Here is a guide to esports betting. If you are experienced or inexperienced, then a beginner’s guide to eSports gambling with CS: GO, FIFA, Dota 2 and LoL should be an ideal read.
It includes all the best eSports betting sites for UK punters. In addition, our extensive coverage provides information on specific games as well as various bets that can be placed according to game type.
In a nutshell, esports betting is when you put money on professional video game sports. These are such popular games as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), Dota 2 and League of Legends. Being a supporter, you can bet just the same way as in the case of usual football or tennis matches’ outcome.
A Spacewar tournament held at the University of Stanford in 1971 is credited as the beginning of esports and it’s history can be traced back to the early 1970s. However, it was not until the noughties that this kind of sport started attracting attention from top betting sites in the UK.
Basic markets like outright winner and match winner started being provided by betting sites on the world’s largest esports events. A growing demand saw the introduction of eSports odds for more markets, more events being covered and the industry is still growing.
Esports platforms have risen in the status of and have been popular for many years, and it is now a serious business. A player can play alone or join teams like Team Vitality and Hangzhou Spark. These teams usually get sponsorships and are sometimes subjected to arduous training schedules. Training may involve grueling gaming hours on average of around eight per day, as well as stipulated dietary concerns and exercise routines.
Competitive players demonstrated their skills in about 700 contests worldwide during 2010. Currently, this number is in thousands as we have professional gamers participating in virtual and offline esports events daily. It is estimated that by 2024, the global audience for esports will be approximately 519 million people according to industry experts which will certainly trigger more tournaments and ever higher prize pools.
Of course! According to the law, gambling on esports is allowed for people who are 18 years old and above in conformity with the Betting Act 2005.
As a UK citizen, you have various UK-licensed and regulated esports bookmakers to choose from. However, it’s crucial that you only place your esports bets on sites which bear the logo of the Gambling Commission – this is a mark of reliability pointing out that the bookmaker has an operating license for United Kingdom.
One of the most reputable regulatory bodies worldwide, is the UK Gambling Commission which issues licenses to operate, enforces actions on companies not complying as well as ensures that the betting sites in Britain have a variety of responsible gambling features.
A large part of all e-sports betting markets consists of first person shooters, but with a wide variety of options in video game genres, there are many other types of games that you can watch and bet on. Among them are sports, fantasy and card games.
There are many exciting esports betting options, but some games gain more popularity and have regular events than others.
This article provides insight on some of the most popular esports games in the UK for betting.
LoL wagering has become very popular in the recent past. Two teams of five compete against each other in an attempt to outmaneuver their opponents and destroy their base. With more than 140 characters—also known as champions—from Aatrox to Zyra, there are a few combinations of teams possible.
It is not difficult to come across a LoL tournament as they have been organized all over Europe and Asia. The elite players of the game participate in League of Legends Annual World Championship which can take up to several millions viewers from all over the world, thus many other tournaments for betting purposes are available on esportbetting sites in UK.
Counter-Strike comes in several versions including the original, Condition Zero and Source. But in professional gaming circles, the most popular version is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive which is often abbreviated as CS: GO. It’s a first-person shooter where two teams (the Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists) compete to kill each other while planting and defusing bombs.
Since 2002 the game CS: GO has been on a rise, which is why it was known as the Golden Age of Counter-Strike. This led to the development of various gambling chances in relation to betting in CS:GO that included some competitions like Counter-Strike Major Championships and S–Tier tournaments (such as events at ESL One Cologne or IEM Katowice) and A-Tier events (such as those organized by BLAST).
DAFABET, BETWAY and other esports betting sites host DOTA2 among its most popular games. This game is a creation of Valve – the same developer of CS:GO, Half Life and Left 4 Dead.
There are two teams of five players each contesting for supremacy in a game where they defend their bases. Dota 2 betting is increasingly popular, particularly during the time when The International begins. This is an annual Dota esports world championship tournament that currently has a staggering prize pool exceeding $10 million.
FIFA video games first appeared in 1993 on Sega Mega Drive and have since become the most popular video games ever, selling over 325 million copies.
For beginners, it is not difficult to get the idea of FIFA esports betting as it resembles normal football bets. Manchester City among other clubs have their own esports kits and they sign players that participate in top competitions like the FIFAe Club Series, FIFAe Nations Series, FIFAe World Cup and FIFAe Continental Cup.
In 2003, the first version of CoD was released. It was so popular a household name for a first-person shooter that it birthed franchises like Black Ops and Modern Warfare each selling tens of millions of copies across the world.
In 2008, the popularity of CoD gambling skyrocketed after Major League Gaming (MLG) organized an event of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in which a lot of people came to watch and it attracted massive media publicity. Currently, there are several things you could bet on such as Warzone events that are based on the battle royale game mode, or the Call of Duty League (CDL) – which is a league made up of twelve city-based teams from UK, US, Canada and France.
Rocket League is a futuristic sports-action game developed by Psyonix that combines football and cars. Rocket League betting has become extremely popular in recent times, as more than six million people from around the globe login daily to play this high octane game.
The inaugural Rocket League Championship Series, which happened in June 2016 had an inadequate prize fund of $55k – that’s nothing compared to the RLCS 2021/22 season with its $6m on offer. The leading platforms for esports betting receive bets on every regional event plus a major international tournament that assists teams to gather points towards the World Championship of Rocket League at the end of the season.
The thought of placing a bet when you are new to esports betting may seem daunting; maybe you’re currently unable to find the right competition or maybe worried about how not to bet on the wrong market, or because you don’t know how to bet on esports tournaments? Or perhaps you do not know whether use esports betting sites, play fantasy betting, skin/item betting and even social betting as ways of making stakes – but what is the best choice among them?
This is a guide on how to bet on esports.
Choosing the right kind of e-sport betting website is important as a first step. Some sites specifically target sports such as soccer, tennis or basketball and have few types of markets for the most popular video games. On the other hand, there are some which only focus on esports with several markets for over 100 games. The best bookmakers for esports you can find listed in our table above here.
Ensure you become a member of one of the leading e-sports gambling platforms because they feature all kinds of e-sport games such as Dota 2, League of Legends, CS: GO and any other competitive video game in existence. It’s an uncomplicated process to get into an e-sports betting site; simply provide your personal information while signing up. Afterwards, deposit money to your account then scroll down to where it says “eSports.” Choose an eSports bet then state the amount you would like to bet on it.
Early in 2016, the form of gambling known as skin betting was on top (according to one study, 92% of esports bets came through this channel) while nowadays it is less used due to widespread availability of traditional esports betting. A skin is a digital item that changes the appearance of characters. They can be obtained by playing yourself for in-game item drops or during special events, purchasing them from secondary markets and much more.
As soon as you have a few skins, they can be used as money in an esports betting site. You will be given your local currency equivalent if you hand over a skin with rareness and value – but sometimes the skin might place a straight bet. If the wager ends well, the skin is returned to you along with the winnings that could include other skins.
If you are a follower of mainstream sports like American football or basketball, then you must be well aware of fantasy sports betting. It has gained immense popularity in recent years; here, participants choose their ‘dream team’ by selecting players for different teams within the constraints of a budget. In 2018, an investigation concluded that 19% of U.S adults were involved with fantasy sports – which is around one out of five people domestically.
Apart from this, you can take it to another level by venturing into daily esports. It works well for games such as CS: Go and Rocket League. You select the players that would make up your ideal team, and then monitor their points over a day or weekend. If you score enough points or meet the given terms on an e-sports bookmaker website, you can be awarded some money.
Social gambling in esports refers to the act of making bets with acquaintances, relatives and friends on the internet. This becomes more helpful particularly when you want to bet a market without commercial availability so that you create yours.
You can have informal bets on social media channels, but many of the top esports betting sites will also set up a social betting pool for major events so you can easily bet against other individuals (and more safely). Stakes may be flexible and could range from fiat money to bitcoins or even skins.
The games in which you are able to bet on esports tournaments will determine the markets available. Nevertheless, only a few esport markets can be found across many titles.
The following are six markets that are often used for esports betting:
For such a bet that can remain relevant until the final whistle of a tournament, you might consider the Tournament Winner market. Put your money on the player or team that you think will win in the end. And if you go for the favorite, expect smaller odds but it is still a good bet for beginners of eSports betting.
Suppose you are muddled between a number of teams that might emerge the winner in a game or an event, but all your top choices are from one region, you can just settle for wagering on the region where the eventual victor comes from. Most likely, European or Asian teams have more winning records in a few games; hence it is another way to protect bets with multiple teams at once and increase odds of gaining reward.
The straightforward winner match market enables you to lay a fast bet on the next winner. This is the same as placing a bet on one football team to defeat another one. It’s important to remember that bigger esports betting odds will result from betting on an underdog.
At times, your favorite player or team’s odds will be so low at e-sports betting websites that it’s hardly worth wagering on them. That’s when handicap betting could prove handy. A handicap bet gives a fictitious advantage to one side.
In Rocket League, the underdog may be given a head start of one or two goals. This means that your chosen team must overcome this gap in order to win the wager. Therefore, if the opposition starts with 1-0 in their favor, your team has to be victorious with two or more goals so as to clinch that bet. The benefit associated with this is that it will enable you stake on the likely winners and secure yourself better online betting odds.
Like the NFL and other major American sports, there is usually an over/under market in esports betting. The esports bookmaker sets a line. For instance, you can bet on whether PUBG or CS:GO will have more deaths – above or below what the bookies have predicted as their number.
Predicting the first death in esports FPS games is often difficult although this kind of betting is still very attractive since it can be thrilling, and offers instant gratification. Just predict which player will score the opening kill in a game. Check out our esports tips on this page to improve your accuracy.
A major buzz has been going around about MOBAs and first person shooters in the world of esports betting, but it must be said that there are other exciting genres for all kinds of fans. In fact, what is interesting as far as these games are concerned is that they cross over multiple genres at once. There are six popular esports genres:
MOBAs are gaming titles that involve teams of e-sport professionals competing against each other. More often than not, this is done in a 5v5 configuration. So players have to communicate and cooperate as they aim to shield their own bases while destroying those of the enemies.
One should always be aware of the current metagame when betting on MOBA esports. Tactics and strategies change quite often, and those who do not keep up with them will seriously suffer in terms of their performance.
Top MOBA esports titles: LoL, Dota 2, Arena of Valor, Smite, Heroes of the Storm
First-person shooting games are games which take the perspective of the person playing them to shoot at other players. They are a staple of casual gaming as well as being popular among professional esports athletes.
In eSports betting sites such as total kills under/over, first blood and usual favorites like tournament winner, match winner etc, there are many types of FPS markets to choose from.
Best FPS esports games: CS:GO, PUBG, Apex Legends, Overwatch, Call of Duty: Warzone. The best first-person shooter (FPS) e-sports games are; Counter-Strike Global Offensive (CS: GO), Player Unknown’s Battle Grounds (PUBG), Apex Legends – a game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch and Call of Duty Warzone.
The game genre of battle royales really came onto the scene with the advent of Fortnite, which had approximately 3-4 million people playing it by early 2022. However, long before then, there were many high-profile games available.
Esport betting likes battle royale championships because of their attractive odds. With 100 players competing to kill each other, it’s hard for one to predict who will emerge the winner – meaning there is value even when backing favorites.
Best esports games where there is a last-player-standing competition include Fortnite, Apex Legends, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, Valorant and PUBG.
Some eSports betting games are turn-based strategy, while the real-time strategy genre enables gamers to play at actual time. It means that more action occurs rapidly with many unexpected changes which make it enjoyable for you as a punter and also open doors wide at leading eSports bookies for different opportunities.
In the RTS genre, one company that is common is Blizzard and competitive RTS esports have been around for over two decades. If you are interested in sports, which involve psychology and strategy, this genre may be suitable for you.
The best titles (Real Time Strategy) for electronic sports are StarCraft, StarCraft II and Warcraft III.
Esports are completely digital, however that does not mean traditional sports cannot be accommodated. Football, basketball and other fast-paced sports can all be played on games featuring a lot of actions.
Furthermore, there are also some games involving fictitious sports such as the Rocket League. Primarily, this refers to a football match where players drive jet propelled cars at top speed so as to smash the balls into their opponent’s goal.
The best competitive online game in the world: FIFA, Rocket League, Maden NFL, NBA 2K, Pro Evolution Soccer.
Card games are a fusion of everything that makes esports betting attractive: strategic thinking, mental ploys and unexpected surprises. This is why you will see many card game markets at the best esports betting websites.
Card collecting is a major hobby in some gaming communities, and this ensures that it will always be a prosperous genre. Games such as Hearthstone designed by Blizzard have gained large followings, even capturing the interest of some poker professionals like Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier who represents Team Liquid.
1. Hearthstone, Magic: The Gathering Arena, Shadowverse are the top-rated video games in terms of card esports. 2. The best card esports titles are Hearthstone, Magic: The Gathering Arena and Shadowverse. 3. Hearthstone, Magic: The Gathering Arena and Shadowverse are some of the best card e-sports on the market today according to reviews. 4. Card esport’s most popular games include; Hearthstone, Magic: The Gathering Arena and Shadowverse 5. They are among the best-selling online games in stores right now when it comes to card e-sports. 6. Among these card games that have allowed players to participate in the tournament mode for a lot of money is Hearthstone.Magic:TheGatheringArenaShadowVerse 7. In addition they have feature heavily in most tournaments where there is a provision for provision of cash prizes such as hearth stone magic gather arena shadow verse. 8. A few examples include; Hearthstone, Magic: The Gathering Arena and Shadowverse whereby users can participate in tournaments with huge cash rewards. 9.Card game containing most titles that allow you to compete for lots of cash has been one such example as Heart Stone.Magic:TheGatheringArenaShadowVerse
Indeed, while esports has had a few years to get its feet under the table, there are many gamers that shy away from placing wagers on them because their betting odds elude their understanding. The world-wide popularity of esports may lead to unfamiliar odds formats.
Esports betting sites in the UK use fractional as default odds format, while decimal odds are popular in Europe and American odds are standard in the US. Here’s a quick breakdown of how fractional, decimal, and American odds work:
So by now, you should have a good idea of the types of games and e-sports markets that are available to you. But how can you maximize your chances of becoming a winning player? Here are four advice for increasing your gains from betting on your beloved esport sport:
Upon signing up, novices are eligible to benefit from a welcome package that involves complimentary stakes and deposit rewards. When individuals join gambling websites that focus only on esports as mentioned above, they gain privileges in terms of promotions for using them when betting on electronic games other than sporting events. Look at the most current bookmakers in order to see if they are esport friendly.
Learning the meta of any esport game you want to place a bet is key to staying on top of the game. This means understanding how to play the best, including character selection, strategy and specific team dynamics. You must keep reading news and articles daily so that you are always aware of the latest meta before clicking odds and adding a selection to your bet slip.
If you are interested in learning about esports betting, Twitch is a great platform. Here, one can view all the popular streamers providing live and unedited videos where they sometimes chat with their supporters. This will give you unbeatable insight and it may be ideal for watching ongoing contests and events – keep an eye on in-play esports markets to take advantage of a swing in momentum.
Reddit is also an excellent source of information, with separate pages for each game. There can be millions of members in a single subreddit for CS: GO esports games. This place has lots of good advice on betting in esports. However, note that Reddit is an open platform and anyone can contribute; so trust only verified users.
From their modest origin, Esports tournaments are now the leading in terms of audiences and rewards.
Every esport game has its own major tournament. Some of the biggest tournaments in esports are the League of Legends World Championships and FIFAe World Cup.
The League of Legends World Championship, which is referred as the Worlds in LoL betting circles, is a battle between top teams worldwide for the 32kg Summoner’s Cup and a mouthwatering prize. The competition was established in 2011 by Riot Games, but since then it has been conducted in different countries every year; currently T1 Gaming group from South Korea have won this tournament three times.
Dota 2’s International is held annually as the world championship tournament for esports. In a bid to promote it, Valve Software, which develops and retains the game, organized its first edition in 2011. Specifically, the prize money is funded through crowd sourcing and The International has become the most renowned single event of its kind since it boasts the biggest sum among all other eSports competitions this year amounting to eight slots that increase annually.
One of the latest esports leagues to be set up in 2015 is ESL Pro League based on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), a renowned video game from Valve and Hidden Path Entertainment.Taking place across four regions namely Europe, Asia, Oceania and Americas, there were fewer contestants in Season 15 compared to previous competitions with only 24 teams involved. Every match is accompanied by odds through eSports betting websites on things such as winners in every season.
The FIFAe World Cup is hosted by FIFA and its presenting partner EA Sports; it is one of the oldest and most famous enough eSports tournaments on earth. Switzerland hosted the first tournament in 2004, although at that time it was called the FIWC (FIFA Interactive World Cup). The qualification system allows millions of players to participate with top thirty-two qualifying for the grand finals to establish the world’s best player of FIFA.
The Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) is one of the most anticipated esports betting markets at top bookmakers all the time. The world finals which are LAN tournaments and majors, as well as the qualifiers that every team has to go through before reaching these two levels, are held in different cities in the world each year. For four years now, this competition has been an event for many players from every continent trying to make points for the world finals plus for another major happening during a split.
The first Overwatch World Cup (OWWC) event took place in 2016, featuring national teams from all over the world. Each year since its inception the format of the tournament has been different, and the most recent edition had a preliminaries stage that offers five qualification spots into the group stages. At every November’s Blizzard’s BlizzCon, top-ranked teams from group stage proceed to a single elimination playoff bracket.
Since you are now well-versed in online poker, it is high time you set up an account with our top-ranked bookmaker and place bets on your favorite pro gamers.
This is valid if you live in a country that allows it and if you are old enough to do so. In the UK, for example, the minimum age for betting legally on games like League of Legends, Dota 2, FIFA etc is 18 years.
The best esports betting site should have a broad selection of games like LoL, CS: GO and PUBG, great welcome bonuses and highly competitive odds. We also anticipate a wide range of betting options such as bet types on more than just who will win the game or match.
Traditional betting and esports betting are very much alike. They both utilize the same odds, offer similar bonuses, and many bookies allow you to bet on both. However, there are certain differences in esports betting because it has its own games and markets for betting purposes.
B.One might notice that a lot of sports, including digital ones such as esports, are always accused of being rigged. Esports is not fixed; it is a real business organization. In order to enforce this, there are limits on bets. This means that it is impossible for officials to control results using significant amounts of money.
