Originally published on LinkedIn.

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Earlier this year we put our brains together and came up with 5 predictions about what 2021 would hold for esports betting. This ranged from game popularity with esports bettors, league popularity, hot items in specific regions and the slow return of offline play.

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🔮 Did we see the future? Did we miss the mark? Or did a new challenger appear and take us by surprise?

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🚗 Rocket League's rise?

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In our first Panda Prediction of the year, we predicted that Rocket League would cement its place as the number 4 earner for bookmakers.

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The game had already proven to draw in the attention of punters and the low barrier for literacy for the esport makes it a great step into esports betting for newcomers.

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The result:

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On the first count, we were proven wrong. The brand new FPS title from Riot Games burst onto the scene: Valorant. The game has taken the world by storm and for operators, it has leapfrogged all other titles outside the big 3 of CS:GO, LoL and Dota 2).

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Even without taking into account Valorant Champions, the final tournament of the game's inaugural year of competitive play, the game is already head and shoulders ahead of Rocket League.

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This isn't to discount Rocket League, the game is still very popular as one of the many esports outside of the big 3, and has firmly set itself up at number 5. With the brand new Rocket League season underway with a new format and expanded regions, there's plenty more room for growth.

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🇧🇷 Brazilian CS:GO to the moon

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Panda Prediction 2 for 2021 was that Brazilian CS:GO will continue to explode, spurred on by an incredibly passionate fanbase who always make themselves heard.

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CS:GO tournaments and matches that featured Brazilian teams took home notable portions of monthly bet volume on the game, particularly that of FURIA who are sponsored by operator Betway.

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The result:

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Brazilian CS:GO has well and truly ballooned to even greater proportions this year. 2021 has seen a proliferation of regional events for Brazil and South America fire up, giving locals plenty of B and C-tier competitions to be a part of.

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From the Supercopa de America, CBCS Elite League, FiReLEAGUE Latin Power and The IQ Option – there have been tons of local tournaments for fans and punters alike.

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There have also been the Gamers Club monthly tournaments which have been running for 6 years now and in what is a huge boon for the region, premier tournament organiser BLAST is running a dedicated competition for the region: BLAST Rising LATAM.

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When it comes to the numbers, for one country Brazil had a strong presence globally. Across the total number of CS:GO matches across all tiers this year, a Brazilian team featured in roughly 9%, which corresponded to about 9% of all CS:GO turnover for the year (give or take the tail end of competition this December).

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🇨🇳 Chinese League of Legends on top

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Our third prediction for 2021 was that China's domestic League of Legends competition, the LPL, would build on its strong 2020 betting performance and continue to be the leading competition for League of Legends betting turnover.

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The result:

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The LPL has done it again. Over the course of the year, the LPL stood head and shoulders above every other domestic competition.

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As noted in the Panda prediction, the high number of matches, coverage every single day of the week, the friendly timezone and how competitive the league is are all big reasons why the LPL is the turnover leader in League of Legends.

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In light of EDG's surprise win at Worlds and some significant reshuffles in the LPL offseason at the end of the year here, next year will certainly be one to watch.

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🇺🇸 The slow march of US regulation

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The entire industry has been keeping a close eye on the United States and the gradual, state by state process of legalised sports and esports betting. Some states like NJ have leapt out of the gates, while others such as Florida have been a bit more complicated.

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We predicted that should esports betting regulation come into effect in the States, we could see the likes of Call of Duty rise up through the ranks as a popular esport to bet on.

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The result:

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Legislation always takes a great deal of time to pass through all the relevant checks, balances, challenges and so forth. Some states have finally unlocked regulated sports and esports betting in the second half of this year and particularly over the last couple of months.

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The legislative and regulatory framework is different from state to state, so operators will be closely inspected how each state structures the environment they can operate in.

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For esports more specifically, it sits in a grey zone regulation wise: sometimes it's considered sports betting, other times iGaming. How each state classifies it has a huge impact on how esports betting can be licensed.

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Considering the Call of Duty League season finished up before many of the states were cleared for action, how it performs as an esports betting option remains to be seen.

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One thing to note for next year though is the meteoric rise of Valorant this year, and the strength of several teams from North America. Considering Valorant's strong performance thus far, it could have a leg up over Call of Duty come 2022.

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🎮 Return to LAN... for now?

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For our fifth and final prediction for 2021, we were still at the tail end of the pre-delta strain shutdown. The Counter-Strike Professional Player's Association had put a Return to LAN protocol in place, some domestic league competition return to the studio without audiences and the first offline Dota 2 Major in Singapore ran with some speed bumps along the way.

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We argued that the return to LAN across many competitions would give punters more of the entertainment experiences they are used to after a long period of online-only play.

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The result:

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The return to LAN for all titles has not been equal, and in some cases slower than expected. Top-tier tournaments have gotten back to regular programming, although up until the BLAST Premier: Fall Finals they were taking place without crowds.

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The BLAST event last month gave everyone the live event experience that we've all sorely missed, and while there aren't crowds at Valorant Champions in Berlin right now, there's still tons of hype at the event.

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With the return of LAN competition, many of the stream sniping challenges that come with online play are no longer relevant, although there are still challenges with the data disconnect in esports.

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Even though infrastructure for online tournaments at nearly all levels has been much-improved thanks to COVID, it will be a shame if online-only returns. Its fingers crossed from everyone in the esports and betting spaces that the latest COVID variant doesn't disrupt offline play, we'll just have to wait and see.

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It's been an absolutely cracking year for esports

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Greater heights for competitive play, new games, bigger prize pool and new viewership records as competitive esports and the world more broadly adjust to a new normal.

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Operators who have embraced esports with dedicated suppliers have enjoyed strong growth and returns from the vertical, taking advantage of the rapid pace at which the industry evolves and innovates.

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2022 is a new year and a new opportunity for operators to invest in the world's most nascent sport and entertainment medium. The best time to invest in esports was yesterday, the next best time is now.

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Get in touch with our sales team if you want to unlock your esports betting offering and cater to the next generation of punters.