Billions of dollars being wagered on the outcome of esports events. According to a new white paper published by gaming industry research firm Eilers Research, it is estimated that esports competition will wager more than $250 Million on the outcome of esports events in 2015. That amount is expected to exceed $23 Billion by 2020.

Part of the equation is fantasy esports competition and Eilers Research estimates 590 thousand paid actives for real-money fantasy esports competition in 2015 along with 1.72 Million paid actives for esportsbooks. Fantasy esports is similar to more common daily fantasy operations surrounding football, basketball, baseball, hockey, etc., where individuals may submit an entry fee and compete against others for predetermined prize pools. However, esportsbook wagering is akin to traditional sportsbook wagering, which allows people to place wagers against the house on the predicted outcomes of individual matches.

Eilers Research provides a “bull case” wherein 32.5 Million bettors will wager $42.9 Billion by 2020, generating $3.3 Billion in revenue for operators.

For some cruel reason, I keep finding myself in the position of being introduced to things in their infancy (often before they are even launched), dismissing them as stupid, and then watching them become unbelievably popular. This has happened to me at least three times. Each time I vow never to call anything stupid again, and then, invariably, it happens again. I’m not sure if there’s any lesson here other than a warning against arrogance, but I have one of those stories to share.

In early 2011, I had an opportunity to join forces with a company known as Justin.tv at the time. They were streaming platform company which was founded in 2006 by Justin Kan in San Francisco, California. Justin.tv launched a partner company in June 2011 by the name of Twitch.

In September of 2012, I made the hard decision to turn down further involvement with Twitch and continue my education in law enforcement. 

The popularity of Twitch would eclipse that of its general-interest counterpart; by mid-2013, the website had amassed an average of 43 million viewers per month, and by February 2014, it was considered the fourth largest source of peak Internet traffic in the United States Justin.tv was shut down as of August 2014.

“This is the right decision, go back to school,” I thought to myself. In September 2014, Twitch was acquired by Amazon.com for $970 million.

The future is extremely hard to see through the lens of the present. It’s very easy to unconsciously dismiss the first versions of something as frivolous or useless -- as stupid ideas.

"Beware of missing chances; otherwise it may be altogether too late some day." - Franz Liszt 

Wake up early. Show up. Learn how to think. Be genuine, but appear nice. Use envy for motivation instead of destruction. Do what you say you’re going to do. Ensure balance in every area of your life. Confront repressed thoughts immediately. Surround yourself with people who are better than you (but remember the thing about envy). Work out every day. Be good at what you do. Make money doing what you love. Have good friends. Never settle.

This is my personal recipe for happiness and success. I've changed the way I perceive life recently and it's taken me a very long time to realize life is really short. Be the change you want to see in the world. 

"This is no more a regulation of the internet than the first amendment regulates free speech." - Tom wheeler.