Introduction

Mobile gaming has been a revelation on every conceivable level of the industry. It’s revolutionized how many of us play games, seek out information about our favorite titles, and place bets on our most cherished sports. For an industry to truly break into the global conversation of sports betting, it needs to have several facets, but the most important one is a cornerstone name that can attract a mass audience.

This isn’t an anomaly for eSports betting; it’s the same with any sports betting market. Look at how Tiger Woods brought millions of casual bettors into golf in the 1990s, or Mike Tyson in the 1980s with boxing. There’s always a figurehead who transcends the market and pushes it toward a mass global audience. Professional video gaming and betting are no different, and the title that fits the bill in this instance is League of Legends.

Matching Consumer Demand With New Markets

Any professional video gaming tournament that garners international intrigue is bound to pique the interest of sports betting markets. Given that mobile technology has become integral to the rise of eSports betting and League of Legends remains the most popular mobile game on the planet, this combination is natural and presents a clear opportunity for companies to develop a derivative market.

As you can see, https://thunderpick.io/esports/league-of-legends – the number of betting markets for League Of Legends has swelled over the last decade or so. In fact, many tournaments and events that stimulate global unwavering interest have a betting market brimming beneath the surface. So long as millions of people still tune in to watch these events and tournaments, betting markets will be looking to capitalize on this phenomenal demand.

This is not an anomaly specific to League Of Legends. While League Of Legends might take up the most significant share of the market, other games, especially first-person shooter games like Counter-Strike 2, have been able to bottle up this market, as shown by the immense success of the Thunderpick World Championships. Ultimately, as long as there’s a market for these tournaments, there will be a betting market for gaming fans to explore.

How Did League Of Legends Become So Popular?

League Of Legends has a truly global market. Unlike some console games, which only focus on the European and North American markets, League Of Legends is hugely popular in several top global gaming markets across Asia, including China and South Korea.

Another critical factor contributing to the game’s immense success has been how the developers revolutionized the microtransactions market. When the game was first designed in the late 2000s, few designers in the gaming world deemed microtransactions necessary.

Console games were still the dominant force in the world of video gaming and marketing, and it wasn’t until the smartphone emerged and internet connectivity speeds soared that smartphones became a viable avenue for gamers.

While free to play, League Of Legends transformed how people spend money on their gaming experience. Turning the microtransactions market into its primary source of revenue resulted in a seismic shift for both gaming longevity and other gaming companies looking to capitalize on the revolutionary design idea.

The game launched at a time that allowed it to channel into this growing demand and accessibility. As companies developed a range of ways for smartphone users to use their devices 24/7, whether it was through the development of waterproof cases, mobile charging packs, or other items that meant people could access their smartphones for larger chunks of their day, sports betting companies picked up on this shift in the market.

Once these markets moved full throttle toward international markets and smartphone platforms, eSports betting became a major player in the gambling market.

Conclusion

Ultimately, League Of Legends showed a market for mobile gaming that could match console gaming. Granted, not all companies have been able to replicate the remarkable success of Riot’s landmark game, but given that it spearheaded such a huge new global market into the mobile gaming world, it was only a matter of time before an online sports betting platform looked to ride in the slipstream of this success.

It isn’t all down to League Of Legends’ success, though. Other landmark games helped propel the eSports industry and the professional video gaming betting market to dizzying new heights throughout the 2010s. However, they would not have been able to enter the market without the phenomenal, groundbreaking success of League of Legends.

Its popularity continues to this day, showcasing that even as a standalone market, it is more popular than some professional sports. With over 160 million people still actively playing the game in any given month, it is not a surprise that eSports betting has used the popularity and legacy of League of Legends as a springboard into the betting industry and created a whole new market for people to explore.