Research Director in Technology and Entertainment at 2CV, said: “By 2022, the number of esports viewers is estimated to rise to 644 million worldwide, this is up from 454 million viewers in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to many forms of sports associated with gambling being cancelled or postponed but is also a big opportunity for esports to get in front of this audience. Short-term growth is likely to come from sport-based games, but there are huge opportunities to make this more long-term, as long as consumers are educated properly on esports and what it can offer, as well as considering which kinds of events are best suited to a particular audience.”
2CV is a global consumer research agency with offices in the UK, USA, and Asia. 2CV is dedicated to delivering innovative research and understands that companies and brands need a fresh approach to insights. 2CV believes that research shouldn’t be about adding information, it needs to be about reducing the noise and breaking through the clutter. That’s why 2CV offers Breakthrough Simplicity through fully integrated thinking and techniques. From deep ethnographic immersion to advanced analytics, 2CV does the heavy lifting, editing, contextualising, humanising and storytelling. In short, 2CV sorts the details so that you can concentrate on the bigger picture.
