The video game industry has blossomed over the past twenty years or so to become the most lucrative strand of the entertainment world, and is now worth more alone than the film and music communities put together. Benefitting hugely from the surge in new technologies that allow for the boundaries and landscapes to evolve and grow seemingly every year, gaming offers its fans the opportunity to escape from the real world in truly unique ways.
With more and more money being injected into the industry, it’s no surprise to learn that playing video games professionally for a living has become more and more commonplace within the gaming world. One of the best ways of supporting yourself in the gaming community is by competing in events and tournaments hosted at various skill levels right across the world. From Fortnite to Fifa, these tournaments are often backed by some of the biggest companies in the world such as Intel, Coca-Cola, Beko and SecretLab and can carry prize pools that reach into the tens of millions.
With the stakes so high and the action so fiercely competitive, betting on these tournaments has increasingly become a popular pastime for gaming enthusiasts over the years, however knowing where to start and where your money should be going can be a tough thing to get right every time. Here are some of the best tips for betting on gaming tournaments of all levels.
Narrow In Your Focus
One of the first and most common mistakes people make when betting on anything related to gaming is simply assuming competitive gaming, known in the industry as ‘Esports’, is one single body. This is sadly a largely counter-intuitive way of looking at things. Just like how someone couldn’t ever realistically call themselves a real world sports expert, Esports is really just an umbrella term used to group up an industry that is made up of dozens upon dozens of different games and scenes, all of which boast very different nuances that only those inside can truly understand.
Before you bet on anything, make sure you pick one or two games that you’re going to dedicate yourself to and follow for dozens of hours before a tournament kicks off.
Once you begin to have a good understanding of the intricacies of the game, you can begin to hone things in even further by following certain players or teams that will be competing at an event. Just like with real world sports you would bet on, the more understanding you have the better, and better the odds are you’ll be able to stretch your winnings further.
Listen To The Experts
If investing hundreds of hours into a game by both playing and watching it isn’t your thing, there’s always the option of listening to those out there who have done the hard work for you.
Esports betting sites such as Unikrn.com are filled with experts who know how to make money gaming, and they often have dedicated tabs free for users to read through that are filled with tips ahead of the biggest upcoming events and tournaments. Not only are these free tips coming from industry leading experts, but these are often great tools to lean on for understanding different types of value wagers, identifying potential upsets and picking out the bets that will really stretch your winnings to the next level.
Follow Your Money
Once you’ve identified the game, team and tournament you’re willing to back your money on, the next thing to do is follow it.
One of the biggest appeals of Esports as a form of entertainment is the fact that it’s widely accessible and always free. Unlike other sports that are constantly being monopolised and shoved behind paywalls, every Esport event is available to watch for free on online streaming platforms such as Twitch or YouTube.
This has led to live in play odds becoming fundamental in understanding betting on gaming tournaments, with things potentially fluctuating wildly with sometimes even just a single moment of gameplay. Following everything to the second is not always possible with real world sports, but in the world of Esports it is an absolute necessity.
On top of this, in play odds can tilt entirely based off of certain decisions that are made in each game right before a game kicks off. Almost every single Esport has something like map picks or hero selections that bookies are expecting to be picked, so a sudden outsider pick from a team can swing things wildly out of control on the eve of a tournament kicking off. Whilst this is undoubtedly a huge opportunity at times to get ahead of the bookmakers, it is yet another example of how keeping your finger on the pulse right from the off is absolutely pivotal in making money from betting on gaming tournaments.
