Betting on Esports: The Complete Guide

What Is Esports Betting?

For the better part of the last century, the sportsbook world was predictable: you could bet on football, basketball, baseball, cricket, golf, and a limited selection physical sports. For more information about petercasinoaustralia.com review our webpage. But over the past ten years, a massive transformation swept the industry: organized competitive gaming, known worldwide as ‘Esports,’ grew from a small subculture into a multi-billion dollar global industry. Championship events for games like League of Legends and the Dota 2 International now sell out massive arenas, attract peak concurrent viewership bigger than many major sporting events, and pay out prize pools worth tens of millions of dollars. The inevitable result of this explosion in viewership was the birth of a massive new gambling market: competitive Esports Betting.

The Major Esports Markets

Not every esports title generate the same betting markets. The most popular and heavily bet esports titles tend to be the games featuring the biggest professional leagues and audiences.

• CS2: The Most-Bet Esport: CS has consistently been the single most popular esport for wagering for more than ten years. Its short tactical rounds creates natural betting moments on every round, with bookmakers offering odds on every individual round, pistol rounds, and map winners. The CS2 Major Championships attract millions of viewers and betting volumes in the tens of millions of dollars.
• League of Legends Esports: The LoL Worlds event attracts one of the largest audiences of any esport, consistently drawing over 70 million concurrent viewers during Championship weekend. Wagering on the LoL scene is massive in Korean and Chinese esports markets.
• Dota 2: The Prize Pool Giant: The Dota 2 International is famous for its record-breaking prize pools funded by players. Previous Internationals have topped $40 million, built by the players themselves through in-game purchases. Dota 2’s biggest event creates incredible betting activity and is the centerpiece for Dota 2 bettors globally.

Esports vs. Sports Betting

Ultimately, competitive gaming wagering is one of the most exciting and fastest-growing area of sports wagering. If you follow esports, who understand the meta, team histories, and player skills, the existing game knowledge that new bettors cannot replicate. However, always apply the same strict discipline: never bet more than you can lose, study the teams and rosters, and understand the current patch meta before placing any wager.