Exploring the effects of Gamblification on Esports Betting

Abstract: There is a growing trend of gambling/betting organisations attempting to secure a position in the fast-growing and profitable sector of Esports by becoming an inherent part of the sports culture and its community of fans. This alignment is raising concerns due to the community lifestyle and consumption of experience intrinsic in sports/Esports (Gordon, Gurrieri, & Chapman, 2015). Diffusion of gambling in society is triggered by digital/technological disruption on gambling and changing consumer behaviour and cultural trends. This environment offers innovative opportunities to experience gambling and “gambling-like” experiences online (King et al., 2010) with the extra incentive of ease of access and sophistication of audio-visual environments (Dean et al., 2016). The co-evolution sports/gambling is blurring the borders between sports, gaming, and gambling, triggering a “gamblification” process (Lopez-Gonzalez and Griffiths, 2018) which is widening the areas of sports where gambling activities/products have been introduced (Gainsbury et al. 2012). In the case of Esports, there are different forms associated with gambling/betting that relate to analogue practices such as sportsbook betting products and services or fantasy sports and new virtual items such as skins and loot boxes where the definition of gambling is blurred and obscure (Macey et al 2019, Gainsbury et al. 2014). Research Implications: This research argues Esports carries associated risks to gambling harm as individuals that participate in Esports gambling display higher gambling involvement than sports bettors (Macey et al. 2020). Furthermore, there is a wider range of gambling products available via multi-channels including loot boxes, skins, and virtual currency (Macey 2019)