Vietnam All Set to Assert Its Position in Asian eSports via the 2021 SEA Games

In a 2020 worldwide survey report published by data portal Statista, Vietnam emerged as having the highest number of adult video gamers on a global scale. This doesn’t come as a surprise since the country has played host to numerous international esports tournaments. Actually, the Vietnam Recreational and Electronic Sport Association (VIRESA) launched local esport competitions sometime in April, in line with the association’s goal of finding Vietnamese esports athletes who will compete in the forthcoming 31st SEA Games to be held in Hanoi from November 21 to December 02, 2021.

VIRESA sees the SEA Games as an excellent opportunity for Vietnam to assert its position in Asia’s esports, being one of 40 athletic tournaments in which 11 countries will compete. The national esports association firmly believes that Vietnam is home to many strong esports teams and athletes, since the country’s representatives in several international events have attained remarkable achievements.

eSports was featured before, as a mere exhibition tournament in the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia. However, in December 2020, all 40 National Olympic Committee members of the Olympic Council of Asia General Assembly voted unanimously to include esports as a medal sport in the 2021 SEA Games. The voting was actually in response to gaming company Razer’s request to include esports, as the organizers’ original plan was to exclude the sport due to budgetary constraints caused by the pandemic.

Popularity of Esports Betting in Vietnam

It also doesn’t come as a surprise that the popularity of esports has also made it one of top betting markets in the country’s local sports betting arena. Although avid Vietnamese punters have to carry on with their sports betting activities as discreetly as possible. Mainly because the only legal sports on which Vietnamese residents can stake wagers are football, horse races and greyhound races

What’s more, even if the government of Vietnam has lifted the ban on sports betting via a 5-year pilot program, the country has yet to see its first legal bookmaker. As it is, sports betting in the country mostly take place online, although online gambling is still not legal as a gambling activity in the country.

Vietnamese esports enthusiasts simply access the betting offers of offshore betting sites, using mobile gambling apps and through virtual private networks (VPN), as an alternative to using the country’s public Internet. In fact newcomer vwin is fast gaining ground as a favorite sports betting site among the predominantly Vietnamese-speaking residents. The site’s betting predictions and betting offers are provided in Vietnamese language.

Actually, vwin is the designated Asian online gambling partner of Italian football clubs A.C. Milan Serie A and Club Juventus. Which is why the vwin mobile gambling app is also available in English, Chinese and Thai.