Betway, one of the leading global online gaming companies, has decided to dip its toes into eSports by launching a dedicated betting portal for games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, DOTA 2, Starcraft 2, and more. You can bet on events such as League of Legends‘ World Regional Qualifiers, CS:GO‘s 99 Damage Tournament, Heroes of the Storm‘s Enter the Storm Tournament, and so on. What is even more interesting than just betting on specific eSports events is that Betway offers bets on whether various video games will be part of the Winter Olympics 2030. Currently, Hearthstone (Free)is 99/1, DOTA 2 is 79/1, and CS:GO is 49/1. As the Eurogamer.net article explains, Betway’s Alan Alger explained that Hearthstone has well over 30 million players and is a growing eSports force. Many Winter Olympic sports don’t have a tenth of Hearthstone‘s participation figures, Alger noted.

According to the Olympic Charter, a sport needs to be widely practiced in no fewer than 40 countries and on three continents; I think it’s pretty safe to say that Hearthstone easily meets those criteria. Alger even said that the odds they are giving Hearthstone are probably far too generous as he thinks there’s a big possibility that a game like Hearthstone will make it to an event like the Winter Olympics in fifteen years time. While some might say Betway is just using Hearthstone‘s current popularity to draw the attention of a younger pool of possible customers, simply the fact that Hearthstone is in this conversation shows how far the game has come. Will it make the Olympics? Who knows, crazier sports have done so, so why not?