Online gaming is more than a fad, it’s now a lifestyle. 

It’s a billion-dollar industry that has its own culture, language and internet ecosystem. It’s also an area of the online community that has indisputable connectivity to the world of online gambling.

For some time now, the online gambling industry has sought to lure in the younger market and as a great percentage of that market as spending countless hours on various online missions via the world of online gaming worlds, it’s only inevitable that this would be a way to get the attention of this youthful demographic.

Split-second reactions

Much of what goes on in online gaming, now one of the financial engines driving the internet as a whole, can be married to the world of online gambling. Both require, on occasion, split-second decision making as well as an analytical mindset that is relevant to both fields. Simply put. Both forms of online entertainment require a though process that requires a player to be adept at multitasking.

Online gambling has tried many ways to connect the dots between their industry and that of online gaming. The most commonplace is the act of ‘reskinning’ a casino game to fit a popular gaming title, something that will appeal to almost all users. This has expanded to entire gambling sites dedicating entire games to a particular game or character, and can review some of the reskinned games in here. All produced expertly to blur the lines between the two activities.

So, if the question is ‘are professional gamers also good gamblers’? Then the answer is not a black and white one. 

Gaming and Gambling: A match made in heaven?

While clearly all version of gambling should be used with the right level of moderation, and of course should only be directed and played by those legally old enough to enjoy them, it is worth noting some of the relative similarities between online gaming and online gambling.

Both types of online industries have an audience that regularly dedicates large portions of time ‘in the zone’ of their respective fields and both gaming and gambling sites/portals/games will drip feed a player with certain bonuses/rewards that entice the gamer/gambler to continue playing.

The reward structure is designed to elicit a response from a player that encourages them to continue on their respective quests until they feel they have reached the next point in the process.

The process of decision making involved in both is very similar, as are the relevant levels of enjoyment elicited by reaching a goal. 

Online gamers, especially those who have grown up within the internet age, are uniquely skilled in dealing with the levels of stimulation that are thrust onto the screen at any one time, as well as possessing (in the most part) the ability to decipher all that is going on, and then reaching a point where making the ‘right’ decision is almost second nature. 

These are abilities and traits that online gambling sites have skillfully sought to replicate in their site offerings.

Gaming attempts to morph more into gambling all by itself, it does so via micro-transactions, the ability to offer gamers new guns/avatars and suchlike in exchange for relatively small sums of money, all of which add up.

In many ways this is a sign that gaming sites are well aware of the financial power they could wield if they speak directly to their market in the way gambling sites are themselves trying to burrow into.

Be Careful

As a young gamer you are very much seen as a valuable commodity, by both sides of this divide, and as such you should always be vigilant to their tactics. Always game and gamble responsibly and be very aware that the amount you spend can rack up and quickly spiral out of control. 

Have fun, but know when to stop


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Last Updated: Aug 19, 2019

About The Author

James, a lifelong gamer, is a freelance writer who occasionally contributes to Ten Ton Hammer.

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