Preliminary findings indicate that individuals betting on esports are younger, more likely to be male, report wagering on a greater number of activities, regularly play video games, and are more frequent esports spectators ( Abarbanel et al., 2020 Gainsbury et al., 2017a, 2017b Macey, Abarbanel, & Hamari, 2020 Macey & Hamari, 2019). The growth in the esports market has been associated with the increases in esports betting advertising and participation ( Abarbanel & Phung, 2019 Eilers & Krejcik, 2018 Juniper Research, 2018). The global esports market has grown dramatically, from revenues of $124 million in 2014 to over $900 million in 2018 ( NewZoo, 2018). Rather than betting on the outcome of traditional sports, esports betting involves bets placed on the outcomes of video gaming competitions ( Abarbanel, Macey, Hamari, & Melton, 2020 Gainsbury, Abarbanel, & Blaszczynski, 2017a).
Esports are organized video gaming competitions where individuals or teams compete in leagues and/or tournaments to win monetary prizes ( Greer, Rockloff, Browne, Hing, & King, 2019).
