eSports Betting at Bally Bet Sportsbook

Since the early days of video games, which exploded in popularity in the 1980s, players have been locking horns with controllers in hand.

Today, there’s an entire sport dedicated to the pursuit of video game excellence: eSports, where teams of players are pitted against one another in a battle for prestigious tournament wins and handsome cash prizes.

This industry has spawned an ultra-popular niche in sports betting, with CS2, LoL, Dota 2, and Overwatch just some of the games for which odds and lines are now offered.

If you’re a complete newcomer to eSports betting, have no fear. Our comprehensive guide has got you covered with everything you need to know about how to bet on eSports.

We’ll show you how to read betting lines, outline the many different lines and bet types available, and provide some useful tips and strategies that will get you up and running with eSports wagering.

How to Read eSports Betting Odds

Before you can place your best eSports bets, it makes sense to learn how to read betting odds. That way, you can understand how much you could win from your wagers, and also try to seek out value bets based upon the odds provided.

The first thing to know is that there are two types of betting odds: positive and negative.

If you bet on eSports futures markets, such as tournament winner, you will likely see a list of teams with positive odds next to their name. The specific number reveals how much you could win from placing a $100 wager. For example:

• Vitality (+200)

• FaZe Clan (+350)

• Astralis (+400)

• Team Liquid (+500)

• Cloud9 (+750)

A $100 wager on Vitality would pay $200 in profit, a $100 bet on FaZe Clan pays $350, and so on.

When you come to bet on two-way markets, like match winner or total maps, it’s likely that you will see one of the outcomes at positive odds, and the other as negative:

• Vitality (-200), Team Liquid (+150)

In this example, we know that our $100 wager on Team Liquid would yield $150 in profit. But for negative odds bets, the number dictates how much you would have to bet in order to win $100. So, in the case of Vitality here, we would have to wager $200 in order to clear $100 in profit.

The key thing to remember is that you don’t actually have to deal in $100 bets: You can bet $1, $5, $10, or whatever you prefer. To work out your potential payout, $100 is simply used as the guide to clarify what you can expect to return from a winning bet at those specific odds.

Popular eSports Bets

There’s a whole host of eSports betting terms to get familiar with, but these are pretty easy to understand. Everything you need to know is included below.

The good news is that some of the most popular eSports bet types are ones you might already be familiar with from other sports, anyway.

Futures Betting

One of the most straightforward eSports betting markets is the various futures lines available for each game.

Quite simply, a futures bet is wagering on the outcome of a specific tournament or event. You’ll see a list of the teams and their odds displayed, with the favorite listed at the top, and the rest in descending order from there.

The object of futures betting is straightforward, too. You’re looking to back the team (or teams, if you want to hedge your bets) that you think will win the tournament.

Depending on the format of the tournament, additional eSports futures will be available as well. For example, some events have group stage formats (like soccer's FIFA World Cup, for instance), so you can wager on which team you think will win their group or finish in the top two positions.

Game Winner (Moneyline)

The moneyline market in eSports works exactly the same as it does in sports like football and basketball.

You have to predict which of the two teams you think will win the game. It doesn’t matter what the final scoreline is, as long as your team clinches victory.

eSports Spread Betting

In addition to moneyline betting, you can also wager on the spreads if you have a strong feeling of how a game might play out.

With eSports spread betting, for the FPS games like CS2 and Valorant, you’re betting on maps won. So, if you took a -1.5 spread on Team Liquid, they would need to win by two or more maps for your spread bet to win.

There are also positive spreads, like FaZe Clan +1.5. This can be a more appetizing way to wager when you think that an underdog may perform above expectations, but still predict that they will ultimately lose.

Totals (Over/Under)

Have you ever had a total points wager on a football or basketball game?

The same principle applies in eSports, where you’ll be presented with a total maps line. Your aim is to predict whether there will be more maps (betting on the over) or fewer maps played (the under bet) than the line supplied.

As a general rule, if you believe that a game will be a one-sided victory for the favorite, you might wager on the under. If you think the game will be fiercely contested by two evenly matched teams, you may instead prefer the over.

First Map

Often, the first map of an eSports contest can be the most important in terms of the game's outcome.

You can wager on which of the teams you think will win the first map, with simple moneyline odds offered.

Props Betting

You'll also find prop bets available for some of the eSports games and tournaments that we cover.

These can be team or player-based. So, you might choose to wager on most kills, top player, or the event’s MVP.

Parlay Betting

For many of the bet types detailed above, you can parlay them together in a single ticket.

Doing so multiplies the odds of your selections, which may lead to a greater payout. As an idea, you could bet on -150 and +125 picks as two separate odds, or instead parlay them together as a +275 double.

The key thing to know about a parlay is that it only needs one of your picks to lose in order for your entire ticket to be downed.

Live Betting

As an interesting piece of eSports bet advice, consider waiting until the action has begun before placing your bets on a particular game.

Why? Because you might gain an insight into how the two teams are performing. The side that gets off to a fast start might just be able to carry that momentum through the entirety of the game.

Alternatively, you might think that the odds are moving too far in favor of the team who started quicker, and that there’s plenty of time for the other to battle their way back into the contest.

eSports Betting Tips

Of all the eSports betting tips that can be offered, the most important is to know your stuff.

Do your research

Even the very best eSports gamers are mere human beings. Like the rest of us, they have good days and bad days at the office.

To that end, knowing the current form of the various players, and their team collectively, is an excellent starting point for your eSports bets.

Focus and specialize

It’s tempting to spread your wings and bet on all of the various eSports games and platforms that are available.

But with odds offered for a variety of games, it would be almost impossible for you to have comprehensive knowledge of all of them at the same time.

Why not focus on a small handful instead? Take the time to become a CS2 expert or an LoL aficionado. Your depth of knowledge will help you to place more insightful bets, as opposed to simply guessing — a little knowledge is dangerous, as they say.

Follow the latest news

The nature of eSports is such that the rosters for leading teams seem to change all the time.

When the players involved are high quality, that can have significant ramifications for the betting odds — particularly the futures lines, if you can move quickly and take advantage of odds that are yet to shift in response to the changes.

How to Use an eSports Betting App

There are many advantages to using an eSports betting app instead of a traditional website or mobile browser platform.

The first is speed: You can place your next eSports wager in the quickest possible timeframe, with just a couple of taps of your screen required. This is particularly important when a game is about to start, or if you want to wager in-play.

Another advantage is the convenience of being able to bet wherever you are, whenever you want — again, of crucial importance when your wagers are time sensitive.

Our mobile betting app features enhanced security features as well as safe and rapid payments. You can use dozens of different payment methods for depositing and cashing out funds.

We also offer live streaming, so if you want to watch the latest round of action, you’ll find many tournaments broadcast through the Bally Bet Sportsbook app.