How Esports Became the Fastest Growing Sport

With the Esports industry expected to surpass a global revenue of $1 billion this year, esports has evolved from a fun hobby to the fastest growing sport. It is no longer just a pastime favored mostly by younger generations, it is an industry that is attracting new demographics, sponsors and brand crossover opportunities.

The esports market revenue has tripled since 2017, drawing millions of players to enjoy the online gaming community that has been fostered. It has created huge job opportunities around the world and free streaming platforms unlocked the door for easy accessibility to anyone with an internet connection and a device.

We are now seeing life-changing prize pools attracting players who have the opportunity to turn their favorite gaming activities into a potential career. Dota 2’s The International reached a massive total prize pool of over $40 million, highlighting the huge growth that the esports industry has undertaken.

There are many different leagues for games like Fortnite and League of Legends, where players can turn their gaming skills into financial gains. New sponsorship partnership from major brands have been flooding in, with brands keen to capitalize on the lucrative potential of the sport that is growing at phenomenal pace.

A crossover between crypto and esports has also been firmly established, with one of the major developments coming from Riot joining forces with Coinbase.

Esports Betting Also Sees Huge Growth

The popularity of the esports industry has also spilled over into other areas, with esports betting also growing at a fast pace. With the crypto and esports convergence already forming, this has been further amplified by the launch of crypto esports betting sites.

The esports betting market reached $2.5 billion in revenue in 2024 and is expected to hit close to $3 billion when the stats for 2025 become available. This has grown significantly from 2020 when the global revenue was just over $1 billion, reflecting the great pace that the industry is growing at.

For example, bitcoin esports betting sites have claimed a large proportion of the esports betting market. Crypto esports sites offer a wide range of enticing bonuses to attract new players, many of the bonuses are significantly better than the ones offered on the non-crypto sites.

The thrill of following esports can be enjoyed to a further extent through the wide range of sportsbooks providing many betting markets across competitive games for the popular games like Dota 2 and League of Legends. Now the top sportsbooks are offering a large range of betting options to capitalize on the popularity of esports and the betting demand that it drives.

Over the coming years, the crypto casino industry is predicted to experience major growth and the crossover between esports fans and crypto investors will become even more prominent.

Crypto currency owners who value the benefits such as additional privacy and faster transactions will help to keep the betting industry growing, providing more options for payments other than the standard payment methods of traditional online casinos.