Betting on eSports, Is It Legal in South Korea?
Betting on eSports is a favorite gambling market that South Koreans engage in despite the limitations on betting activities imposed by the SoKor government. As it is, sports betting is legal in the country, only if coursed through Sports Toto. The latter was established and designated as the only legal betting site in the country as mandated under the National Sports Promotion Act. However, betting markets cover only sporting events held locally in South Korea.
Yet it cannot be ignored that South Korean esports athletes are highly respected throughout the global esports community. It’s also a known fact that the esports industry has contributed for decades in improving the economic conditions of many of South Korea’s middle-class families. This denotes that if an esport tournament is being held in South Korea, it’s likely that Sports Toto will come out with betting markets for the event.
Understanding the Betting Markets for eSports
Online sports betting sites are illegal in South Korea. Those who take risks by betting online do so by conducting diligent research, which starts with choosing a reputable online sportsbook. One that is popularly recommended is a major toto site that bettors access.
Keep in mind that not all sports betting platforms operating online are trustworthy, especially in South Korea The government’s National Intelligence Service has put out warnings that North Korea’s espionage division has been operating online sports totos to lure South Koreans, in order to find one to one furthering North Korea’s spying activities.
A deeper understanding of the different types of betting markets offered for esports tournaments, is also important. The mainstream markets include:
Outright Betting – This type of betting simply requires placing a wager on one’s prediction as the likely esports player or team to emerge as overall winner of a particular tournament.
Money Line Betting –This is another traditional type of sports betting as wagers are staked on the team forecasted as winner of a match or tournament. Money Line Bets are usually stated with a plus (+) or minus (-) sign. The plus sign is usually affixed to a bet amount stated for the underdo team since the odds of winning are stacked against them. Let’s say a -102 is the money line, it denotes that an esports bettor will KW202 on a KW100 wager if the underdog team wins. The KW202 prize constitutes KW102 in winnings plus recovery of the K100 staked as bet.
The minus sign, on the other hand is the money line for the team most favored to win a match. Since the probability of winning is high, a money line of – KW111 means a bettor has to stake KW111 to win a KW100 prize money if the favored team does win. Bettors who placed KW111 as wagers stand to receive a total of KW211 (retrn of the KW111 bet plus the KW100 prize money.
Handicap Betting – Also known as Asian Handicap betting, this type of bet considers the disadvantage of betting on the underdog, by giving the favorite a negative handicap. Here the plus sign denotes adding a specific number to the final score, as condition to the bettor’s right to reclaim his wager plus the prize money.
https://youtu.be/zZL76FRBsM0
In a similar but opposite manner, the underdog’s final score will be adjusted by a minus amount. That way, the positive effect of lowering an underscore’ s final score somehow evens out the chances of winning a wager staked on the underdog team.