It is arguably the fastest growing betting market in the world today, its players are household names in countries like South Korea and China and its top competitions have prize funds of multiple
millions of dollars and can fill football stadia across the globe. Yet for many, eSports remains something of an enigma.
That hasn’t stopped BetStars becoming the latest high profile betting site to add eSports betting to its list of options for its punters in recent weeks. In this article, we are going to explain what eSports are, some of the most popular games are, how you can bet on them and why you should be taking a closer look at them as a viable betting market.
What are eSports?
As many people will guess from the prefix, eSports are electronic games that are played by individuals or teams of players against other individuals or teams usually over the Internet (online), although in major eSports events, they are also played in venues over a Local Area Network (somewhat erroneously labelled as ‘offline’).
The advancement of the speed of the Internet, connectivity for a number of devices and the rise in popularity of Internet gaming in general, both on PC and on consoles such as Xbox and PlayStation devices, has meant huge numbers of people regularly play some form of eSports on a daily basis.
While almost any online game playable against other people from anywhere around the globe can be classed as an eSports, in terms of eSports betting and competitive eSports gaming, there are relatively few games that operate in this arena.
Let’s take a look at the games that are the most popular eSports games in terms of betting on eSports today.
What games are the most popular eSports played today?
One of the most popular games is League of Legends (often shortened to LoL) which is a Battle Arena type game where players teams battle it out against each other for supremacy using tactics and gameplay skills to achieve victory.
Another hugely popular fantasy-themed multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game that also enjoys huge popularity is Defense of the Ancients 2 (frequently shortened to Dota 2).
A similar game, though based more in the realms of space rather than fantasy is StarCraft II, which is another MOBA game , though set in a completely different futuristic setting.
Fans of more realistic gaming can enjoy Counter Strike: Global Offensive, a first person shoot’em up game which teams of players compete against other teams to eliminate the players and win the map.
These four games do tend to offer the vast majority of eSports betting on most sites offering this type of market. Although you can also less frequently find betting available on games such as Hearthstone, World of Tanks and the Call of Duty series of games.
What betting does BetStars offer on eSports at the moment?
At the moment there is betting available with BetStars on League of Legends, although it is highly likely that as the site develops its eSports offering, and more tournaments involving other 
eSports take place, that this will be expanded to cover at least the main eSports outlined above.
At the moment you are only able to bet on which of the two teams competing will win the match up as there are no other betting markets available on matches. That however may change as the site develops its eSports service over the coming weeks and months.
Is eSports betting worthwhile or profitable for me as a punter?
It is fair to say that eSports betting on BetStars is still very much at the formative stage and at the moment, the company is just starting to explore the full range of betting that is potentially available from this rapidly growing betting market.
That said, even with just a couple of bets available each day, there is absolutely no reason not to bet on eSports as you would any other sports betting market.
Many of the beliefs people hold about eSports about the results being easy to manipulate, players not trying, simply no longer hold. These are highly organised events with paid professionals playing the game. They would no more lose a game deliberately than a football player or jockey would.
At the moment, you can enjoy a little dabble in eSports betting with BetStars but it is certainly a market to watch as this is one niche market that is likely to continue to grow exponentially for many years to come.
