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Video gaming and poker were once dismissed as the pastimes of wastrels and no-goods, but the glitz of these activities is shared by well over 700 million people globally. That’s the regular sort of man and woman and not the cliched world view of people who love card games and esports. The number of esports fans alone in 2019 is 556 million, according to Newzoo, a marketing researching company.

In light of the growing popularity of the market, we have decided to explore a little-known side of these exciting past times: that they actually pave the way to higher education. We sat down and drew the most comprehensive map to esports and poker scholarships in the United States.

After studying the offer of 370+ colleges, universities, and high schools that provide varsity programs and poker education, we have put together a list of all the top venues that offer to help you along on your way to becoming a dab hand at poker, a dead shot in Overwatch, or the world’s best solo mid player in League of Legends.

What you will find in this blog:

College Esports Scholarships in the US

Today, there are well over 300 schools, colleges and universities all across the United States that offer varsity esports programs. High school esports is also shaping up as an important supplement of this education, with experts agreeing that much like regular education, talent should be nurtured in colleges.

As
the Lebanon
Valley University (PA)
puts it, the key to success in varsity program is to help players
“stay
ahead of the meta”

If
you are looking for the country’s top esports schools you have come
to the right place.
Around 376 of institutions of higher learning in North America are
now fully committed to creating exciting new opportunities for their
students to storm the world of competitive video gaming,
and varsity programs and scholarships are just a small part of the
equation.

The
number of actual esports players and school is much
bigger.
Tespa,
an official collegiate league for Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm,
Overwatch, Rocket League, and StarCraft II has a network of over 850
schools in the United States.

It’s
important to note that not all of these school offer scholarships to
their students. Tespa alone accounts for 30,000
collegiate esports players.
Estimated 70% of all college
students
are playing competitive video games, whether recreationally or with
the ambition of going pro.

Recommended
Universities with (Esports) Varsity Programs

Have you heard of Full Sail University (FL)? Well, this private university recently opened “The Fortress,” the largest on campus esports facility in the United States to date. Other learning institutions that are taking their esports very seriously include the University of California, Irvine (CA), which started with a modest scholarship offer for League of Legend ($5,610) and Overwatch players ($2,500).

Here are some of the other universities that presently run varsity programs and are ranked as some of the best esports destinations for would-be college students:

The University of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

The
University of Harrisburg (PA)
is quite keen on topping off their esports potential with valuable
expert hires in the face of
Joe “Joemeister”
Gramano who played professionally in the Overwatch League for
Philadelphia Fusion and former Team SoloMid and Team Liquid League of
Legends player Alex “Xpecial”
Chu.

More about Harrisburg’s varsity program here.

Robert Morris University, Pennsylvania

Robert Morris University (PA) is one of the first institutions to offer young adults an opportunity to hone their esports skills and pursue professional video gaming as a career. The League of Legends team goes back to 2014 and since that time, the University has expanded its ranks of gamers to Overwatch, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO).

More about Robert Morris’ varsity program here.

Georgia State University, Georgia

Georgia State University (GA) hasn’t waited too long to join the esports fray themselves. The university has decided to go the full Monty with its varsity program, providing scholarships to talented players who are keen on competing in the staple League of Legends, but also those who are interested in titles that go slightly off the main grid, such as Smite and Brawlhalla.

More about Georgia State University’s varsity program here.

University of California, Berkeley, California

University
of California, Berkeley (CA) is definitely committed to creating
a place where esports athletes can find opportunities to study and
continue growing in their video game of choice. The college is also
one of the best places to be a female gamer, as they run a dedicated
women’s gamer squad.

There is a
dedicated Open Play Gaming Arena which houses the growing esports
talent on campus and the team is not shying away from any League of
Legends challenge.

More about California Berkeley’s varsity program here.

Becker College, Massachusetts

Next on the list we have Becker College (MA), a school that has decided to become the torch bearer in Massachusetts, offering the first state scholarships for gifted esports players. With an yearly funding of $1,000 up to $5,000, students have an opportunity to do what they love, pursuing a career in League of Legends, Smite and Paladins.

Keen on finding out more? Check Becker Colleges’ esports program here.

Bloomfield College, New Jersey

Esports
are in full bloom at Bloomfield College
(NJ), one of the latest signées with
the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE),
the insittuion has quite some way to go before it build itself into a
powerhouse of competitive gaming, but the foundations have been laid.

Learn more about Bloomfield College’s esports efforts here.

Shenandoah University, Virginia

Shenandoah
(VA) is the latest instituion
of higher learning to join the esports fray. Make no mistake when we
say that the university is going the full distance, with the team
already having its own custom made logo to proudly emblazon players’
jerseys with.

Plus, Shenandoah is all about crunching some solid data as well. The university knows that the esports industry needs a new workforce, and SU is prepared to train it. Esports is an understandable first step. Jump to our “esports jobs of the future” section to get the latest stats on the industry.

Learn more about SU’s esports program and get a chance to apply here.

Cornell College, Iowa

Forget
League of Legends, Cornell
College (IA) is
mounting a powerful offensive across the entire esports vertical,
with the newly-inaugurated esports team showing interest in quite a
few titles out there, including: CS: GO, Rainbow
Six: Siege, Super Smash Brothers, Hearthstone, and yes, League
of Legends.

Having hired
professional coach Mayson Sheehan,
the college is prepared to storm some of the highest summits of the
esports competition.

Want
to be part of Cornell College’s efforts? Make sure to check out their
esports program here.

Esports Scholarship Investment Throughout the Years

Investing in esports scholarships has started timidly, but with the industry hitting an important milestone of $1 billion in 2019, and the flow of sponsorship money reaching $456.7 million over the period, more schools are eager to attract top talent and reap the benefits thereafter.

Today, North America offers the largest opportunity for college students to be part of a professional scene that is quickly developing and nurturing talented young men and women to participate. Some $32 million has been awarded in varsity scholarships since 2014.

The Updated List of Varsity Esports Programs in North America

Eligibility Requirements for Esports Leagues & Scholarship

Esports competitions have a very low-entry level in terms of age, allowing talented players to quickly progress and shape themselves up playing against the best and proving themselves as adequate players.

So
far as the eligibility age for actual esports scholarships goes, each
university and high school is entitled to dictate their own terms.
Refer to the list of varsity programs to find out in detail which
schools out there offer great scholarship opportunities and what the
specific terms of each sponsorship is.

Esports Jobs of the Future

You probably haven’t heard about Lyubomir “Splendour” Kozlovski, a former Heroes of the Storm Bulgarian player educated in the United Kingdom who entered the esports fray in 2015. Then a fresh graduate, Splendour managed to secure his first victory with Natus Vincere in the 2015 HWC – Europe Championship.

Two years later, he had already earned $82,000 and was out on his way to land a job with a game development company, thanks to scientific and technical school and university backgrounds. To put things in perspective, HotS is one of the lowest-paying esports titles, but the segment is highly-profitable.

Esports Education for Girl Gamers?

While
female gamers still shying away from stepping into the limelight, the
audience is full with girl gamers and fans. Just like men, women love
to play games and if that was something unusual going back 15 years,
today it’s very much the norm. You would hardly see an esports event
where a discernible part of the audience isn’t female.

Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio has become the first all-girls school to create its own esports team, promoting competitive video gaming among teenage girls. This is the first such initiative with colleges and universities being generally open to talented players regardless of their gender. Yet, less than 5% of all collegiate esports players are female, even if on a management level the stats is improving quickly.

The Connection between Esports and Poker?

For all their whimsical sides, esports players have a lot in common with actual athletes. Science has proven that an esports player can develop the pulse of the marathon runner in the most intense battles and that nutrition and good regiment are a must to a successful career.

The same is largely applicable to poker players whose pulse is quickening every time the pot grows a little more. Proper mental and physical health has an effect on how well you can perform in a game of poker, whether you play online or at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). The point of intersection between the two activities is trading card games such as Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering.

Having a poker background has helped on at least two occasions, namely in the cases of Team Liquid’s Randy “Nanonoko” Lew and Adrian “Lifecoach” Koy who both used to play poker before switching to esports.

The opposite is also true, with poker pros such as Eugene Katchalov, Doug Polk, and Betrand Grospellier dominating both the felt and the digital world.

Can You Study Poker in Higher Education?

Knowledge
and poker go hand in hand. Iconic new players as Maria Konnikova
are the living proof that to succeed in poker, you need an analytical
mind and an academic approach to the game. Still, most of the advice
Konnikova gives, for example, has mostly to do with how much will
power you have to progress from a novice to a professional. This
raises the question, are there scholarships designated for poker
players?

We know that poker has been used to raise funds for various educational initiatives, but not necessarily to send people to school. The Anne Arundel Community College (MD) wants to change that but approaching the subject differently.

Instead of offering scholarships for poker players, the AACC offers players to train and become casino dealers, a profession that can pay as much as $50,000 a year, the college argues. The college offers a limited number of scholarships.

More about AACC’s scholarship opportunity here.

Not Enough Poker Scholarships? Try Magic: The Gathering

Poker scholarships are indeed not as many and indeed, you would be hard-pressed to find enough institutions that use poker to teach statistics, probabilities, and other valuable skills. True, if you pursue technical sciences, you will most likely pick up the skills you need to win at a game of poker, but there is a fun way to learn the game.

Have you heard about Magic: The Gathering? Yes, the trade card game. Before you get all dismissive, you should know that there are a number of players who have made a successful transition from MTG to poker, including WSOP bracelet winner David Williams (8,769,934), John Parker ($3,780,538), and of course, Phil Ivey (26,398,145).

All of them have been avid MTG fans and made the switch to poker for one reasonably significant reason – the cash flow was better. This may be changing, because MTG recently released a TCG online, allowing players to now compete for $10 million in 2019. This far beats Hearthstone for example.

Plus, a player can be making as much as $75,000 yearly just as part of his streaming deal. True, this is not quite yet in the same area of competition as poker, but it comes close. Plus, it’s spreading like a wildfire, with more tournament opportunities cropping up. Should you become a student of MTG? The choice is entirely yours.

Knowledge is Power

Whether you play competitive poker or esports, knowledge will be your biggest ally. You can change your fortunes by understanding the game, other than developing the right composure for it. More importantly, you don’t have to go out on a limb these days, as there are many opportunities to receive a proper scholarship opportunity to pursue both your poker and esports ambitions.