The Low-Down on eSports Betting – How Video Game Punting Took the World by Storm

Remember when playing video games was something you would do alone, in your house, with no one watching?

Those days seem to be long gone for some. Nowadays, top-tier esports competitions can draw in massive audiences of excited fans. 

Globally known as esports, competitive gaming has quickly started to gather all of the trappings of major sports leagues – team drama, star players, sponsorship deals, global franchises, the works. Much like traditional sports, it has also spawned a thriving scene of punters wanting to make a bet. 

Whether you’re an avid gamer looking to turn your knowledge into some real winnings or a punter who wants to expand their interests, this article can tell you all you need to know about esports betting, how it works, and how it came to be so popular.

The Basics – How Esports Betting Works

Esports betting allows players to use online sites and sportsbooks to predict outcomes of competitive gaming events and win money based on the result. In other words, it’s just sports betting, but for gaming tournaments. 

The option to bet on esports is available on most sports betting sites these days. If you live in a country where betting shops exist, you can even make a wager there in person. Traditional sports bookmakers have been offering odds on major events for years, and now there are even sites that fully focus on nothing but video games.

Pretty much anyone can make a bet, provided they’re over the legal age of 18, of course. Remember – though fresh and exciting, esports wagering is still gambling. That means that it’s not always legal everywhere, and it definitely has some dangers and concerns. However, every country and state in the world has its own stance on online betting, so you’ll have to do a bit of research.

Provided you can legally bet in your area, the only thing you’ll need is an account with a bookmaker and some money to use as a stake. 

Finding a bookmaker is not that difficult – just remember to look for licensed, legal betting sites. There are literally hundreds of options these days – from old-school bookies to casinos that allow people to gamble on different types of casino games, as showcased on the Casinos Online website.

Once you’re set up and verified, it’s just a matter of finding the right bet to make. You can pick between dozens of games, various competitions, and even different markets that determine what you’re betting on.

Which Games Can I Bet On?

The availability of specific games on esports betting sites is not always fixed, unfortunately. The sites update their listings as the popularity of games grows and declines, which means the scene keeps changing all the time.

However, a handful of hugely popular games have spearheaded esports over the years, and they remain the most common options for real-money betting:

• League of Legends – Usurpisingly, LoL remains the most-watched esports game in the world by a significant margin. Although the popularity of MOBA-style games has seen a drop in recent years, Riot’s mega-successful title continues to enjoy a lot of attention, coverage, and wagering opportunities.
• Dota 2 – Valve’s own MOBA never quite reached the player base of LoL, but it certainly made one of the biggest esports scenes in terms of viewership and revenue. Dota 2 betting continues to dominate the scene.
• Counter-Strike 2 – The team-based gameplay and focus on cooperation and coordination of FPS games lends itself well to the betting world. CS2 tournaments tend to be events with the biggest prize pools and most dedicated fan base, which means CS2 betting has seen a lot of popularity.
• Valorant – Where most esports scenes develop organically around popular competitive games, Riot envisioned Valorant as an esport from the get-go. It enjoyed organized tournaments and events as soon as it hit the shelves, so it’s no surprise that it’s also big in the betting scene.
• Rocket League – Rocket League betting continues to dominate the charts in terms of betting revenue, even though the game itself is nowhere as big as some of the others on this list. The competitive scene of RL continues to surprise us with its longevity and passionate fans.

What Can I Bet On?

So what do players actually predict with esports bets?

‘The winner’ is the obvious answer, but sports punting can be a lot more involved than that, and esports are no different. 

With that in mind, most listings offer a varied selection of betting “markets.” You can think of them as the goal of the bet – they define the objective of the wager and its conditions for winning and losing.

Here are some examples of common betting markets found in esports:

• Match winner – These bets simply predict which participating player or team will win the relevant match. It’s the most common kind of wager and probably the market that comes to mind when you say the word ‘sports bet.’
• Handicap bets – Handicap bets are used to level the playing field between favorites and underdogs. They do so by putting the favorite at a disadvantage, such as giving them an imaginary negative score before the showdown starts.
• Outright bets – These wagers predict the winners of an entire tournament rather than a single match or game. Most decent betting sites offer odds for tournament winners. While knowing who will win a whole tourney is extremely difficult, it’s also a great way to win a big payout if you’re knowledgeable about the teams and players.
• System bets – Otherwise known as accumulators or parleys, these wagers take multiple bets and roll them all into one. For example, you make several Match Winner bets, and only win if all of these individual bets are successful. In return, you get a chance to win a lot more than you would if you made them separately.
• Game-specific bets – Certain types of markets are specific to a single game. For example, you could try to predict which team in a CS2 match will be the first to score 10 kills. A LoL player could predict which team will be the first to clear the Baron pit in a specific match. These wagers are arguably some of the most interesting because they relate specifically to the game you know and love, rewarding in-depth knowledge.

How Esports Betting Became so Popular

The popularity of esports betting continues to grow at a massive rate, and the market is projected to reach US$2.8bn in revenue in 2025. In fact, that’s a bigger growth than esports itself, signalling its break into the mainstream. But how did we get there?

According to most experts, the surge in popularity is down a few important factors:

• The growth of competitive gaming – Video game tournaments have been around since the 80s. However, they were always a hugely niche interest that would typically draw in only the most diehard of fans. Nowadays, they attract hundreds of thousands of viewers and spectators, signalling interest that was never there before.
• Gaming’s break into the mainstream – Video games as a hobby have reached heights that would seem unimaginable just a decade or two ago. They now make more revenue than even films or music, so it's no surprise that the overall interest in them has skyrocketed.
• Major events and organizations – Thanks to some of the factors we outlined above, esports tournaments started receiving a lot of attention (and funding!) from game companies. This brought on massive marketing campaigns, tie-ins between the esports scene and the game itself, and massive prize pools. All of this has contributed to a lot more players taking an interest in gaming on a competitive level.
• The rise of streaming and streamers – The most common way for people to watch esports is not live or on a TV – it’s on a stream. Not only are events broadcast to millions with top-notch production and presenters, but esports is also the focus of many popular gaming streamers, further driving interest.
• Involvement of major traditional sportsbooks – Esports betting started out as a niche interest that was only available on specialized sites, typically for things like in-game skins. Once massive betting brands with huge budgets and mountains of experience started getting involved, though, esports betting rose up to rival traditional sporting events.

Who Bets on Esports?

The hobby generally draws in two types of people.

On one hand, we have gamers and esports fans who want to spice things up and win some money with their knowledge and skills. In other words, people who have never made a football bet in their lives but saw some potential for excitement.

On the other hand, we have experienced punters and bettors who saw a new opportunity to have some fun and win some money. Esports scenes are hugely dynamic and have a lot of potential for surprising outcomes and long-shot wins. Skilled bettors know how to take advantage of this fact.

Beyond that, the demography of esports bettors largely matches that of spectators. According to some studies, this means that bettors are overwhelmingly male between the ages of 18 and 34 (around 85%). 

The most active markets for esports seem to be China and the United States, with the former accounting for over 35% of global esports revenue.

Legality

The legality of esports betting varies from country to country. However, we should note that very few regulators specifically mention esports or distinguish them from traditional sports. This means that the legality of esports betting depends on whether betting is legal in your country in the first place.

Importantly, licensed bookmakers are not necessarily only permitted to accept sports bets. They often also offer odds for all sorts of events, ranging from presidential elections to awards shows such as the Oscars. Competitive gaming does not need to be specifically mentioned by regulations in order to be legal and covered by them.

That said, we should mention that esports gambling does have a checkered past. Specifically, the practice of wagering using in-game skins (most notably in titles like CS2) was abused in the past because of its unclear legal status. Skins are not considered money by most legal frameworks despite the fact that they often have real-money value. This allowed shady sites to do shady things, such as accepting bets from minors.

That’s why it’s important to only bet with licensed, legitimate bookmakers. Even if your country does not issue licenses for online gambling, you should still make sure that the operator is licensed by a reputable authority such as the UKGC or the MGA. 

Conclusion – The Future of Betting?

Currently, 16 U.S. states expressly permit esports wagering through licensed sportsbooks, up from only 3 or 4 in 2020. Not only is the hobby becoming more visible in the mainstream, it’s also becoming a regulated activity, on par with traditional sports bets.

Although some are sceptical that there’s much potential for further growth, such doubts have been proven wrong time and time again. Think of it this way – if you told someone a decade ago that William Hill would be accepting bets on Counter Strike matches, they would have called you insane. Nowadays, the world’s most established betting brands are all competing for a slice of the esports pie.

No matter how you look at it, the future of esports betting seems as bright as the future of esports itself, and both have been growing exponentially for years.