Research into the gender pay gap in Esports by BesteOnlineCasinos founds that female gamers earn 97.91% less than male gamers annually in the UK.
Gender Pay Gap In Esports
With over 3 billion active online gamers worldwide, esports gaming is becoming increasingly popular. These gamers are either creating content, participating in global online tournaments to win $40 million in cash prizes, or simply playing to unwind. Professional online gaming is seen as primarily a male-dominated sport with few female competitors at the same level in rank or earnings.
With this in mind, BesteOnlineCasinos compared the total earnings of male and female gamers worldwide to find the nations with the largest gender pay gap in esports.
Finland
The nation with the largest Esports gender pay gap in the world is Finland. Female gamers make just $332 per year on average, or 7 cents for every $100 they make compared to their male counterparts, who make $459,925 per year on average. That is a difference of 99.93 percent between the two salaries.
Online gaming is flourishing in Research Finds; three professional Esports players from the country rank among the top 100 highest-earning male gamers. Male Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka has earned more than $6 million, making him the highest-earning of those. Currently, there are no female gamers from Finland in the top 500, but there are ten female gamers from Finland in the top 500 highest-earning females. With a total earnings of just over $1000, Tuula Rantala, who plays under the same name, is Finland’s 502nd highest-earning female player.
Peru
Peru comes in second, with female gamers earning 99.62 percent less than male gamers. Female Peruvian gamers receive $0.38 for every $100 earned by male Peruvian gamers, while male Peruvian gamers earn $81,767 annually. This is 99.62 percent less than the men’s average.
Deysi Cori Tello, who goes by the alias “dey_2018,” is the highest-earning Peruvian gamer among Peru’s 20 female gamers. Steven “StingeR” Vargas, a male gamer, is the highest-earning player, earning in the Top 500. There are no female Peruvian gamers in the top 500 at the moment.
Malaysia
Malaysia has the third-largest gender pay gap in esports, with female gamers earning twice as much as male gamers in Finland. Female gamers in Malaysia earn $965 on average each year, which is 99.6% less than male gamers’ $242,565 annual earnings. However, Finnish female gamers earn twice as much as the average female, $965 per year.
Ramona Zaharuddin, also known as “GFI#,” is one of only 12 professional female gamers in Malaysia. She is the highest-earning female player in the country.
UK
Female gamers earn 97.91 percent less than male gamers annually in the UK, with female gamers earning only $2.09 for every $100 earned by male gamers. The United Kingdom is ranked 24th overall for having the largest pay gap in esports. There are 65 female players in the UK, four of whom have reached the Overall Top 500 Rankings.
A male gamer in the UK makes an average of $204,956 per year, while a female gamer makes $4,290.
Methodology
The following analysis of Esports earnings for over 21,000 players from 1998 to 2022 was carried out by BesteOnlineCasinos. Using relative comparison metrics like female earnings per $100 of male earnings and female representation, the study demonstrates a significant disparity in earnings between male and female esports players. There are breakdowns by country and year.
First, Esports Earnings provided the annual earnings of the top 500 male and female players in each country. Over 21,000 players with earnings between 1998 and 2022 made up the final sample.
The following metrics were then calculated by aggregating earnings for each player by country and year: total earnings (for players in the top 500) and the average annual earnings of players in the top 50, as well as the total number of male and female players.
The results did not include countries with less than ten male or female players in the sample.
Results for Ukraine were removed due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and uncertainties surrounding players there.
Social Media