Top eSports Gaming Teams join to form Pro eSports Association

Over the years, we’ve seen multiple forms of online betting rise to the top. First it was online bingo. Then, when technology and bandwidths were strong enough to support it, interactive casino games rose to the top. Online poker was next, spearheaded by Chris Moneymaker’s 2003 WSOP Championship (stemming from an online satellite). Now, the crown is being passed on to eSports gaming, and the activity is finally receiving the professional attention it – and its players – deserve.

eSports are akin to traditional sports, except that the contestants don’t physically participate in the games they play. Instead, they control the movements of characters or avatars with a video game control. You know the ones – best selling massive multi-player online (MMO) games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty, League of Legends and Dota 2.

If you’re a Millennial or member of Gen-X, you’ve no doubt experienced some these games, either personally or vicariously. And if you happen to be an expert player, you just may be one of the top eSports competitors who travel the country, if not the world, to compete in lucrative MMO tournaments.

Or, maybe you love these game, but lack the dexterity to compete in such an adept forum. In which case you may follow the eSports gaming mecca via online betting sites. Either way, you may be interested to know that the industry has been elevated to a whole new level of honorable glorification.

Professional eSports Association is Formed

top eSports Gaming Teams form Pro eSports Association Earlier this month, it was announced that 7 of the United States’ top eSports teams have joined forces to form a new league called the Professional eSports Association (PEA). The new league has already begun preparations to kick off their first official season with CS:GO tournaments starting in January 2017.

The PEA – which includes leading eSports teams Cloud9, compLexity, Counter Logic Gaming, Immortals, NRG eSports, Team Liquid and Team Solomid – was built on the premise of bringing more benefits to professional players, as well as an elevated level of excitement to their fans.

“The PEA represents something new in eSports – an association of top teams running their own league and sharing the profits and the decision-making with the players,” explained PEA Commissioner Jason Katz.

“This has been the architecture of traditional major sports leagues for many decades, but it is a new evolution for eSports,” Katz continued. “This will allow us to finally build a stable, healthy, long-term environment for the players, the community, the media and the sponsors.”

The PEA’s first, 10-week season will see teams competing for a minimum $500,000 prize pool, with at least $1,000,000 in prizes promised over the first year. Much like the rise of online poker in the first decade of the new millennium, such pivotal proceeds should guarantee continued growth of the popular online betting mechanism for many years to come.

“This marks the end of the ‘Wild West’ days of eSports. The community and players want stability and dependability,” said Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne. “Leagues come and go, teams join them and depart, but with the PEA, the teams are making a long-term commitment to be here, playing for the fans, for the indefinite future.”

By forming an official league of this stature, players aren’t just ‘playing’ anymore. The PEA is turning eSports gaming into an official career, well beyond what professional poker players have ever achieved.

PEA league members are guaranteed to share an equal portion of their prizes with owners and casters alike, and they’ll even be privy to standard employment benefits, like health insurance, retirement and investment planning, etc.