A Beginner’s Guide to eSports Betting Online
Esports betting is a fairly new invention that is growing at an impressive speed. If you love playing games, you certainly have considered placing a wager. With the help of the present esports guide for beginners, you will see how simple your first bets can be! And if you follow the advice you will find here, your bets can also be very successful.
Esports Betting Terms: Learn the Basics
The world of esports can be quite interesting. Just like at a regular sportsbook, you can expect esport bookies to have their own specific terms. However, these terms are very easy to understand. When you bet on esports, you will often see terms as “match winner,” which is used to designate a bet where you support the party you think is most likely to win a game.
People will talk about “odds,” and that’s how you calculate the pay-out. The odds can be displayed as decimals or moneylines. Even in North America, though, odds are mostly represented as decimals, because this makes reading and understanding the odds much easier.
So, odds of 1.6 for Evil Geniuses (EG) means that for every $1 you stake, you will get $1.6 back. Another term to consider is “home” and “away” teams which usually applies for Overwatch. The “home” and “away” teams usually get different starting order, so it may be important to study this term up close.
Esports betting markets also have “live betting” which – as the name clearly suggests – is the practice of betting on a game in real time. Depending on the game, you will find many esports-specific terms that you will hear commentators use, but will also be part of the betting game.
For instance, you can encounter ‘first blood’ which is also an available type of bet. When you are asked to bet on ‘first blood,’ you will need to successfully predict the first team to score a point or kill an enemy. There are many similar types of bets you will want to keep in mind.
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How to Bet on Esports: Helpful Tips
Betting on various esports can be a bit overwhelming at first, but thankfully, there are established best practices to stick to. The result is often success over the long term, which is precisely what most people would be interested in in the first place. How do you get to that point? Well, there are some easy steps to follow:
- Always bet on a game that you love and play yourself
- Place your wagers on teams that are actually proven and that you have followed over time
- Consider injury reports, stand-ins and other abrupt changes to the roster of a team
- Remember that you are allowed to skip bets – there are hundreds of esports bets available every day – only bet on the ones you are sure about
- Place bets on games that have bigger competitive scene
- Avoid non-official tournaments
- Read up on suspected cheaters and problems with certain organizers
All of these tips are just the basics. There are multiple examples when you would or wouldn’t want to bet. For example, some CS:GO online tournaments – hosted by ESEA – still allow banned cheaters to compete. You wouldn’t want to be betting in these competitions.
Do’s and Don’ts’ of Esports Betting
If you need definitive do’s and don’ts’ of esports betting, then you will find the following list very useful:
- Pick an esports bookie that has a proven reputation
- Check out what bonuses you can get, but don’t rely exclusively on them
- Focus on match bets at first and avoid proposition bets unless you are absolutely certain in an outcome
- Gravitate towards the big teams before backing the underdog
- Establish a bankroll and don’t break it
- Each of your individual wagers shouldn’t exceed 5% of your total bankroll
Major Tournaments and Events to Bet On
There are many great tournaments in esports. However, to understand them well enough, you need to consider the following. Esports is the parent term for competitive video games, but this term contains many titles that can be even called ‘disciplines’ by themselves. So, you have Overwatch, Rocket League, Warcraft III, League of Legends, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Dota 2, and many others.
For each game, there is going to be a specific tournament. To understand the variety of tournaments better, it helps to know that each game has its equivalents of ‘World Championship’ where only the best teams get to compete.
However, there are many smaller tournaments that happen throughout the year, and each is an opportunity to bet and win. The Dota 2 Pro Circuit, League of Legends local competitions, Overwatch League, Fortnite Twitch Rivals, and CS:GO Majors are just some of the events that grab the spotlight.
Each event is worth exploring in detail. The most betting options will be around a time of a big event, such as the League of Legends Worlds or Dota 2 International. Yet, there will be sufficient options in between.
Final Words
Esports are fantastic. Whether you are into physical sports or play only occasionally, gaming is rooted in culture in the 21st century. We all love to play and when we spend some time at our favorite computer games that happen to be played competitively, it’s easy to see how profit is just around the corner. This esports betting guide is designed to help you make a successful wager!
