The Definitive Esports betting guide

If you landed on this page, you are probably a fan of esports and want to learn more about esports betting. With this esports betting guide, you will familiarize yourself with different betting markets, get better at managing your money and find useful tools and resources.

Betting on esports is enormous, it’s difficult to say precisely how much money is waged on esports every year. It’s estimated that over $10 billion worldwide was waged in 2020 alone. Now is the perfect time to get into it, and we’ll help you get started through our esports betting guide.

Esports betting guide

Difference between betting on esports and regular sports

The process of betting on esports or betting on traditional sports is more or less the same regardless of what you bet at. Whether you bet on Ninjas in Pyjamas to win against Cloud9 in CSGO or you bet on Toronto Raptors to win against Chicago Bulls in the NBA, the process is the same.

In all cases, when betting online, you have to find a bookmaker that accepts Canadian customers, sign up, deposit, find your game and place the bet. The difference is the content, mechanics, gameplay of what you are betting at. Esports is a competitive, organized, professional video gaming.

In the past ten years, the audience of esports and the prize money in tournaments has exploded. Commercially the interest for esports is huge and from a betting perspective, it’s an excellent way for bookmakers to offer more betting options in their sportsbooks. For those interested in esports, betting is a great way to enhance the experience of following and watching the games. Placing a bet on your favourite team is a fun way to add some spice. For some people betting on esports can be a way of turning their hobby into a way of earning extra money. By utilizing your knowledge about a team or a matchup, you could potentially place smart bets and beat the bookies. There are many Canadian bookmakers offering esports bets, one of our favorite sites is Cbet.gg (LINK https://cbet.gg/en) who offers esports odds 24/7. By continue reading this esports betting guide we hope that you can make more educated decisions when you’re betting.

Things to consider when you place esports bets

Team Quality

One of the main factors when analyzing a matchup is to determine the quality of the teams that are involved. What are their strengths and weaknesses? Do they rely on one player, or do they have multiple pillars to carry the team to victory? Have they played together for long in order to mold into a unit that plays well together? Are there any toxic players in the team which may offset the team if they are off to a bad start or start losing a clear lead?

Motivation

It’s very common in esports that one team has more to play for then the other team. This can be particularly true late in a season or in the group stages of a tournament. A team may have no chance to qualify, which can impact the team’s performance. Another scenario is a team that already qualified and has nothing to play for, which may affect the team’s performance. Always consider what’s a stake for both teams, where they are in the standings or how much money they stand to lose or win in terms of prize money. A general rule in esports and sports alike, in a close matchup, if one team is coming off a blowout loss, they are more likely to be more motivated to win compared to a team coming off a close win.

Physical and mental health

Physical health is less of a factor when it comes to esports due to the lack of physicality in gameplay. It can still have a marginal effect if a player is down with the flu or got a stomach bug they can still participate in a game, but of course, their physical shape and fatigue can have an impact on their mind, reflexes and ability to react quickly. Another aspect of competitive gaming is travelling, international tournaments are common, and sometimes teams have hectic schedules where they travel between timezones without a break to participate in offline contests. This is another aspect which may impact physical and mental health.

Key Statistics and Trends

In esports, there’re loads of data and stats available to determine trends and spot weaknesses. Each esports is different, even the stats of two different MOBAs like Dota 2 and League of Legends can’t be compared. In each esports game, you will see different types of stats and data that are relevant to the game and your analysis. It is up to you to break down numbers and how they should be used in your esports predictions.

One good example where you can utilize stats is in CSGO. In this esports, there are two rounds that are different from the other rounds. The pistol rounds where all players have the same amount of money and the available equipment are pistols, kevlar or grenades. Some teams are much better at the pistol rounds than others. It’s not uncommon for esports bookmakers to offer odds on what team will win the pistol rounds.

Different types of esports bets

Depending on the esports you’re betting on there may be specific markets available that are unique to the particular game. For example, in Dota 2, there’s the betting market ’Team to Kill Roshan First’, a market you can’t find in any other game. Then there are other generic markets; these are the ones we’ll cover in this esports betting guide:

Match Winner

Match Winner is the most simple betting market available, in any bookmaker you sign up to, you’ll find this market available. When you bet this market, you’re simply betting on what team will win. In the case where a draw is possible, then you can bet for Home Team, Draw or Away Team.

Map X Winner

X, in this case, represents the map number. In most esports matchups, more than one map is played. Commonly Best of 3 or Best of 5 match series are played. In the case of a Bo3, bookmakers will offer the options to bet on Map 1 Winner, Map 2 Winner and Map 3 Winner where you bet on what team will win the map.

Over/Under Maps

Over/Under Maps betting in esports is available in Best of 3, Best of 5 or Best of 7 Maps match series. For example, in a Best of 3 series between mousesports and Godsent in CSGO, bookmakers could offer Over/Under 2.5 Maps where a punter can bet on either Over 2.5 Maps or Under 2.5 Maps. If the match ends 2-0, then the Under 2.5 Maps bet wins. If the game finishes 2-1, then the Over 2.5 Maps bet wins.

Over/Under Rounds

Over/Under Rounds is not available in all esports. It’s commonly available in CSGO however where 16 or more rounds per map are played. In a close match,   there can be 30 or more rounds played depending if the map goes to overtime. Bookmakers in Canada commonly offer Over/Under Rounds markets for different esports. For example, in a map between Team Vitality and Complexity, you could find the market Over/Under Rounds 26.5. If the map ends 16-11, then the Over 26.5 Rounds wins. If the Match ends 16-8, then the Under 26.5 Rounds win.

Correct Score

When you bet Correct Score, you place a bet on the exact outcome of a match. In a matchup between FaZe and Team EnVy, where they play a Bo3 match series. The different score outcomes are:

0-2

1-2

2-0

2-1

Best Esports Bookmakers in Canada?

How to manage your esports betting bankroll

Besides being able to find good esports bets consistently, the ability to properly manage your bankroll is almost as crucial for longterm success. Your bankroll is the amount of money you have set aside for betting. Good bankroll management ensures that you have the right balance between your total bankroll and the bets you’re placing.

The easiest and most straightforward bankroll management strategy for esports is to use fixed units when you bet. Normally, one unit would be the equal of one percent of your total bankroll. So let’s say you have $1000 to set aside for esports betting. Then one unit would be $10 (1000 x .01 = 10). You decide to bet with two units per bet. With this bankroll, you’d be betting $20 on each bet you wager. With this strategy, it’s advisable to stay with the same %unit, as your bankroll grows, your bets will be larger. Let’s say you do extremely well and grow your bankroll to $10,000, then you’d be betting $200 on each bet. Likewise, if you don’t do so good and your bankroll shrinks to $500, you’d be betting $10 per bet. It’s easy to get cocky when you are on a long winning streak, you feel like a god and increase your unit size, and then the unavoidable losing streak beings and you end up losing a lot of money quick.

As you get better at betting, and you feel more confident in the assessment of your predictions, and you see that you’re smarter than the bookmakers. Then you can increase the number of units you bet in order to maximize the value of your bet.

Some useful tools when betting on esports

Before you head over to any of our bookmakers, as part of this esports betting guide we wanted to share some betting tools and resources with you. As you get more into esports, you’ll hopefully be more inclined to start analyzing matches and do your own valuations. Along with that, you should start tracking your bets. You don’t want to keep all information and data in your head; it will be a mess. Better get organized early to increase your chances to become successful at esports betting.

Bet Tracking

Start tracking your bets right away, this way you can see your performance. Identify what types of bets you have better results with and place more of those. What types of bets you should avoid and so on. Below there are three different bet tracker options:

MyBetDiary

BettingTracker

Fixed Unit Betting Template for Esports

Odds Converter

Sometimes you have to convert odds, maybe from Decimal to American or Fraction to American. This odds converter also shows the implied probability, which helps you check how likely an outcome is in percentage form.

Odds Converter

Arbitrage Calculator

Arbitrage is a relatively advanced way of betting which requires accounts at multiple bookmakers and a relatively large bankroll in order to make money. Arbitrage betting is a low-risk betting strategy and is a method of esports betting where you place bets on all outcomes of a match at odds that guarantee a profit regardless of the result of the game. Different bookmaker sometimes offers different odds on the same game; as such, sometimes there are apparent discrepancies you can take advantage of and betting accordingly. An arbitrage calculator makes arbitrage betting on esports easier.

Arbitrage Calculator

Some useful websites for esports stats and data

CSGO esports stats

On HLTV you can find comprehensive data and information on all professional CSGO players and teams.

League of Legends esports stats

Comprehensive data and statistics for League of Legends esports can be found on Games of Legends.

Dota 2 esports stats

The easiest way to find all the Dota 2 esports data and stats you may need is through dotabuff.

Call of Duty esports stats

For the most comprehensive stats for Call of Duty betting, you can refer to CDL Stats.

Rainbow Six Siege esports stats

If you need Rainbow Six Siege esports stats and data, you can utilize Siege.gg.

Rocket League esports stats

For complete coverage of stats and data for Rocket League esports, the best place is Octane.gg.

Summary

As you reached the end of our esports betting guide, we hope that you have gotten some key takeaways on how to place esports bets and be successful. We believe that a significant key to winning money on esports is to properly track your bets along with having a disciplined way of handling your bankroll. The swings in betting can be frustrating. If you end up on a losing streak, it’s easy to get titled and lose your cool. Having some rules for how to place esports bets will help you during hard times. Sticking to a strategy will keep you grounded during good times. If you want to become successful, then you should follow the advice in this esports betting guide and remember always to let your mind make the decisions, don’t let emotions guide your decisions.