While sponsorship and advertising are widely seen as the largest revenue streams in the esports space, for years, the industry’s biggest money machine has been esports betting. The amount of money the competitive gaming fans spend on wagers each year is quite shocking and continues to rise, pushing the market toward a new record valuation.
According to data presented by Betideas.com, the global esports betting industry is set to generate over $3 billion in revenue this year, or 40% more than all other esports revenue streams combined.
Esports Bets to Generate 3× More Revenue Than Sponsorships and Advertising
The esports betting community, largely made up of younger, tech-savvy fans, has grown tremendously over the years. According to Statista Market Insights survey, the number of people placing bets on esports has quadrupled since 2017, reaching over 80 million in 2025. This massive user base spends a head-spinning amount of money on wagers, and thanks to the rise of user-friendly, innovative betting platforms, that figure continues to rise each year, further widening the gap between esports betting and other revenue streams.
While definitely not the fastest-growing esports segment, trailing streaming, media rights, merchandise, and ticketing, esports betting is still set to generate roughly 40% more revenue than all other esports revenue streams combined. And as if this statistic alone wasn`t striking enough, the difference becomes even more shocking in direct, segment-by-segment comparison.
With record-breaking revenue of $3 billion in 2026, esports betting will generate roughly three times more money than sponsorship and advertising. According to Statista, brands will fund teams, leagues, events, streams, and creators with just over $1 billion this year. The difference becomes much bigger when comparing esports betting to the rest of the market.
With over $3 billion in revenue, esports betting is set to generate roughly seven times as much as media rights, which are expected to bring in $396 million this year. Also, that is 10 times higher than the projected $295 million in revenue from merchandise and ticketing, and roughly 19 times higher than the revenue projections for publisher fees and streaming.
More than 4 Million New Bettors to Join the Market in 2026
Thanks to the growing popularity of competitive gaming, which attracts millions of young, tech-savvy viewers, and gaming platforms like YouTube Gaming and Twitch that make esports more accessible, esports betting continues to add millions of new users each year, and that trend won`t stop in 2026. While slightly below the 5-7 million annual user growth seen in the previous years, the market is still expected to add more than 4 million new users in 2026, pushing the total count to 84.7 million.
But the growth won`t stop there. In fact, Statista expects roughly 15 million new esports bettors on the market by the end of the decade, with the global user base reaching close to 100 million by 2030.