To an outsider, eSports and gambling do seem similar. However, in reality, there is very little in common between the two, and the skill sets that players need for success in eSports versus casino games are different.
Online Casinos are not team sports. People enter this realm by themselves and come out by themselves.
Each gambler plays for themselves. Gamblers admit that part of gambling’s appeal is the idea of games as the “ultimate contest: the individual against the world.” When it comes to table games, a gambler plays against their opponents, not with them.
Online casinos offer many new games of the world’s known providers that are more fun than combat, and some of them actually encourage player cooperation. However, in professional gambling, especially table games, this is almost never the case. Gamblers tend to be lone wolves.
Gameplay, strategy, ideas and the entire domain is a different experience.
Many professional eSports players play in teams and are trained to rely on one another during the game. A huge part of players’ success is the ability to share information and communicate very quickly to regroup or change the strategy in the middle of the game.
This is something that is of no use to casino players and can actually catch an eSports player-turned gambler off-guard.
E-Sport players have an extremely impressive reaction time.
Researchers from the University of Nevada argue that eSports require high levels of physical coordination. Players have to make decisions in a fraction of a second, which means that oftentimes, they make these decisions unconsciously - their body acts based on years of experience. In a way, eSports have more in common with traditional sports than casino gambling in that they also require intense physical training, albeit unconventional.
These skills are of no use in professional gambling because none of the casino table games require a short reaction time (at least in terms of the body’s responses).
Bluffing, tricking and cunning. These are deep but nonetheless narrow differences between the codes.
Ian Andersen, a professional blackjack player and the author of the book Turning the Tables on Las Vegas, recommends numerous techniques that help a gambler disguise their skills at the table and fake their emotions to deceive the opponents. Researchers also recognize cunning and deception as essential for gambling.
In contrast, as much as eSports requires strategizing, there is no need (or time) for the deception of such caliber during the game.
There is 0 correlation between E-Sport and gambling success.
E-Sports can be a gateway to gambling from a psychological standpoint because the idea of betting is not new to eSports players.
However, when it comes to actual skills and technique, there is basically nothing in common between E-Sports and casino gambling.
