Are eSports bettors any different from those who usually wager on traditional or more conventional sports? Is there something that sets these two groups apart? When it comes to betting, the answer is no.

Whether it’s a real-life match between two football teams or a video game like CS:GO, DOTA2, or League of Legends, the concept of betting remains the same. In fact, even in eSports driven by real-life events such as FIFA, betting is still just betting.

Read more about the best football betting sites in Malaysia.

So, it may seem unnecessary to distinguish between eSports punters and sports bettors. The best football betting sites cater to both groups of bettors, and the difference between them is minimal.

However, more careful consideration and a closer examination of eSports betting and traditional sports betting reveal that the bettors themselves are different. They are different both in terms of who they are and in terms of how they bet.

Demographically speaking, eSports bettors have different characteristics from traditional sports bettors.

eSports bettors are predominantly young, tech-savvy males who have a higher educational background and often fall in the mid to higher-income level groups. They are in their early 20s to mid-40s – both Millennials and Gen Zers and they have a thing for the cyber world.

Of course, they are internet and computer literate, they have a strong appreciation of technology and in the majority, they have good knowledge of eSports, either through personal experience (playing video games) or through closely following eSports tournaments and competitions.

On the other hand, traditional sports bettors are young to mid-aged people – males in their majority – with low to moderate income and a typical interest in competitive sports.

They are not necessarily tech-savvy and their enthusiasm for betting comes mainly from their desire to engage with the sports they are fans of or their desire to gain long-term profits by developing and leveraging betting skills.

Besides the demographic characteristics of eSports bettors, other distinguishing factors are the ways in which they place their bets. The way bettors wager on eSports is considerably different from wagering on real-life, traditional sports.

In eSports, punters look for different things when they want to obtain an edge in betting.

They don’t consider things like the form, shape, fatigue, or physical situation of athletes when making decisions. They don’t take much into account a player being injured or a player being in poor condition. It just doesn’t matter much to eSports, unlike the case of conventional sports.

They consider things like motivation, player experience, roster culture, and team composition more when they are looking for an edge in eSports betting. And they pay attention to issues such as roster changes or new players added, because they may change the whole dynamics of the game.

Another thing done differently in eSports betting is that punters don’t consistently follow the favorites just as it happens in traditional, real-life games where the favorites have generally pretty good win rates.

They know that eSports are very volatile and everything happens at the speed of light. There is always a new kid on the block and there is always a new player that emerges to shake things up, a new team that stands out quite unexpectedly, and a new favorite to watch out for.

So, there is always something going on in eSports- something that requires the attention of eSports bettors. Something that makes eSports betting far more challenging -at least from a dynamics perspective – than conventional sports betting.

So, there you have it. If we really want to set things straight, we need to be clear about it. eSports betting is different from betting on real-life sports and as a consequence of this, eSports bettors are different from traditional sports bettors.