Esports Online Betting 6,7/10 5942 votes

One of the biggest growth industries in the world of sports betting today is that of esports betting. If you’ve never heard of esports, we’re willing to bet that within a few years, you will.

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ESports Online Betting NJ. New Jersey is one of the states that enjoy relaxed gaming rules. Online and land-based sportsbooks are in plenty in the state. Notably, the facilities offer various betting activities, including eSports betting. Currently, the state has several excellent sportsbooks where you can enjoy the thrill of eSports betting. Betting online is the easiest and most convenient way to place your esports wagers. Not to mention, it presents an opportunity to earn extra bonuses and rewards too. Once you take all these advantages into account, this question answers itself really.There’s also the fact that betting online might be your ONLY option. Online eSports betting is the chief way that gamblers can get access to eSports odds. The best US esports betting sites all operate over the Internet from offshore jurisdictions, allowing them to legally take action from American bettors (and other international punters). A growing trend in the world of online gambling is esports betting. The rise of esports over the last decade or so has opened up this new avenue. Esports are now phenomenally popular all over the world, and betting on the outcome of the biggest tournaments in the industry will continue to rise in the coming months and years.

In this article, we’ll give you everything you need to know about the esports industry.

We’ll include how you can bet on it with an ever-increasing number of the highest profile and reputable bookmakers in the industry, as well as a number of specialist esports betting sites that are being formed.

Let’s begin however by examining the most obvious question which is: what exactly is an esport?

Best eSports betting sites for March 2021

What are esports?

The phrase esports stands for ‘electronic sports.’ It basically refers to a type of computer or console game that is played by an individual, or team of players, against other individuals or teams either over the Internet (an online game). It can also take place over a local area network (LAN). This is termed an offline game.

Of course, there are many games nowadays on PC and consoles that facilitate multiple players playing online from around the world, or LAN play. But what marks esports out as different from these games (such as the recently released Star Wars Battlefront) is that these events attract major sponsorship from companies. They also have a clear tournament structure and organisation.

As a result, esports events also tend to attract the best gamers in the world. Many of these are amateur players. However, an increasing number—especially in the Far East in South Korea and China—are professional gamers who earn a living playing in esports tournaments.

There are a number of games that are viewed as esports games. Some of the most commonly played include:

  • StarCraft 2
  • League of Legends
  • Hearthstone
  • Counter Strike: Global Offensive
  • Heroes of the Storm
  • Defense of the Ancients 2 (commonly shortened to Dota 2)

This list is not exhaustive. There are other esports available, though finding betting on esports not on this list is far more difficult.

As an online medium, esports has grown massively in popularity in recent years, not just with players but with viewers also. Many follow the events in a major tournament via the Twitch live streaming service. It didn’t take bookmakers long to realise that there was a potential for betting markets on this new and evolving phenomenon.

Do people really bet on esports?

At first, to a punter not familiar with esports, the idea of betting on a player or a team in a game on a computer or console sounds somewhat preposterous. However, esports gaming is now a fully regulated and worldwide industry. So really, it’s not as strange as it sounds.

With the growing popularity of esports, it’s a natural progression to go from playing to watching to facilitating bets. It is, after all, what happens with sports all over the world.

In the past two years, the esports betting industry has grown. There is an increasing number of companies offering esports betting. When you consider that 205 million people played esports in the past 12 months, it’s easy to see why people are eager to bet on their favourite games and gamers.

Many of the top online bookmakers are now offering regular esports betting alongside traditional sports offerings.

Can you bet on esports at the major online sportsbooks?

Yes you can. An increasing number of the major sports betting sites offer esports alongside traditional sports betting.

The list of major sportsbook sites that offer esports betting includes:

  • Pinnacle Sports
  • 888 Sport
  • Paddy Power
  • William Hill
  • Betfair
  • 10Bet

In addition, the newly formed, eSport-specific site Unikrn offers an extensive range of esports betting. At the moment in the UK, Coral, Betfred and Stan James do not offer esports betting.

How similar is esports betting to regular online sports betting?

Apart from the differences we’ve already outlined, betting on esports is exactly the same as making a bet on any other sporting event.

On any of the sites listed that offer traditional sports alongside esports betting, you make your selections in esports. Then you’ll select your stake and make your bet in exactly the same way as you would for a traditional sporting market.

Furthermore, once the outcome of your esport bet is decided, winnings are paid with the same level of expediency as a sports bet.

In terms of the mechanics of placing a bet on esports compared to traditional sports, there is no difference.

How is esports betting different to regular sports betting?

In truth, the only difference between esports and traditional sports betting is that in one you are betting on individuals competing in a computer game, whereas in traditional sports it is a physical or mental contest between two teams or individuals.

Of course, there are differences in how the odds for the markets in each are drawn up. Online betting sites will have their own experts within the esports industry. They advise them on which events to offer bets on and what odds to have the selections at.

Other than that though, there is very little difference between the two forms of betting.

How do I know that esports matches are not rigged?

Of course, one of the key considerations for any punter when dealing with a relatively new industry to bet on is how to ensure that competitions between two players are not rigged. You also don’t want collusion between the players to ensure that one wins and the other loses.

The reason why this is not an issue at the highest level of esports (where all the betting markets are focused) is that this is essentially now a professional industry. It has its own code of conduct, rules and regulations. The professional players get paid for results.

What this means is, just like a football match where one team is heavily favoured over the other, there is no incentive for the losing or underdog player not to try and win. Pride, their place in their chosen esports team, and the riches that comes from being the top esports gamers will ensure that at the highest level, every match is fought to the maximum of each player’s ability.

In addition, with so many gaming experts watching events on screen—plus a host of fans watching via live streaming services such as Twitch—if any player did ‘give up’ or collude to lose, this would be easily discovered. The player would be sanctioned. (And likely all bets on the outcome declared void and your stakes returned.)

Essentially, esports betting is as safe in terms of matches being rigged as any other sport you could consider. Indeed, given the issues some sports have faced of late, it may even be less of an issue in esports.

How do I bet on esports using my mobile?

Betting on esports via your mobile is simply a case of loading up any of the sites listed above that offer esports betting and logging in to your account.

Find the esports betting section on that site. Then click on it to bring up a list of current esports betting events and markets available.

Simply click on an event, make your selections and place your bet. It’s that simple. You can then even log in to Twitch and watch the match unfold on your mobile if you so desire.

Esports betting is seeing a massive surge in popularity and it’s not hard to see why.

Beyond the current global health crisis keeping everyone indoors, the increased number of esports available to bet on and the growing volume, quality and variety of tournaments being played have been major factors.

A few of the most popular esports titles you can bet on or play real money fantasy contests in these days include:

  • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO)
  • League of Legends (LoL)
  • Defense of the Ancients 2 (almost universally called simply Dota 2)
  • Overwatch
  • Call of Duty
  • Rocket League

On top of the esports stalwarts, there are also a growing number of “Sports Sim” esports titles building a strong following among bettors. That list includes FIFA, NBA2K20, the Formula 1 Esports Series and eNASCAR.

Best esports betting sites

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esports Betting Apps

If you’re looking for a betting app that offers regular esports betting markets of fantasy games, then the DraftKings and FanDuel apps are likely your best bet.

DraftKings (CO, WV, NJ)

New DraftKings sign-ups get $20 in free play when signing up for the Fantasy app (or $50 free for the sportsbook app), which is a great way to get some extra play to see what esports betting or esports Fantasy is all about.

The DraftKings app is available for iPhone devices; Android users can log in via a browser to access a very similar online site.

FanDuel (CO, WV, NJ)

FanDuel offers new sportsbook customers a risk-free bet when they sign up which, depending on how much you wager, can be worth as much as $1,000. New Fantasy app sign-ups can claim $5 free + an extra $5 on deposit.

The FanDuel app is available on Android and iPhone. Making a bet or entering an esports Fantasy contest is quite easy.

Esports fantasy games

Until standardized and consistent esports betting markets are offered across major sportsbooks, your most consistent entry point to esports contests for real money is via esports Fantasy contest.

Both DraftKings and FanDuel offer a growing range of fantasy esports games for its customers, including fantasy games for:

  • CS:GO
  • League of Legends
  • Rocket League
  • Call of Duty
  • eNASCAR (iRacing)

Fantasy esports games are legal in states that allow real money daily fantasy sports contests, which covers most of the continental US. Esports Fantasy game formats are comparable to Fantasy games offered for standard sports DFS and include

  • Guarantees (top finishers get share of guaranteed prize pool)
  • Winner-take-alls
  • 50-50 contests (half the field gets paid, other half doesn’t)
  • Qualifiers

Prize pools and contest volumes/variety are expanding rapidly across both platforms. Fantasy contests are offered around all of the major tournaments in global esports leagues.

DraftKings, for example, has committed to a $400,000 guaranteed League of Legends Fantasy Championship in 2020. To register a new account and begin playing esports Fantasy contests for real money, claim your start-up bonuses via the links below:

Where can I bet on esports in the US?

While licensed and regulated online sports betting is growing by leaps and bounds in the US, the majority of states still don’t have fully legalized online betting platforms. That obviously affects the range of esports betting markets you can find from state to state.

In West Virginia, esports betting is permitted but only if the players competing are confirmed as over the age of 18. Colorado recently launched its legal sports betting industry and allows for esports betting as well.

Nevada and New Jersey have both passed legislation that allows for forms of esports betting within each state, although there is yet to be consistent esports markets offered.

There are a number of states in which esports betting is still in somewhat of a grey area.New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island don’t specifically ban esports betting, but also don’t state that it’s allowed. Indiana however does ban esports betting.

Esports DFS, or Daily Fantasy, is allowed as well in licensed states with free-to-play and real money games offered.

It’s worth remembering that the minimum gambling age in most states that allow any form of betting is 21, although there are a small number of states that do allow those 18 and older to engage in some form of betting.

How does esports betting work?

Esports betting is simply placing a bet on the outcome of an esports match or tournament. It’s essentially the same as placing a sports bet — only the result of your bet will be decided by competitors playing one another on one of a number of popular esports titles.

As of right now, in states where esports betting is authorized and regulated (WV and CO), you are restricted to fairly standard bets, such as who will win the match or win the overall tournament. But as time passes and esports become more and more popular, more context-based bets that are available in other parts of the world for esports bettors are likely become available.

The following esports markets are offered most regularly:

  • League of Legends
  • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
  • Dota 2
  • Rocket League
  • Overwatch
  • Call of Duty
  • StarCraft II

There is also betting available across a range of other esports throughout the year, typically when the esport in question has one of its biggest tournaments taking place. This includes betting on the following esports:

  • FIFA (Soccer)
  • Madden (American football)
  • NBA2K20 (Basketball)
  • eNASCAR
  • Formula 1 Esports Series
  • Hearthstone
  • Apex Legends
  • Rainbow Six Siege
  • Streetfighter (and other fighting games)
  • PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
  • Fortnite

As the esports industry grows and diversifies, the number of esports you can bet on and the number of tournaments and matches covered by esports betting books will continue to grow.

Esports odds

Esports odds are set in the same way as sports betting odds, using a combination of:

  • Expert market knowledge.
  • Strengths and weaknesses of the players/competitors.
  • Complicated algorithms to come up with a price for any given esports market.

Currently, there are some stipulations in place for the type of esports bets you can make in Nevada (with similar stipulations in place for New Jersey). This includes stating that bets can only be made on the following esports betting markets:

  • Head to head
  • Winner of each match
  • Overall season winner

Additional wagers could be allowed in the future, but if a sports betting service wants to offer them, each bet type would need a separate application and approval from authorities.

In New Jersey, a bill for permanent authorization of betting on games of skill, such as esports, is still to pass through committee. Until it does, companies in the state will have to ask regulators to approve individual esports events for betting on.

Is esports betting safe and fair?

Esports Online Betting

Integrity is fundamental to any betting market, and the good news is that esports betting is as safe and fair as betting on any standard sports event.

At the highest level for all esports, the penalties are so severe for players deliberately losing games, or using cheats to enhance their gameplay (this can include lifetime bans, as well as clawback of earnings), that players are compelled to honestly try their best.

With play scrutinized by expert callers and millions of fans online, it is extremely difficult for players to play anything less than fairly. Furthermore, drug testing and player welfare systems are being put in place to ensure that all players adhere to the strict codes of conduct teams expect from their esports professionals.

Given the rigorous nature of esports and how tournaments are organized and run, you can be assured that an esports bet is as safe and fair as any sporting bet you would place.

League of Legends betting

League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game in which teams of five players select from a stable of “champions.” Each champion has a specific set of skills that the individual players can use in the game to help their team to victory.

As the teams battle in the game, players can earn gold for performing certain tasks, which they can use to purchase enhancements, items and abilities to help their team’s chances of success.

  • Top LoL tournaments: LoL World Championships, Spring Split, Summer Split (LCK, LPL, LCS and LEC), Mid-Season Invitational.
  • Top LoL teams: FunPlus Phoenix, G2 Esports, SKT Telecom T1, Invictus Gaming, Griffin, Fnatic, Damwon Gaming, Royal Never Give Up, Team Liquid, Flash Wolves.

Read our full breakdown of League of Legends betting and DFS here:

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive betting

CS:GO is a first-person perspective shooter where teams of five players compete against each other to either:

  • Complete a goal (or stop a team completing a goal).
  • Claim victory by eliminating all opposition team members from the map (which is the term often used to describe one round of CS:GO gaming).

Top CS:GO tournaments:

  • ESL One Events
  • CS:GO Major Championship
  • Major Events
  • BLAST Premier Events
  • Intel Extreme Masters
  • ESL Pro League
  • Flashpoint

Top CS:GO teams: Astralis, Natus Vincere, mousesports, Fnatic, G2 Esports, Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, FaZe Clan, 100 Thieves, MAD Lions.

Esports Online Betting Games

Dota 2 betting

Dota 2 is very similar to League of Legends in that it is a MOBA game that features teams of five players. As in League of Legends, the aim of the team is to outwit and defeat its opponent on the map.

Players get to pick from a collection of 119 “heroes” available to each team at the start of the game, all of which have their own skills and abilities that they can use to help their team or hinder their opponents.

  • Top Dota 2 tournaments: The International, Dota Pro Circuit, Dota 2 Majors, DreamLeague, ESL One, EPICENTER, ONE Esports Majors, MDL Majors.
  • Top Dota 2 teams: Team Secret, Vici Gaming, Evil Geniuses, Team Nigma, Virtus.pro, TNC Predator, Team Liquid, Invictus Gaming, Alliance, Fnatic, OG.

Esports Online Betting Calculator

Overwatch betting

Overwatch is a multiplayer first-person shooter game by Blizzard that pits two teams of six against each other. Similar in design to CS:GO, although based on a more futuristic theme, each player in the team can select from a roster of 32 characters, each of which has its own specific skill-set to help the team to victory.

Victory can be achieved by completing an objective or thwarting your opponent from doing so.

  • Top Overwatch tournaments: Overwatch World League, Overwatch World Cup.
  • Top Overwatch teams: San Francisco Shock, New York Excelsior, Vancouver Titans, London Spitfire, Philadelphia Fusion, Shanghai Dragons, Seoul Dynasty, Los Angeles Gladiators, Guangzhou Charge, Atlanta Reign.

Rocket League betting

Rocket League can best be described as a futuristic soccer game played by vehicles in a custom-built arena, which can be changed depending on the game mode.

As in soccer, the teams (which consist of up to four players) defeat their opponents by scoring more goals.

  • Top Rocket League tournaments: RLCS Season, Intel World Open Finals, Spring Series.
  • Top Rocket League teams/players: Turbopolsa, Kaydop, jstn., GarretG, Scrub Killa, AztraL, Chausette45, SquishyMuffinz, JKnaps, Bluey.

Call of Duty esports betting

Call of Duty is a first-person shooter series of games where players compete as teams against other opponents in battle. Similar to CS:GO and Overwatch, teams can achieve victory by killing all the opponents on another team, or by completing a task that is defined as the goal of a particular game.

Rather than pick characters, players can outfit their soldier with different weapon types to help bring specific abilities and perks to their team.

  • Top Call of Duty tournaments: Call of Duty League.
  • Top Call of Duty teams: Chicago Huntsmen, Dallas Empire, Los Angeles OpTic, New York Subliners, Atlanta FaZe, Seattle Surge, London Royal Ravens, Toronto Ultra, Minnesota Rokkr, Los Angeles Guerrillas.

Top esports tournament betting

The top esports tournaments around the globe attract millions of viewers on live stream and (in normal times) thousands of fans in attendance at these events.

There are a number of blue ribbon esports events that are widely regarded in the esports community as the most prestigious events of the year. These also attract a high number of esports bets from interested punters, too. Some of these major events are:

  • League of Legends World Championships — Perhaps the biggest esports event in terms of fan viewership.
  • Spring and Summer Splits — The qualifying events for the League of Legends World Championships. The events in Korea (LCK), North America (LCS), Europe (LEC) and China (LPL) are the most lucrative and popular events and tend to produce the strongest teams.
  • The International — The world championship for Dota 2 is regularly the most lucrative esports tournament of the year, with revenues in recent years surpassing $30 million for teams for this one event alone.
  • Dota Pro Circuit — A series of minor and major tournaments with prize pools of $300,000 and $1 million respectively that sees Dota 2 teams compete against one another across the globe to earn enough points to qualify for The International.
  • Overwatch World League — Franchises from China, Europe, South Korea and North America compete against one another across four stages in two divisions each year to decide who claims a place in the playoffs and a chance to become the Overwatch League World Champions.
  • Call of Duty League — Launching in 2020, this uses the same franchise model as the Overwatch World League and a similar league and playoff system to decide which is the best Call of Duty team in the world.

Esports live streams

One of the most appealing aspects of esports is that most tournaments are incredibly easy to access, as you can catch the live streams of the games on specialist platforms such as Twitch, Mixer, YouTube and Facebook Gaming.

Virtual sports and simulated sports betting

The first thing to note here is that esports are very different from virtual sports or betting on sport simulations. Whereas esports are competitive games by players and teams, virtual sports and sports simulations are both entirely controlled by software, which uses a defined set of parameters and a random number generator to decide the result.

So whereas esports have a clear competitive and skill element, virtual sports and similar are simply about producing a result for the purposes of creating a betting market.

Esports online betting games

Thanks to DraftKings’ lucrative partnership with Inspired Entertainment, it is able to offer a range of up to 14 virtual sports on its service, including virtual basketball and the forthcoming virtual NFL Alumni Legends football game.

In addition, we have already mentioned that esports services can grow over time, and it is highly likely that sites like DraftKings will offer betting on a number of sports simulations, such as NBA2K, Madden and FIFA.

DraftKings also runs its own contests using Madden Simulations from the Madden 2020 game, which simulates a game between two real NFL teams using the software and which allows its customers to pick a fantasy team whose points will be collected from the simulation. More on virtual sports here:

How to make a deposit for esports betting

The first step to make a deposit is to sign up with your choice of esports betting app. DraftKings and FanDuel are two great options, and you can use either an app or browser to register with the site.

Once you register, simply make a deposit via any of the common methods (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, e-wallet, etc.) into your account (remembering to activate your bonus) in order to have some funds available.

The great thing about esports betting is that it is as quick and easy to bet on esports as it is on regular sports.

Matched betting on esports

Esports Online Betting Sites

At the moment matched betting isn’t available at FanDuel and DraftKings. However, other providers in other parts of the world are starting to offer this option to punters.