As eSports betting continues to rise in popularity – at present, the eSports betting industry is worth roughly $6.7 billion and it is expected to rise to about $12.9 billion by 2020.
More and more people are betting on eSports, and yet there are still no regulations on the matter. As a result, eSports punters are constantly subjected to betting scams and frauds, which not only affects their gambling experience, but causes serious bankroll difficulties as well. Curiously, all eSports betting platforms are subjected to scams, but skins bets and cryptocurrency bets are especially vulnerable.
In order to enjoy the ultimate eSports betting experience, punters need to familiarise themselves with all possible betting scams and learn how to avoid them.
The Problem With Skin Betting
Prior to Valve restrictions, skins worth about $7.4 billion were placed as bets in 2016; that figure dropped to $550 million when Valve introduced the skin crackdown. Skin betting is available for a wide variety of games, which is also why the enterprise is more popular than eSports cash betting. Skin betting, albeit far less popular than it was before, is still a huge market in the eSports betting industry. But it is also regarded as the most problematic market.
What makes skin betting a unique form of wagering is that it does not fall in any other category within the gambling industry – after all, punters do not use real money when placing bets. According to www.casinoguardian.co.uk/uk-online-casinos, skins are digital items and as such do not hold any real value. And yet, players purchase skins with real money.
Contrary to expectations, when Valve introduced the skin crackdown, the skin betting market did not disappear – instead, it went underground like never before. Valve targeted skin betting sites, but those were actually the more reputable ones. Once the reputable sites were removed from the picture, scamming sites could finally thrive in this unregulated environment.
Even today, Valve’s website receives hundreds of reports of players who have been scammed. So, why bet with skins when the risk of being scammed is so big? Well, most punters have skins they do not use, and betting them seems like betting free money. Apparently, some bettors prefer skin betting over cryptocurrency or cash betting, as it is less unreal and does not make players want to quit after the first major loss.
Cryptocurrency Betting – A Safer Alternative?
When it comes to skin betting, there are simply way too many controversies for the mindful punter to want to participate. Taking this into account, more and more punters opt to bet on eSports using cryptocurrencies. But is cryptocurrency betting really a safer alternative?
On the one hand, cryptocurrencies provide an anonymous and decentralized way to bet on eSports, where skin betting once thrived. According to experts, cryptocurrency betting is a safer for eSports betting as it eliminates third-party intervention.
On the other hand, there are so many cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency eSports betting sites at present that it is almost impossible to choose the right means for eSports betting. And if that is not enough, we can expect a number of other fraudulent sites with their own cryptocurrencies to emerge in the near future. In such circumstances, betting on eSports at a reputable site will become harder than ever before. And if the market fails to appoint a king among cryptocurrencies, we might witness the downfall of cryptocurrency betting on eSports.
Another thing that should definitely be taken into account is the public that bets on eSports. Currently, the eSports betting market caters for teenagers and young adults; tendencies show the figures will not change any time soon. Further, decentralised and anonymous currencies should be taken seriously, and there are way too many eSports punters who refuse to accept that fact.
At present, we can not regard cryptocurrency betting on eSports as a safer alternative of skin betting. As a matter of fact, if punters refuse to act, cryptocurrency betting might never become safer than skin betting.
Integrity of eSports
Whereas the industry remains unregulated, measures to ensure the integrity of eSports are already being made. A coalition called the eSports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) was established in 2016. Basically, it is up to ESIC to ensure that all competitions are fair.
In an interview, the ESIC Commissioner commented that the Coalition has to face the biggest threads to eSports and eSports betting. Those are, cheating in order to win, hackers’ attacks aiming to either slow down or defeat an opponent, doping, and match-fixing, to name but a few.
If ESIC fails to eliminate the biggest problems the industry deals with at present, we can never expect a steady and continuous growth of eSports. Even though it is impossible to eliminate match-fixing, it is possible to reduce the practice significantly. Currently, ESIC aims to prevent match-fixing and other cheats by partnering with organisations like the ESL.