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Esports or electronic sports allows fans to gamble on competitive video games, just as they would on sports or via casino gaming. In massive tournaments all over the world, esports players of course compete for huge prize purses.
Competitors and fans alike can watch events online or live in person (depending on the event) and the betting industry has opened up to esports with a whole new array of gambling opportunities.
In the United Kingdom, you don’t often hear the words esports and casino experiences together, but that is rapidly changing. There is a blurring of the lines between video games and other forms of gaming, from esports venues in the UK to casino games on esports betting sites.
When it comes to betting on esports, there is of course not much of a difference between it and betting on any other sport. It’s possible to bet in certain EU countries, including the UK, Germany, Sweden and France.
It is clear that the esports betting platforms should obtain gaming licenses for the markets and countries they operate in. If you are comfortable betting on sports such as football, then you should have no trouble betting on esports as well.
Top esports casino betting platforms
Betting on esports has increased in popularity along with the sport itself. Sports betting analysts estimate esports betting will be worth over $3 billion by 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing market in sports betting.
The history of esports betting
Some say that one of the first ‘esports’ events was hosted by Stamford University in California in 1972. The video game Spacewar provided the contestants with a chance to battle it out, and the winner walked away with a subscription to Rolling Stone magazine for a year. One of the first things that stand out when you look at old photos is those giant square block television sets, which look as though they were made of Minecraft blocks.
Atari’s Space Invader Championship, won by Rebecca Heinemann in 1980, brought together 10,000 gamers. Many people were surprised by the coverage the championship received , and it helped in part to showcase video games’ mainstream potential.
It wasn’t until more recent times that esports betting began to take off, with traditional bookies offering esports odds as well as more endemic esports betting providers.
Tips for betting on esports to win
There are two main reasons for betting on esports: to enjoy yourself and to win money. Winning money is of course much harder than the having fun part. Esports games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 have established themselves as two of the most popular titles to watch, helping to create demand for esports betting.
Have a budget, bet responsibly and within your means. It’s good to have a strategy and limit in place – you obviously don’t want to encounter any financial problems.
Furthermore, betting becomes a more engaging activity when you win and it adds a different dimension to watching esports.
Learn the game and its teams inside-out
Understanding how esports games are played is crucial to betting on esports. That’s why it’s vital that you research the teams, players and their recent results before you place a bet. So if you’re going to bet on CSGO, take the time to build up a good amount of knowledge in it. It is often the difference between winning and losing a wager.
You’ll need to stay up to date with all the new developments in-game, learn new strategies, improve your game intelligence, interact with the game/Twitch community actively, watch streams of other players and teams, and many other things that will make you a better follower of the specific game.
A monthly betting budget
The first thing you can do before beginning to bet is to set a monthly budget for betting. Your expenditure budget should be at most between 10% and 20% of your monthly income, and it should never interfere with what you need to live. It is important to make sure that your betting budget is the money you have leftover when you are done with the month, and it should not be your money for food, bills, or transport.
With more money for bets each month, you should pick up some wins – and learns what is working well for you.
A staking plan
The concept of a staking plan revolves around the idea of how much money you place on each wager.
There are two types of stake plans: fixed and variable. Whenever you make a wager, you will always wager the same amount of money or a certain percentage of your monthly budget. Using a variable staking plan, you set the amount of money you will stake on each wager. The system heavily depends on your level of confidence in a wager’s success. When you are extremely confident that you will win a bet, you can place a larger stake on it. However, if you are less confident, you can place smaller deposits.
You can always know your limits and approach esports betting in a more analytical fashion if you have a good staking plan when you bet. You would use a variable staking plan and would back the favourite Dota 2 team accordingly, for example, if you knew the team was the favorite. In contrast, if you feel that some other team might cause an upset while they are the underdog of a matchup, you can bet on them with the same variable staking plan, but you can wager a much smaller amount because you are less confident.
Choose the best esports betting provider
Esports betting sites come in various forms, each of which attracts customers differently. You want to find the game that increases your winnings the most, which means finding the right one for you.
In the case of esports punters who chase totals, they should select the bookmaker with the most markets and the best odds in the category they are interested in. You should on the other hand target betting providers that offer the highest odds to underdogs if you are an avid betting enthusiast.
Different betting operators have a variety of offers on a range of games. Others offer a full line of online gaming options including League of Legends, Overwatch, CSGO and other games. Some betting sites are specialised in just a few games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2, while others offer more than one esport.
If you’re outside of the UK, in Canada for example, before playing online casino games you can go to a Canadian review and gaming guide like this one to get advice and find the best casino bonuses online. You can do the same with esports betting sites by using Google and search, of course.
The last aspect that may influence your choice of esports betting provider is whether you prefer to bet with skins rather than money. Using skins as a betting option can sometimes reduce the pressure that real money places on your wagers. However, be aware of the rules around this practice, as it is more controversial and a lot of skin betting sites were shut down by Valve a few years ago.
Have a financial plan in place
To reiterate, you will indirectly influence all your esports betting outcomes by monitoring this element, which is probably the most relevant.
A financial plan generally consists of two parts: a monthly budget for betting and a staking plan (see above for more info on those).
Analyse the teams and players
Doing this can help improve your winnings to bets ratio. Having an understanding of how a team or individual player has performed before a match can greatly enhance your chances of winning a bet.
Before playing in a match or taking part in a tournament, do your homework. Consider the form of your opponents, their match history, their players’ availability, and the format of the competition. Esports punters should be aware of these factors if they want to become better at betting on esports.
Conclusion
Boost your knowledge of the game you want to bet on, set a budget and stick to it, and find the right betting operator to use. Analyse all the factors which will influence the outcome of a wager and you’ll be on your way to improving your esports betting endeavours.
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
