Profiling the Esports Bettor: Evidence from a Sample of European Video Game Consumers [Journal of Emerging Sport Studies, 2024]

While esports betting is becoming a big business worldwide, scientific studies mostly start from an Anglo-Saxon perspective to understand the phenomenon and its users. In this cross-sectional online survey study, we therefore investigated the esports betting profile and motivations of Dutch-speaking, European adults playing or watching video games. We conceptually replicated the American esports bettor profile study by Abarbanel, Macey, Hamari, and Melton (2020) in Europe, assessed the robustness of the replication with gambling-behavioral variables and used an adapted version of the Modified Gambling Motivations Scale to unravel EU-esports bettors most salient betting motives. Our results reveal that the America-oriented esports bettor profile cannot be replicated in our European sample, making us question whether socio-demographics such as gender and age, and gameplay-related variables such as video gaming frequency are robust correlates of esports betting participation. Instead, our findings suggest that involvement in esports spectatorship and the breadth and depth of participation in other gambling activities deliver the most accurate predictions, and that esports bettors are mostly driven by intrinsically and extrinsically-oriented motives such as excitement, intellectual challenge and monetary gain. This study may form a starting point for future research into the measurement, targeting and regulation of esports- and gambling-related ‘at risk’ behaviors and audiences within the European Union.