In one form or another, gambling has always gone hand in hand with all kinds of sports and activities around the world. According to sources, wagers were even being placed in Ancient China on games of chance using tiles. The first recorded bookmaker was opened in the United Kingdom by Harry Ogden 1790s and from that point, there has been a progression over time from wagers between friends, to brick and mortar establishments, and modern online bookmakers. One thing is clear here and it's the fact that large numbers of people love to place wagers on a variety of events.

Darren Small, a sports analyst at Sportradar, suggested that the global betting industry is worth over $700 billion per year and these figures are continuing to grow on an annual basis. It's hardly surprising as placing bets is currently easier than its ever been. At football stadiums, evidence of varying gambling generations is present on a weekly basis. Physical bookmakers line the concourses as football fanatics queue to place pre-match bets on their team, while fans in the stands can be found staring at their phones and searching for the best in-play odds on a variety of betting apps.

There are a couple of issues that come to mind when thinking about the state of the current betting landscape, however. Firstly, the bookmaker still has a firm grasp on the market, and there's only ever one winner in that department. Odds are stacked to ensure that the bookmaker profits over time and punters simply have to put up or shut up. Progress has been made in this department with the addition of betting exchanges such as Betfair, allowing punters to back and lay bets against each other. The issue here is that it comes at the cost of commission charges on winnings, usually in the region of 5%.

ScorumBet has a huge amount of potential because it offers peer to peer wagering with no commission fees. That's a massive incentive for gamblers to sign up and start placing bets, especially in the case of regular bettors. 5% commission adds up quickly if you're placing a lot of wagers over time so not having to pay these fees is exciting for both the punter and cryptocurrency enthusiasts who have invested in SCR. Supply and demand is a wonderful thing when the demand is high and I am confident that it will be.

However, there is another market within which bookmakers and exchanges alike have failed to truly accommodate at this point in time and that's eSports. I first noticed the potential of this market when having a conversation with a roommate of mine a few years ago. This man and his friends were huge gaming enthusiasts. They would spend their free time playing a variety of games, watching other gamers play, meeting up in person to play against each other while having a few beers and food, arranging nationwide tournaments, and attending conventions. My roommate informed me that there are lots of bets taking place between friends when they're together to watch these gaming events. Betting on tournament winners is the main thing, but wagers were also being placed on competitors losing, round winners, group winners, scores, and all kinds of smaller markets. This was something that these guys did on a regular basis.

I went on to ask my roommate whether gamers were placing eSport bets with online bookmakers and while he confirmed that this did occur, there was a sense that the bookmakers hadn't fully adopted it. Markets were scarce, basic at best, and the odds didn't reflect the overall feeling of gamers around the world. Now, you may look at this as an issue, but it's also a big opportunity. The world of eSports is growing exponentially on a daily basis and you only need to look at the subscription numbers of YouTube and Twitch gamers to see how popular it's all becoming. If the betting industry wakes up and sees the potential of these markets then eSport gambling could become a major force around the globe. However, there is a sense that bookmakers, even the online versions, are not quite ready to cater to this demand.

That's where BetScorum could come in to play. By offering a wide range of eSport betting markets, Scorum could put itself in a position to become the biggest and best place for eSport bettors to meet and face off against each other. The 0% commission is already a great selling point and the fact that BetScorum is a peer to peer exchange means that eSport market odds would be dictated by the gaming community itself rather than out of touch bookmakers who don't seem to know what they're doing. Many gamers are very aware of new technologies so I wouldn't be surprised if there are plenty already aware of the blockchain and even invested in cryptocurrency projects. It's almost as if it's a perfect match.

My request here would be that the Scorum team takes the time to consider the eSport market within their vision for the future of BetScorum. eSport gambling is without a doubt going to become a thing of the future. Now is the time to take the initiative and place BetScorum at the top of the eSport gambling experience.