The idea of betting on World of Warcraft is not a new concept. It has been around as long as the game has in different ways. One idea that players have is to gamble on WoW arenas much like Runescape and other games. What if you could watch other teams in the arena and place bets on the winners?
What if you could challenge another to a duel and then place bets on who would win, would you enjoy that? It’s an idea that’s been tossed around time and time again in the forums by WoW players. Here’s one very detailed post from 2011 that goes well into it and how it might work but it’s definitely not the only one.
The thread describes very well how it could work and the comments that follow also show some of the negatives of betting on WoW arenas. These negatives could be one reason Blizzard is so hesitant to add features like this into the game, but it doesn’t stop players from doing what they want to do on the side. It only means they can’t do it officially in the game. You can still bet on the side or privately with your friends and other players.
Another idea that was tossed round is to bring casinos and gambling to the main cities but Blizzard is not interested in doing this. It seems they think it will be opening too big a can of worms for things to go wrong. However, there is nothing wrong with player-sponsored gambling, as we said above, so you can still hook up your own stuff.
Many players choose to bet on professional teams and pro arena matches. Again, when this is player-hosted, it’s fine. Blizzard just doesn’t want the liability of dealing with anything directly in the game like that and it would open the doors wide for scamming and spamming.
This is a lot like betting on sports in the real world if you think about it. That’s why they call gaming “esports”. Furthermore, the odds for the duel arena will be very similar to horse betting odds. There can even be a tournament where users can place wagers on the potential winner or the final line-up (a trifecta bet for example).
Some other sports that people really enjoy betting on are basketball, baseball, soccer, football, golf, well pretty much any sport with a professional team.
How do you feel about gambling on WoW arenas?