What draws our attention in the crypto world is the diversity of Blockchain technological capabilities. One of them is online betting. If you are an eSport enthusiast and active appreciator of Blockchain technology, this article is putting the two together in the most contemporary way of eSport gambling. According to Entrepreneur (2017), eSports betting is a form of online gambling facilitated by electronic systems– video games. Human-computer interfaces mediate those systems. Newzoo a provider of market intelligence covering the global games, eSports and mobile markets– estimates global gaming market growth to $143.5 bln by 2020 from the current $116 bln. The market volume of online gambling is expected to reach $59.79 bln in 2020. This is a massive turnover of cash! Along with the growth of the gaming industry, eSports gambling will also accelerate outperforming the traditional betting.
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How many times have you tried to bet for your favorite team on the result of the game thinking about how trustworthy the platform being used is? With the rise of online betting platforms and digitalization of gambling, middlemen and shady bookmakers discourage trust in the increasingly blooming online gaming industry. Well, this problem now seems to be resolved.
Blockchain can take care of it for you
Online betting requires innovation in penetration, whether it is in eSports or any other form of online gambling, digitalization of the process must be fair. A team of dedicated gamers and gamblers based in Austria enables trustworthy Blockchain technology to take care of it which builds trust for many advanced online betters. Ethereum Blockchain technology is speculated to be one of the strongest ledgers which were selected by Herosphere – a transparent platform for online eSports gambling with the mission to get rid of middlemen by utilization of smart contracts which allows performing credible transactions without third parties. These transactions are trackable and irreversible. People are in charge of their transactions and they are assured to be rewarded for choices they made. So, what is it? According to company’s white paper, Herosphere is an online eSports betting platform based around a cryptocurrency called HEROcoin. HERO creates the token and the smart contract (usable for anyone) and uses its own platform Herosphere as the first use case for the token. Although HEROcoin can be used on Herosphere, it is not entitled to it, meaning a richer target group – much-expanded diversity of users. It is not limited to only eSports pooling- the built-in support is designed for third-party participation which can allow different predictions on any topic in the future.
The company has built the Herosphere platform before the ICO which is impressing as people behind it seem to be serious about the idea and are in full understanding of the fast-evolving eSport gambling industry. The ICO ended and HEROcoin (PLAY) is listed on Coinbene. Here is what we need to know about ICOs– Initial Coin Offerings are similar to IPOs– Initial Public Offerings, only shares are replaced by tokens. It is a way of fundraising to deliver company’s vision entrusted by people. In case of ICO, “shareholders” are general public (similar to crowdfunding concept). An IPO is more for finance savvy and backed-up by proper financial education people. In both cases, everything involves taking risks. Also, in case of an IPO, shares are financial securities, whereas, coins are the currency where the fluctuating exchange rates determine value.
The HERO tokens are still cheap compared to other online betting and eSports cryptocurrencies, but how long will this last? Media interest is just starting to build, and the token is just about to be integrated and established betting providers seem to show interest in bringing their service to a new level by cooperating with a working Blockchain solution. It is a good time to invest now in very likely anticipation of prices going up after media campaign kicks in and integration of token occurs in Q2 2018. Especially since it will probably be one of the first use cases on the Ethereum Blockchain.
Heroistic way to solve the problem- complete trust and decentralized gaming experience
From chaotic centralization to complete and trustworthy decentralization of eSports online betting by using the Ethereum Blockchain, Herosphere’s transparent record will allow users to predict events that occur in eSports games on www.herosphere.gg (as mentioned their existing betting platform with already over 230,000 registered users). Anyone who creates games on Herosphere will earn a special provider reward. All token holders are guaranteed a general reward out of all distributed prize pools. Game winners receive their respective part of the prize pool. Game creators are rewarded for their effort to create and manage games.
Let’s look at the other online betting platforms like ETHBet, Wagerr, Unikoingold, First Blood and Augur. All of the platforms have a standing profile. If to benchmark them, ICO performance would be a valid indicator. According to ICO Bench Score, Augur scores 3.6, First Blood- 3.5, Wagerr- 1.9, Unikoingold- 2.9, ETHBet– no info and HEROcoin– 4.3. Higher ICO scores might be due to stronger legal framework owned by HERO. HERO is the first legal ICO in Austria and, probably, in the European Union. Comparing the harder path taken by the team with solid foundation and legal framework, investing in HERO is promising payoffs in the future.
With the possibility for users to also use skins as a payment on Herosphere, they additionally participate in a $50 bln market with a further exponential growth to expect. Looking at the current success of WAX, for example, the HERO token seems to be just at the beginning of its potential when thinking of WAX recently hitting just a billion dollar market cap.
Paul Polterauer, the CEO and co-founder of Herosphere, says: HERO is an absolute pioneer regarding regulations on the topics of Blockchain and betting. Since they have closely worked with the Austrian administration and have sorted out all legal and tax questions before even listing their, it will allow them to purely focus on platform development and partnerships and deliver results on a fast pace.
It is exciting to follow HEROcoin, however, is it really a win-win position? As with all cryptocurrencies, it is hard to predict the real short-term value of HEROcoin but there is a promising background of motivated, well-organized team of people with a mission but time will show how successful HEROcoin will be. Also, societal adaptability of gamers to the Blockchain technology and transformation of eSports gambling might take a little while as it is a new thing for all 180 mln gamblers. As the Harvard Business Review explains, it would be a mistake to rush headlong into Blockchain innovation without understanding how it is likely to take hold. However, what good is that HEROcoin strives to pioneer the idea and allow the whole community to be in charge of the money flow where smart contacts create trusted and transparent processes. When thinking of the HEROs latest all-time high of just above $0.3, which equals to more than 15-times their ICO price and only trading yet at a relatively small market cap compared to other players on the market. Let’s see how fast the token price will go up with further development and partnerships of HERO!
