Bet365 hints at Farming Simulator market offering

There is no denying that the Farming Simulator series has taken the esports world by storm. With the recent introduction of the Farming Simulator League, with ten tournaments planned across Europe, wannabe farmers from around the world have taken to the stage to compete.

In a post from GameRevolution, they laid out how the prize pool is planned for the upcoming season:

Through the season, a prize pool of $175,000 (150,000€) is up for grabs, with an additional 100,000€ in prizes for the Farming Simulator Champion – equal to a total of almost $284,000 in prize money. Compared to previous Farming Simulator esports events – which had a prize pool of around $3.4K – agricultural esports is clearly becoming a more competitive scene than ever.

I know what you’re thinking and you’re right. $284,000? That’s the equivalent of not only a John Deere 8370RT Tractor, but you’d have enough left over for a John Deere 7980i Pro – Forage Harvester to boot! Madness!

Previous Farming Simulator events have seen prize pools of a poultry $3,000, so we’re definitely seeing a large surge in popularity which is skyrocketing as we enter 2020. Fast on the heels of this, Bet365 have teased that they will soon be offering betting markets for the title as it evolves.

The hint comes from Daniel Le-Grys, head of the esports trading team at Bet365, on Twitter yesterday in response to a sarcastic reply. After posting a list of different esports titles that Bet365 have covered so far this year, @Fliipp called them out for not covering Farming Simulator. The response was quite unexpected

Daniel went on to explain that they’d missed the first event as the format was still being decided.

It was always on our radar but just needed to figure out the format etc

After Bet365’s bespoke market offering for fans following the Fortnite World Cup, it’s impressive to see how quickly the sportbook is adopting new titles and markets ahead of the competition. Bet365 have been much quieter in their approach to marketing their esports offering, likely not wanting to deter their traditional sport betting fans, but I think we’re likely to see this ramped up over the coming months.