Esports Betting Guide

What Are Esports?

One of the fastest growing sports to bet on is Esports, but what are eSports and how can you bet on them?

Esports (also known as e-sports, sSports or electronic sports) is the act of playing video games competitively. Whilst playing video games competitively has been around for a long time it has only been relatively recently, mid to late 2000s, that Esports has begun to gain mainstream recognition. It was during this time 2006-2010 that the first professional Esports teams were formed paving the way for huge audience revenues today and total audience figures of over 450 million worldwide. Considering it is very early days when it comes to betting on Esports early estimations are that the Esports betting industry value will hit $1.5 billion by the year 2020.

Computer games that can be classed as Esports can be categorised as follows:

  • Fighting Esports
  • Real-time Strategies (RTS)
  • First Person Shooter (FPS)
  • Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA)
  • Digital Collectible Card Games (DCCG)

Popular Esports Games For betting on:

DOTA 2

DOTA 2 (Defense of the Ancients 2) is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game. DOTA 2 dominates the board for the top prize pools in Esports with 6 out of the top 10 entries. Top spot being DOTA 2 at The International 2018 with a prize pool of $25,532,177.00. DOTA 2 has 12 million active players, part of the popularity other than it's an excellent game is the fact that it is free-to-play.

CS:GO

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS). Players are split between two teams, terrorists and counter-terrorists. The terrorist team goal is to create acts of terror and the counter-terrorist goal is to prevent these. CS:GO is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series developed by Hidden Path Entertainment and Valve Corporation. Since it's inception Counter-Strike games have sold over 25 million copies worldwide.

LOL

League of Legends (LOL) is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game. In League of Legends, players take on the role of the “summoner” who controls their champions against other players champions. League of Legends is a very well established game, first released in October 2009, it is now the most popular electronic game in the world and another that is free-to-play.

Overwatch

Overwatch is a multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS). In this game, there are two teams of six players who are called heroes. Each of these heroes will have their own unique abilities and skills and the aim of the game is to secure and control areas of maps.

StarCraft 2

StarCraft 2 is a sci-fi based real-time strategy game (RTS) which many argue is the finest strategy game ever developed. A sequel to the 1998 smash hit StarCraft, StarCraft 2 is split into three instalments: Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void.


Should Esports Actually Be Classed As A Sport?

This is the biggest challenge that faces Esports, convincing disbelievers that Esports should actually be classified as a sport. Common arguments against it being a sport are that it is played in a virtual environment and that EAthletes do not need to be at a physical peak to compete unlike other “sports”. Arguments against this include the strong reflexes required within Esports and that other sports, darts for example, also include athletes who it could be argued are not at peak physical fitness. Whatever side of the fence you sit on Sky Sports have certainly made their minds up. Esports are now a regular broadcast feature on Sky Sports channels in the UK further increasing public awareness and reach. We may also see Esports at the Olympic Games before too long. Paris 2024 were considering it to be included in an effort to engage younger audiences, currently it hasn’t quite made it but that may well change. Accompanying this increased exposure bookmakers are also keen to get in on the act, offering betting markets for Esports events.


Betting On Esports

Esports betting is becoming more and more popular and whilst not all bookies offer markets, there is still plenty of choice out there. The majority of the major bookies will provide you with betting opportunities, some have great weekly free bet offers involving Esports like Betway for example.

Typical Betting Markets Include:

  • Betting Outrights: These are typically pre-tournament bets on who you believe will win said tournament. This can be split into round progression bets as well.
  • Match Winner: A market most sports bettors are familiar with, quite simply a bet on who will win the match.
  • Totals: This is where you can bet on totals gained related to certain statistics in a game, for example total kills, maps, points, rounds etc.

How can you make money betting from Esports? There are an increasing amount of free bet promotions involving Esports and there is a way that you can lock in profit from these offers. This technique also negates the need for the ability to pick a winner or have an in-depth knowledge on the subject. The way to do this is through the technique of Matched Betting.


What is Matched Betting?

Matched Betting is a way of taking advantage of the hundreds of free bet offers dished out by bookies. Although it has betting in the name there is no real gambling involved as, unlike normal betting, we cover all possible outcomes of an event. This means regardless of the result we can make profit and turn those free bets into real cash!


Keen to Get Involved?

The great news is you don’t need to be a sports fan or betting fanatic to sign up and use Profit Accumulator. Many of our members are not sports fans and had never placed a bet in their lives but that doesn’t stop them from making some tax-free cash.

For more info on what matched betting is, check out these articles:

For more info on what matched betting is, check out these articles: