“Cassandra & Grubby during the award cere” (CC BY 2.0) by matthewwu88

With the news that “FIFA 17” matches will be broadcast live on TV by BT Sport, now could be the time for eSports to start pulling in huge audience figures and for eSport stars to become household names.

BT Sport is a major broadcaster in the UK, and they already televise Premier League, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League games. Now, they have added the remaining four EA FIFA Majors, which are part of the Ultimate Team Championship Series. Competitors will be taking command of their favurite football stars and battling it out on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles for a seven-figure jackpot and the title of FIFA 17 Ultimate Champion. It’s an innovative move from BT Sport, and if successful, others will be sure to follow and eSports players could start to profit from the same kind of endorsements as NFL stars such as DeAngelo Williams and the fame normally reserved for elite athletes.

Other Interested Parties

Broadcasters aren’t the only ones looking at eSports. The popular sites where you now find online casino games and sports betting see huge potential in eSports and are ready to invest big time. Just like eSports, the online casino industry is a product of our ever more capable modern technology, and the two seem destined to form an alliance that could change sports betting dramatically. Those that follow eSports are likely to have a natural affinity for the services provided by online casinos, and so sponsoring teams, individuals and events makes perfect sense. Yet this could be just the tip of the iceberg, as betting on eSports seems likely to become a huge industry for a couple very good reasons.

The first of these is that eSports present a level playing field. As the environment is constructed by game developers, gamblers should enjoy the facility to be able to disregard all the random factors that can affect sports betting and bet solely on the individual competitor or team. As well as betting on the pro eSports gamers, the second rationale for eSports and online casinos hooking up is that they should be able to provide the platform to bet on yourself in competition against a friend, foe or a random gamer from anywhere in the world. If you’re feeling cocky about your “Counter Strike” skills, why not put some money on it? If you think you’re a “Street Fighter” legend, soon you should be able to stake some cash on it too.

Growing and Growing

It’s still early days, but the partnership between eSports and online casinos should start to bear fruit soon, and there’s a good case for eSports becoming the number one leisure pursuit in the world. For many of us, playing video games is far more accessible than other pastimes, as all you need is right there waiting for you at home. Compare that to football, the most popular sport in the world, where you need to organise your friends, find a playing surface, construct goals, assign positions, bring a ball and hope the weather doesn’t ruin it all. With eSports being broadcast, the popularity is only going to grow as people can watch a contest take place and within a few minutes be signed in and playing the exact same game.

It’s going to be an exciting year for eSports, and soon, eSports stars will be all over your TV and attached to all the major free casino games sites. Time to start practising, because being the foremost sports star won’t be about your ability to kick, dunk or hit balls, but how you use a controller.