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Discover 2024's Top Online Betting Sites for eSports

Every day, thousands of punters across the UK put bets down oneSports- and we've found the best ways for you to join them! Whether you're betting on the tactical gameplay of the world's biggest game, League of Legends, or a more up-and-coming title like Rocket League or Starcraft II, you'll easily find the best places for eSports online betting with us.

So, browse our eSports betting tips, take advantage of exclusive free bet offers, and discover the top online bookies that have:

Dedicated eSports betting sections with great odds
Unparalleled security & safety for British punters
Generous ongoing promotions & offers

What is eSportsBetting?

The biggest games, such Base Defence and Arena Battle games League of Legends and Defence of the Ancients (Dota), regularly draw millions of viewers at their top tournaments. With such a big following, eSports Betting in the UK has grown massively in recent years, with many of the big online betting sites offering odds on tournaments.

Let's have a closer look at some of the best methods to make minimum deposits with in 2024.

Aside from the two giant Multiplayer Online Battle Arena games, or MOBAs, the next biggest game out there right now is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,or CS:GO. This tactical first-person shooter pits terrorists and counter terrorists in a fight to the death.

To round out the list of games that regularly appear in eSports Betting sections at UK online bookies we have: World of Warcraft developer Blizzard's Overwatch, perennial teenage favourite Call of Duty, the legendary RTS StarCraft II and up-and-coming car football (yes, car football) game Rocket League.

Related Guides

Call of Duty

Forget 12-year-olds shouting in their bedrooms about 'no scoping' or 'spawn camping', competitive CoD is serious business. While less eSports-focused than many of its rivals, this popular yearly series still pulls in hundreds of thousands of viewers at big tourneys, and CoDeSportsbetting is growing steadily.

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Counter Strike: Global Offensive

Another long-term fan favourite, this tactical First-Person Shooter doesn't have a regular league like many other eSports. It still manages to be one of the most popular gaming options, though, bringing in audiences of millions whenever a big tournament rolls around - and with it plenty of CS:GO betting.

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Dota 2

The videogame purist's answer to League of Legends. This MOBA was developed by Valve and has made millionaires, and documentary stars, out of a number of its teenage players.

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FIFA

If you know football, you probably know FIFA. The closest you'll get to a traditional sport in eSports (no flaming dragons or rocket launchers here), some real-life football clubs have even signed up FIFA players to play under their banner. Consequently, FIFA betting online also attracts a lot of fans.

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League of Legends

The big daddy of eSports, RIOT Games' 5v5 MOBA is the most popular video game in the world. In 2017 the World Championship finals were held in front of 80,000 fans at the Beijing National Stadium. GGWP. League of Legends eSportsbetting is hugely popular in the UK, and easy to find odds for.

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Overwatch

The second game from World of Warcraft developer Blizzard on this list, this cartoony hybrid of an FPS and a MOBA has proven wildly popular. Oh, and the UK team only made it to the last 8 of the World Cup in 2017 too! Time to put a bet on?

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StarCraft II

The old man of the eSports scene, this space-based Real Time Strategy game was wowing huge audiences in South Korea well before eSports was even a glimmer in the rest of the world's eye.

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eSports Betting Tips

Always bet on the South Koreans.

Obviously, there's a lot more to betting on eSports than this and there are many exceptions but, as a general rule, South Korean gamers dominate the tournaments and leagues of every single esport they take part in. In fact, in League of Legends, four out of the five World Championships they have competed in, have been won by Korean teams.

Predictably though, eSports have now been around for long enough that betting sites have clocked onto this fact, meaning your odds are no longer as good as they would have been a few years ago. However, it is still a solid tip that 9 times out of 10 you shouldn't back a Western player or team against Korean opposition.

Other than that, the usual sports betting tips apply when betting on eSports in the UK. Make sure you have a good understanding of odds and then compare different online bookmakers to find good value odds that don't accurately reflect what you think a team or player's chances of winning are.

In all honesty, there is no substitute for game knowledge here. To understand more about the one that appeals to you:

01
Watch games
02
Play the game
03
Read internet forums (Reddit is hugely popular among eSports fans)

Luckily for you, unlike traditional sports, the vast majority of eSports matches are available to watch for free online shortly after the event as Video on Demand - or VODS as they are known in the community.

Placing Your eSports Bets

Regardless whether or not you're familiar with eSports, the process of placing your real money bet is almost identical to any other sport. Just find your online bookie of choice (hopefully having considered our helpful reviews and toplist first), check they offer the specific esport you're interested in, make a deposit and then place your bet.

We do recommend that you do some research, both on your particular game and general betting tips, before you place a bet.

eSports Betting
on Mobile

eSports is a high-tech business, so what better way to bet on your favourite CS:GO or LoL team than using the latest technology to place wagers on-the-go?

Most online bookies will now let you place real money bets on eSports matches, without you needing to be chained to your desktop. The fast-paced nature of many eSports games - CS:GO & Overwatch, we're looking at you - means they also lend themselves to mobile viewers. This makes mobile eSports betting in the UK the obvious next step.

Whether you're betting from an Android tablet or an Apple smartphone, you can usually bet on eSports from your mobile device's browser or through a dedicated sports betting app. To find the best mobile apps and sites to bet from, visit our reviews or take a look at our recommended list where you'll get the perfect mobile eSports betting experience!

Betting Online with Mobile Devices

Your Ultimate Odds Guide

For a novice bettor on any sport, odds can seem confusing. This is doubly so with eSports, where the teams, games and players are not instantly recognisable to those outside of the scene.

Almost any British punter could tell you that Manchester United at 20/1 to beat Aldershot Town is a brilliant bet - and clearly the odds compilers got something terribly wrong. But knowing that 8/3 on Cloud 9 to beat Snake eSports in an IEM tournament is a great value bet? That requires a little more knowledge and insight, both in general betting knowledge and League of Legends specifically.

So how do betting odds work?

Essentially, the odds are the chance of a particular outcome occurring. For example, in League - no draws are possible, so either one team or the other will win.

Let's look at our Cloud 9 8/3 example again.

Basically, this means:

  • Out of 8 games against Snake eSports
  • The bookies (using insider knowledge, form & other factors) predict Cloud 9 will win 3 of them

If you know League of Legends, you can see why this is a great bet. Cloud 9 (a top 3 team from North America) are clearly the superior team compared to Snake eSports (low-tier Chinese team) and would almost definitely win more games than 3 out of 8, should the two go head to head on Summoner's Rift.

But the odds don't just tell you what the bookies think is the likelihood of your betting outcome. They also tell you how much money you will win if your bet comes through. For example, let's start simple:

  • 1/2 means for every £2 you bet, you will win £1
  • So if you bet £10 you will win £5 + your stake, for a total of £12

So far, so simple? Well, hold your horses. Let's go back to our Cloud 9 bet from earlier for a more complex example:

  • At 8/3, for every £3 you bet you will win £8
  • So if you bet £18, you will win:
  • 18 divided by 3 = 6
  • So, 6 x £8 + your original stake, totalling £66 back

Also bear in mind that many odds can be simplified to the smallest fraction, for example 4/8 is the same as 1/2.

Whether you're betting from an Android tablet or an Apple smartphone, you can usually bet on eSports from your mobile device's browser or through a dedicated sports betting app. To find the best mobile apps and sites to bet from, visit our reviews or take a look at our recommended list where you'll get the perfect mobile eSports betting experience!

eSports Betting Promos & Bonuses

Whether you're betting on the 3.45 at Cheltenham, Fnatic to take the most dragons in their EU LCS game against Misfits or Gambit Gaming to beat Gamers2 at Dreamhack (that's a bad bet by the way) - bets are always better when they're free!

Luckily for you, we've found some of the best offers and promotional deals available around the web so you can enjoy your betting experience even more knowing it was (at least partially) free.

So what kind of bonuses can you use to make eSport bets?

Free bets are pretty much what they sound like. Usually, if you make a £10 bet on eSports, say, then the bookies will match that or just give you a set amount, such as £20/30, to bet on whatever you want afterwards. There may be some restrictions on how and when you can cash out with these bets though, so it is best to place them at a reputable and straightforward site, like the ones we recommend and review.

Insurance offers usually allow you to get your stake back if your bet loses, although these are often applied to accumulators. Lastly, online bookies will often offer special odds on important eSports matches in order to differentiate themselves from the competition.

Look out for keynote eSports events such as the League of Legends World Championship, DOTA 2's The International or the various tournaments played at Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) tournaments, to find top promo offers like these when betting on eSports in the UK.

Biggest Games & Tournaments in eSports

The International

The International is DotA 2's premier international tournament, offering the biggest prize fund in eSports. The last International was watched by 5 million concurrent viewers, which while impressive, still lags behind League of Legend's offering.

League of Legends World Championships

The biggest eSports event in the world, this tournament has been held in huge venues across the globe from the Staples Centre in LA to the Seoul World Cup Stadium. From humble beginnings in Season 1 at Jonkoping in Sweden, to bringing in over 15 million concurrent viewers at its peak and filling out stadiums in Beijing, these yearly tournaments helped to set up eSports as a truly global phenomenon.

IEM

Intel Extreme Masters events are held regularly all over the world, from Shanghai, China to Katowice, Poland. They bring together many different esports titles, players and teams for top tier tournaments in front of thousands of fans. The biggest from an eSports betting perspective are their League of Legends tournaments which attract some of the world's best and most well-known teams.

DreamHack

In a similar vein to IEM tournaments (in fact they now partner together for some events) DreamHack events are held all over the world. As a grassroots digital festival, DreamHack still stays true to this underground ethos and hosts tournaments for less popular eSports including Nintendo's Super Smash Bros, Blizzard's MOBA Heroes of the Storm and a few others. Their main attraction from an online eSports betting standpoint is usually CS: GO.

Overwatch World Cup

Since Overwatch is a relatively new game, this tournament doesn't have the same pedigree as some of the others. However, the international country-based element to the competition gives it a little something extra. First run in 2016, the cup was won by South Korea (without dropping a single game no less) and was just shy of 700,000 concurrent viewers at its peak. This year, the UK team qualified for the top 8 tournament finals in LA, narrowly beating out Chinese Taipei in the qualifying final.

eSportsBets Explained

Outrights

The standard sports bet, familiar to most UK sports bettors and even people who don't gamble. You literally just bet on either team or player to win the match outright. You get nothing if your selection loses and, in games that can include draws, you get nothing then either.

Accumulators

If you want to make multiple outright bets, you can stack them up and increase your rewards by turning them into an accumulator! On the downside, if one of your bets loses, they all lose and you make nothing. But if they all win, you can literally make thousands off a very small bet. In fact, some of the biggest sports betting wins of all time have come from accumulators.

Specials

Specials bets let you bet on all sorts of interesting stats related to the games.

This market is where eSports betting in the UK really shines. Every single esport has its own unique range of special bets that stray far beyond the goals scored, number of points or number of corners in other sports. Can you imagine betting on the number of elemental dragons slain in the 1.35 at Ascot, or for Harry Kane to go on a legendary killing spree against Stoke?

For the most exciting specials bets in any sports in 2024, you want to look at eSports!

In-Play

Just like most other sports, you can now bet on eSports matches in-play, or rather during the game. Many eSports are suited to this kind of betting since a lot of them are fast paced and can give you quick resolutions on your bets.

FAQs

The three most popular esports that you can bet on are League of Legends, DotA 2 and CS:GO. You can also add to that a huge list of titles available at specific points in the year, usually during their biggest tournaments, as well a host of more niche titles offered by eSports only betting sites. All in all, you'll find you can bet on almost any game that has a professional scene!

Odds in eSports Betting work in the same way as most other sports, using either fractional, decimal or line odds. You can find a short explanation of odds above, or a longer and more comprehensive walk through in our odds guide.

Yes, definitely! Many UK bookmakers offer exclusive free bet bonuses for eSports bettors, as they try to attract new custom in this fast-growing market. For the best and most generous offers, you can check out our suggested list of recommended sites further up this page.

All the usual sports bets, from tournament outrights to special or in-play bets. If you can bet on it in traditional sports, you probably can in eSports too! On top of this, you have all the game-specific special bets, such as most dragons slain in League of Legends or most bombs defused in CS:GO.

Funnily enough, right here! Our dedicated team of eSports experts joined our traditional sports betting analysts in reviewing a range of UK online bookies that offer eSports, to help find you the top sites to bet on your favourite teams and players in this exciting and emerging market. You can be certain that great odds, smooth user experiences, a good range of eSports games and total security are all on offer at our recommended sites.

FAQs

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