Esports betting company Rivalry has released Rivalry Wrapped, its end of year report outlining its esports betting data from 2022 as well as trends and storylines going into 2023.
Amongst the findings are a 264% increase in VALORANT betting volume, an arguably unexpectedly large crossover with traditional sports and a rise in betting on mobile titles.
Rivalry is an esports-focused betting and technology company, based in Canada. The Rivalry Wrapped project is a new venture for the company and comes shortly after it reported a growth in revenue throughout 2022.
The bookmaker has an emphasis on internet culture-focused branding and content that it claims aptly fits the esports community — a natural emphasis, considering over 90% of its betting handle in 2022 was on esports, according to the Rivalry Wrapped report.
The report also states that the most wagered-on esports titles in 2022 were League of Legends, CS:GO, Dota 2, VALORANT and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), respectively. The first three — esports’ ‘big three’ —- accounted for 90% of Rivalry’s esports betting activity alone.
MLBB’s appearance on the list is more surprising, becoming the first ever mobile title to break into the bookmark’s top five. The majority of MLBB betting took place in Southeast Asia, Rivalry said.
Diving deeper into regions, League of Legends is the most popular game only in Latin America. Southeast Asia favours Dota 2, while Australia, Canada and the rest of the world favour CS:GO.
The most bet-on esports teams at Rivalry are FURIA, Team Liquid, LOUD, Red Canids and T1 — nothing short of three Brazilian organisations on the list.
Another notable highlight of the report is that while the vast majority of its betting volume is in esports, over 50% of customers in 2022 also bet on traditional sports. The most popular traditional sport on the platform is basketball, with football (soccer) and American football coming in second and third.
“2022 was an incredible year for Rivalry,” commented Steven Salz, CEO of Rivalry. “We have continued to extend our growth as a company, averaging 29% month-over-month growth from January to October, while our esports betting customer base has similarly increased in size and betting volume over that period.
“Rivalry Wrapped not only speaks to the specific direction of the betting segment, but also where the trends are headed in esports generally. This includes correlations we see between betting activity and viewership growth, just as you would in traditional sports.”
