“People bet on e-sports the same way they would bet on traditional sports – through a sportsbook or online casino. As e-sports grows and becomes more popular, casinos will begin to see the opportunity of offering e-sports betting lines and inviting that volume of interest to gamble on tournaments.”

New Jersey is leading the way for sports betting in the United States after it won a US Supreme Court case in May last year that would allow all states to offer sports betting if they choose to do so.

The gambling green light has seen a flood of online casinos sweeping the internet, with NJGames’ role being as a consultant for bettors seeking genuine betting agents.

Although gambling is becoming increasingly linked to e-sports, Unlu said he was confident the competitive aspect would remain the foundation of its popularity, while e-sports exponents will one day gain recognition among traditional sports fans.

“E-sports will survive as its own entity for many reasons,” said Unlu. “People enjoy watching e-sports without needing to bet on it.

“Eventually, I believe all traditional sports fans will embrace it. E-sports athletes are professionals with a certain skill that others do not have. You can look at billiards players, racecar drivers, dart throwing competitions as examples of athletes using their mental strength and concentration to exceed in a competition.

“In the end, people find all competitions without a predetermined outcome to be interesting.”

E-sports is now a billion-dollar industry with some tournaments offering more prize money than the top golf and tennis events, barring the majors.

Last year’s International Dota 2 Championship in Vancouver offered more than US$25 million in prize money with the five-member winning OG team from Europe sharing the US$11.2 million first prize.

The Dota 2 circuit also provides the best-paid e-sports athletes, with KuroKy (German Kuro Salehi Takhasomi) leading the way with US$4.1 million in earnings.

Team-wise, Europe-based Team Liquid have amassed around US$24 million in career winnings.

NJGames research says e-sports viewership in 2012 was 124 million, reaching 335 million by 2017 and expected to hit 557 million by the end of 2021.

Around 40 per cent of e-sport spectators do not actually play the video games they watch, which NJOnline says already identifies it as a spectator sport.

It says the e-sport audience is 62 per cent male and 38 per cent female. When it comes to age, more than half are between 21 and 35 years old.

The growth of e-sports has also seen the rise of online streaming services. YouTube was the first platform to take advantage of this market, generating almost US$1 million in the first quarter of 2017, with the game Fortnite the most watched title with more than 33 million hours of viewing time.

Specialty e-sports streaming services have since emerged, the main platform being Twitch Media – which accounts for 1.8 per cent of total internet traffic and boasts more than 55 million users. Twitch represents 43 per cent of all live ideo streaming traffic, more than any other platform, including YouTube.

E-sports next target is Olympics inclusion, although in its existing culture that is highly unlikely. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said in 2018 that violence-based titles have no place in the Games, and most e-sports games involve shooting or fighting.

Still, e-sports was allowed as a demonstration sport at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia and it will be a full-on medal sport at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in Manila in November and December.

Despite Olympic struggles, several major sporting franchises and leagues have set up e-sport subsidiaries. “The best example is probably Madden football,” said NJGames. “The NFL is already a very popular sport on the NJ online sports gambling scene. Just imagine the potential of its electronic version.

“The game has sold billions of copies, and currently there are 19 iterations of the game. Another great example is the NBA 2K series developed by Take-Two Interactive. When it comes to professional leagues financing competitions, the most notable case was the NHL Gaming World Championship that was held in 2018.”

NJGames says e-sports still faces a number of hurdles in gaining global recognition.

“Although there is a lot of money and interest involved, there are still opposing forces towards the introduction of e-sports into a formal sports roster,” it says. “Some say that there is nothing sport-like in them, while others have issues with the overall violence present in featured video games.

“There are more and more betting places that accept e-sports as a valid sport. There is no doubt that e-sports will only rise in terms of popularity.”