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Asia : A grey market to behold State of play : Esports betting report 2021
you are in , while the legality of esports betting also varies greatly .
STATE OF ESPORTS BETTING IN ASIA
Gambling and betting remain contentious issues for the majority of jurisdictions throughout Asia , with governments more often than not imposing blanket bans on the activity , including esports betting . That being said , there exists a sizeable grey market in Asia for both esports betting and traditional sports betting , meaning that the region should not be ignored . However , it should be noted that some of the region ’ s traditional sports tournaments have long been identified as being susceptible to betting-related match-fixing and integrity issues , due to the proliferation of unregulated bookmakers . Matchfixing and corruption has also flowed into the region ’ s esports industry and is impacting its growth .
Last year , global sports technology firm Sportradar said it flagged 160 suspicious matches in Asia during the course of 2020 , across all sports from football to esports . In its 2020 annual report , the International Betting Integrity Association also issued 28 alerts about suspicious bets on esports , up from just three in the prior year .
In 2020 , David ‘ GoDz ’ Parker , an Australian Dota 2 commentator , analyst and co-founder of Beyond The Summit , aired allegations that as many as 75 % of teams in South-East Asia are involved in match-fixing in some way .
CHINA
ASIA MAKES UP the lion ’ s share of global esports revenue and viewership , and the majority of this is driven by China , currently the largest esports market in the world by revenue and viewership .
As of July 2020 , it is estimated that China has 665 million gamers , 400 million of whom are esports fans . They were expected to generate $ 385m in esports revenue in 2020 .
And this growth has shown no signs of abating . By 2023 , the number of gamers in the country is expected to reach 878 million , making up one-third of video gamers globally .
It ’ s an industry that has seen such meteoric growth that the Chinese government designated esports as an official sport on 12 April 2019 , and had recognised ‘ esports operator ’ and ‘ esports professional ’ as official careers . According to China ’ s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security , the
country has as many as 100,000 active professional esports players .
Shanghai , the economic capital of China , has been positioning itself to
Esports titles popular in China
Honor of Kings , PlayerUnknown ’ s Battlegrounds ( PUBG ), League of Legends , Peacekeeper Elite , Dungeon Fighter Online , CS : GO , Cross Fire , Dota 2 , Call of Duty : Warzone , World of Warcraft
CHINA ESPORTS BETTING PROJECTION *
89.3m
2020
97.1m
2021
* Number of people ( in millions ) betting on esports . Data projected by selecting those in Newzoo ’ s esports audience aged 20 +
become a global esports events hub . In 2020 , it hosted the League of Legends World Championship , one of the biggest events in the esports calendar , and earlier this year broke ground on a $ 989.2m esports venue named the
DEGREE OF INFLUENCE
The country was one of the first in Asia to allow its universities to offer degrees relating to esports . The Communication University of China ( left ) teaches how to play , produce and promote video games , as well as covering esports tournaments organisation and team management .
State of play : Esports betting report 2021