Frequently Asked Questions About Esports Betting

Esports involves video games featuring a highly competitive multiplayer portion, with addicting, well-balanced gameplay, and an immensely high skill ceiling. While 1v1 esports do exist, typically, we’re talking about team-based gameplay with three to five players per team.

When talking about esports, it’s important to make esports events clear, too. Esports events are professionally organized competitions in various video games with clear-cut schedules, featuring professional-grade productions, live broadcasting, and esports organizations with paid professional gamers to do what they do best. It’s a complex ecosystem that’s turning into a behemoth of an industry, which is exactly why betting on esports online keeps on flourishing.

All esports are video games, but not all video games are esports. What’s the difference? Well, esports are popular online titles that heavily emphasize its competitive aspects. Esports have professionally organized tournaments, often with millions of dollars in prize money.

They feature professional organizations, esports athletes whose only job is to train and competitively play the game. Additionally, there are also coaches, nutritionists, psychologists, and other staff members ensuring everything goes a smoothly as possible.

As far as the biggest esports titles go, here’s the list:

• CSGO
• Dota 2
• League of Legends
• Valorant
• FIFA
• Rainbow Six
• Rocket League
• Overwatch
• Call of Duty
• Starcraft II
• Fortnite
• Free Fire
• King of Glory
• Apex Legends

There are many more esports titles out there. These are just the most popular ones.

This is one of the most commonly asked esports betting questions we get. There are numerous answers. Pretty much every esports title has at least one massive event. Here’s the list:

• Dota 2 The Internationals
• LoL Worlds
• CSGO Majors
• VCT Champions
• eWorld Cups
• Overwatch League
• Call of Duty League

In essence, esports and sports are basically the same thing. Yes, we know we’ve just angered a bunch of jocks reading this, but it is how it is! Esports and sports have a lot more in common than most people think. For starters, both feature professional athletes that have dedicated their lives to one single sport/esport and have earned their spot on the top level by being the best among their peers.

When it comes to betting on sports and esports, the scenarios are quite similar, too. The only real differences are the disciplines themselves. The bookies are the same, and basic bets are the same, and the wagering process is identical. The only real differences are the disciplines themselves and the complexity of specials. If you know how to bet on sports online, you will have no problems with betting on esports online!

Now, this is probably the most common question regarding real money esports betting. The answer is quite simple, either find a proper guide to esports betting online or throw caution to the wind. Of course, the latter option might not be suitable for people who want to win money.

Esports betting is not as complicated as you might think. As stated earlier, if you know how to bet on conventional sports, you’ll be able to bet on esports without breaking a sweat.

So, you’d like to bet on esports matches, but you’re worried your personal information might fall into the wrong hands. Nope, you're not paranoid. Security is a big part of the online world and worrying about your personal information is only logical!

As far as esports betting goes, you have nothing to worry about, though, especially if you’re using one of the most popular online sportsbooks out there. Great bookies are capable of providing you with the online esports betting experience you deserve. But what exactly makes great bookies? Well, that answer is coming right up.

When talking about the things that make great real money esports betting sites, a few factors immediately come to mind. Betting odds are among the best-known factors that show just how greedy a bookie is. The higher the profit margin, the lower the odds. Of course, you as a bettor will always be on the hunt for the greatest value. And to put it simply, you won’t be able to find it on high-profit margin bookies.

Customer support is of great importance, too. Whether we’re talking about phone lines, email, or live chat, customer support staff must be trained and filled with skilled, English-speaking CS experts. Customer support is the only connection between bookies and end-users, which is why it has to be in good condition.

If you're looking for a site to place esports bets, consider checking out our page on the best esports betting sites!

Yes, you should! This is another very frequently asked question about esports betting. Joining multiple esports betting sites allow you to compare the odds, value, and the diversity of available special bets. Depending on the game you want to bet on, the importance of these three factors will vary greatly.

On top of that, joining multiple real money esports betting sites will allow you to exploit more welcome bonuses. Welcome bonuses are a great way of adding extra funds to your betting bankrolls. And while you can’t cash them out immediately after the deposit, they still come in handy, as they allow you to follow up on riskier bets, hoping you’ll catch a bookie off-guard with a massive win.

While this highly depends on your location in general, betting on esports online is considered legal. There are no online gambling regulators that hold a grudge against the esports betting industry, meaning it usually has no limitations. If your country allows online betting, chances are, online esports betting is 100% legal.

Online esports betting using skins, however, is a completely different story. While some skin betting websites might seem all fancy and legit, we’re mostly talking about shady businesses with a history of data leaks, privacy issues, and outright scams.

Stay on the safe side and only use trustworthy bookies that feature both sports and esports markets!

In general, the vast majority of esports betting enthusiasts use online betting platforms to place their bets. With that said, we reckon brick and mortar shops featuring esports bets do exist, but we really don’t see the point in going through all that hassle just to make an in-person esports bet.

Online betting platforms’ biggest advantage is the convenience factor. You can access them from anywhere, anytime, and cash in on your esports knowledge no matter what! Let’s face it, online betting platforms have made brick and mortar shops practically obsolete.

This, once again, highly depends on where you’re gambling from. In most countries, you need to be over the age of 18 to partake in any gambling activities. There are exceptions, though. For instance, Belgium requires its residents to be over the age of 21 and Greece over the age of 23. If you’re around 18 years of age, your best bet (no pun intended) is to check your local laws! You can never be too safe!

Even though conventional TV channels aren’t exactly the number one choice when it comes to consuming esports content, they’ve actually acquired a ton of media rights in recent years. Still, if you want the optimal experience, streaming platforms for gamers, such as Twitch and Mixer are the obvious way to go.

Twitch is by far the best choice for watching esports matches. Pretty much all major esports events are available on Twitch, so you can’t really go wrong with it. After all, Amazon bought Twitch back in 2014.

Eastern countries have their own broadcasting/streaming platforms such as Garena TV, VK Live, Afreeca TV. These are typically used for broadcast on regional languages other than English, and for esports titles that aren’t popular in the western world. They’re known for showing off massive numbers, so they’re definitely worth mentioning here.

The truth is, every esports genre out there has a unique set of special bets. We can even go in-depth specifically, with a title-to-title approach. But that might overcomplicate things.

When it comes to first-person shooters (FPS) like CS:GO, and Rainbow Six Siege, round-based and map-based totals are all the craze these days. In Rainbow Six Siege, bookies often have agent-specific specials too, whereas CS:GO bookies feature stuff like pistol round wins, aces, player vs. player kills, and so on.

As for MOBA games like LoL and Dota 2, the special bets’ diversity is absolutely ridiculous. This is in part because of the sheer number of quantifiable in-game stats in MOBA games, and in part, because there's such a huge demand for betting on LoL and Dota 2 that bookies were practically forced to add unique specials to remain competitive.

If you want to learn more about this topic, feel free to skim through our esports special bets guide!

Betting on esports with your smartphone is nothing new. Mobile betting support on esports betting platforms has been around for a few years already. If that was the biggest hurdle for you, then you’ll be happy to know that all popular esports bookmakers offer either standalone smartphone betting apps or mobile-friendly betting websites. Your mobile betting experience will be satisfactory, no doubt about that!

Strafe Esports is probably the best all-around app for esports betting enthusiasts. It gives you updates on matches, tournaments, players, and teams, and it allows you to discuss the action with other fans. You can set up your own notification preferences, favorite teams, players, and games. The customization options are numerous, as well as the list of supported esports titles.

There are also game-specific stat platforms. We’re talking about the likes of siege.gg, hltv.org, gosugamers, and similar. Of course, we can’t forget about Liquipedia! It might not have the deepest statistical data, but it’s intuitive, supports all popular esports, and gives you a ton of information surrounding the schedule, tournaments, transfers, and similar.

Yes, most esports gambling websites offer live betting on ongoing esports matches. This is a fairly new thing, though, with most bookies starting to accept live bets in the last year or so.

What are the positives of live betting? Well, the ability to place bets on live matches is definitely a huge plus on its own. If you watch the game live, the chances of you sensing the momentum shifts and placing bets based on that will increase your chance of profit.

But there are downsides, too. Live betting is even more addictive than conventional betting. Plus, momentum shifts often give a false feeling of being in control of your bets, even though you might already be chasing losses left and right.

No, you should not! Skin gambling, no matter how appealing it might seem, can only get you in trouble. Despite most skin betting sites being either outright illegal or operating in the gray area of online betting, they’re still running their businesses online and not facing any major repercussions.

Newcomers often stumble upon skin betting sites not knowing their true nature. At first glance, they look just like licensed gambling platforms, right up until the point where they require you to deposit your skins.

Which payment methods are available on online esports bets these days? Well, the list goes on and on, really. The most important payment methods to use for online betting are the following:

• Credit and debit cards
• Neteller
• Sofort
• EcoPayz
• Paysafecard
• Skrill

On top of all these “conventional” payment methods, lots of online esports bookmakers started accepting cryptocurrencies as well. We’re talking about Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and similar. Make sure you check them out as they seem to be great alternatives to payment methods listed above.

Often times, people can’t seem to differentiate betting on esports from betting on virtual sports. Let’s settle the differences once and for all:

• Virtual sports are solely based on AI. We’re talking about virtual AI-driven competitions in conventional sports like football, soccer, basketball, and similar. There’s no human interaction here, everything is done by computers.
• Esports, on the other hand, are video game competitions played by professional esports athletes. They deliver a unique gaming experience with proper betting coverage during the biggest events like The Internationals, CSGO Majors, and LoL Worlds.

Esports gambling, just like every other form of gambling and games based on luck, can lead to addiction. The goal is to understand what you’re doing, to properly manage your bankroll, and to know (and be able to) stop when the timing is right.

Chasing losses is the first step towards serious gambling addiction, so make sure you always keep tabs on things. If you’re starting to think you might have an issue, there are lots of gambling addiction hotlines as well as helpful sites online. There’s nothing to be ashamed of – use them!

When talking about minimum deposit amounts, we typically see amounts from $5 to $20, depending on the bookie as well as the payment method you’re using. As for minimum wagers, they also vary from bookie to bookie, but usually amount anywhere from $1 to $5. This sort of information is usually available in the fine print so make sure you double-check it before registration.

Unfortunately, online esports bookmakers have a few thorns in their lines. While real money esports gambling sites are legal and perfectly safe to use, unlicensed skin gambling sites definitely aren’t!

The list of reasons why you should avoid skin gambling sites goes on and on. They’re not safe, they’re illegal (or in the gray area, at best), could end up scamming you, your personal information might be at risk, and so on. You should avoid any blacklisted websites at all costs, and stick with licensed real money esports bookies instead!