Esports Betting
Traditionally, betting customers only used to place wagers on horse racing and greyhound racing. It wasn’t until the advance of the internet that we saw a bigger gambling interest when it came to sports such as football, tennis and basketball.
However, we’ve now entered a new dawn where Esports can be found among the betting options when it comes to several leading bookmakers. For the uninitiated, Esports stands for electronic sports and customers essentially bet on the outcome of video games being played by either individuals or teams.
For example, LOL is a global video game which is also known as League of Legends. You will find professional teams who play this game to a very high level and compete against each other in various tournaments, with the prizes often being very big.
Betting customers can bet on the outcome of Esports tournaments and, like any other sport in the world, there are a wide selection of different markets. For example, in the Lines section, you might find an opportunity to bet on:
- Match Lines
- Map Winner
- Map 1 – Barons
- Map 1 – Dragons
- Map 1 – Inhibitors
- Map 1 – Towers
- Map 1 – Kills
A bookmaker will also offer customers the chance to bet on a selection of different markets. Among the most popular is Alternative Match Handicap, while you can also see Correct Score Map and To Win at Least 1 Map.
You can also bet on the various matches that take place between different Esports teams. For example, eStar could be up against Invictus Gaming and there are match odds available, while another match could see Team WE play against Rogue Warriors.
Bet In-Play on Esports
In addition to pre-match betting on various Esports, you can also bet In-Play on the outcome and that means fast-changing odds where you can try to determine the winner and other markets while the games are taking place.
We would generally recommend you have access to live pictures of the Esports game that you want to bet on if you’re interested in In-Play wagering, with many bookmakers offering free live streaming and that’s an excellent way of following the action.
In most cases, you simply need a funded betting account in order to access the live streaming and this service is available through a range of platforms including desktop, tablet and mobile.
The live streaming is generally high definition quality providing that you have a good internet connection and you will often get accompanying audio commentary of the Esports tournament so that you can figure out what’s happening and which team is in the strongest position.
What Esports Video Games Can You Bet On?
There are lots of different Esports games where you can place bets. Many customers like to bet on a professional tournament involving a game that they play recreationally and this is really no different to a golf player wanting to bet on a tournament involving the world’s best players.
LOL (League of Legends)This is one of the biggest Esports video games and it is described as a multiplayer online video arena game, with players assuming a role of champion that has particularly unique abilities. The aim of the game is to exterminate the opposing team's "Nexus", a structure that lies at the heart of a base protected by defensive structures.
In addition to this game mode, there are several other themes within LOL and that can include different objectives, rules and maps. By July 2012, League of Legends was the most popular game not only in North America and parts of Europe, while it also became the game that was most streamed across channels such as YouTube.
LOL is the most popular Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game, with several other games instead being First Person Shooters (FPS).
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO)CS:GO is the most popular First Person Shooter video game when it comes to Esports online betting, with players all over the world taking an active interest in playing the game themselves and it naturally follows that they want to bet on the world’s best when it comes to professional competition.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is actually the fourth game in the Counter Strike series, with the game involving two teams who are known as The Terrorists and The Counter-Terrorists. As the names explain, one team’s objective is to try and wreak havoc and carry out a number of missions, while the latter team have to try and nullify the threat of the former team in order to be successful.
There are a huge number of pre-match betting markets available for CS:GO, with To Win, Match Handicap and Total Maps among the most popular markets, while you can bet on the winner of Map 1 and Map 2, along with the Rounds Handicap and Total Rounds.
Dota 2Like LOL, Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game that has been developed and published by Valve. It was released in 2013 and customers can now bet on tournaments which take place such as the Thailand Celestial Cup, Red Star Cup, Hot Price League, Epic Origins League and China Professional League.
So for example, we might have two teams competing against each other. There are the customary Match Lines such as To Win, Match Handicap and Total Maps, while there is also the opportunity to bet on the first team to complete various objectives such as Destroy Barracks, Kill Roshan and Destroy Tower.