Sports Betting, College Football, Political Betting Markets
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An experienced bettor with a decade writing about sports and gambling, Dan's expertise includes college football, college basketball, golf, the NFL and more.
Esports betting is rapidly growing, with top sports betting sites like BetMGM, DraftKings, and FanDuel offering competitive odds and diverse markets. In this guide, we focus on the best Esports leagues and markets for 2024, highlighting key features and overall user experience.
Esports betting is rapidly growing, with top sports betting sites like BetMGM, DraftKings, and FanDuel offering competitive odds and diverse markets. In this guide, we focus on the best Esports leagues and markets for 2024, highlighting key features and overall user experience.
Major tournaments now feature prize pools in excess of $10 million, and Esports broadcasts are among the most viewed events on the planet. The gambling community has taken notice of the undeniable force behind these competitions, and betting markets for them are making more and more appearances with sportsbooks every day.
Note: Unfortunately, few US jurisdictions have legal Esports betting, so odds listed below typically are from European bookmakers.
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Can you create your own personalised bets?
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Can you create your own personalised bets?
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Must be 18+ to participate. T&Cs Apply.
Massachusetts bettors must be 21+ and present to place wagers in the state. Gambling problem in Massachusetts? Play it smart from the start! GamesenseMA.com or Call 1-800-327-5050 to speak with a trained specialist free and confidentially 24/7. Full Terms apply
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Can you create your own personalised bets?
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Must be 18+/19+ NE, US Residents Only. Must be physically located in AK, AR, CA, DC, FL, GA, IL, KS, KY, MN, NE, NM, NC, ND, OK, OR, RI, SC, SD, TX, UT, VT, or WI.? If you or someone you know has a gaming problem, get help online at www.icrg.org, www.ncpgambling.org, or https://responsibleplay.org, or call 1-800-426-2537 or 1-800-522-4700. T&Cs Apply.
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10
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not required
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Can you create your own personalised bets?
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The code required to claim this sign-up bonus (if any)
not required
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iOS App
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Live Streaming
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Can you create your own personalised bets?
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FanDuel is at the top of daily fantasy sports providers. The platform offers hundreds of contests daily with some specifically designed for beginners. The platform, together with DraftKings, is a pioneer of the DFS genre.
Esports encompass any kind of event where players compete against one another in video games. The sheer variety of games which can be used for such competitions in vast and varied, which serves to create a multitude of markets that appeal to a wide range of spectators. Whether it be in offerings like CS:GO, Overwatch, League of Legends, DOTA 2, or Fortnite fans enjoy seeing these games played at the highest levels of skill on the planet, and tune in by the millions. At this point it is estimated that over 70 million people worldwide watch Esports, and world championships in the biggest games can draw over 25 million viewers on their own. This ability to find large numbers of viewers across a spectrum of interests all under one Esports umbrella has caught the attention of advertisers and odds makers alike.
Best Esports betting sites
We have signed to the top sportsbooks below and, based on criteria such as betting offers, odds, markets, and features, these are the best sites for Esports betting.
There are Esports competitions running almost continually throughout the year, in a number of games and leagues. Many feature a seasonal format like traditional sports leagues. However, not every league or game registers enough interest to make the sportsbooks. Below are some of the tournaments and seasons that DO, however.
The International - This tournament focuses on the game Defense of the Ancients 2, better known as Dota 2, and is put on by Valve, the company that makes the game. It is a free-to-play game, and fundraising for the tournament is raised through the sale of digital booklets called Compendiums, which fans buy to get special offers and rewards. The 2014 version of the tournament featured the largest Esports prize pool ever, over $10 million, and that number has already been surpassed for the 2015 version thanks to compendium sales.
Smite World Champpionships - Another tournament put on by the game makers, this one sponsored by Hi-Rez studios and showcasing their free-to-play game Smite. A relatively new game in the Esports world, the success of this tournament in terms of prize money, viewers, and buzz should lead to more major Smite competitions in the future.
League of Legends World Championionship - Yet another event starring a free-to-play game, in this case the insanely popular League of Legends. The 2014 version of this event attracted over 27 million unique viewers over the course of the month-long competition, with 11 million concurrent viewers at one point.
Where to Bet and Who to Bet On
A number of sportsbooks will add Esports odds for major tournaments, while forward-thinking bookies will permanently list Esports alongside their traditional sports odds. These can be found on sites featuring NJ sportsbooks for example.
As for whom to bet on, it all depends on the competition. Some major teams like Samsung Galaxy (sponsored by the electronics company of the same name) and Team Liquid feature rosters that compete in a variety of games, other players and groups specialize in specific games, and can present major obstacles to some of the bigger teams.
Fortunately, journalistic coverage of Esports is increasing alongside the sport itself, and some quick searching can give a gambler a good feel for the top teams and players heading into any competition. Esports are here to stay, and odds makers have come to realize that.
History of Esports
The earliest known video game competition took place at America’s Stanford University all the way back in 1972, when students were invited to compete in the game Spacewar. The winner of the event claimed a year’s subscription to Rolling Stone magazine. In 1980 game maker Atari held the first major-scale tournament, The Space Invaders Championship, which boasted over 10,000 competitors. Throughout the 80s, tournaments were held around the world, with the biggest drawback being that in order to compete with one another players needed to be in the same physical location, often in arcades.
As early as 1988, however, games found their way to the internet, allowing players across the world to play against one another. It was in the 2000s that the current culture around Esports truly began to emerge. In 2002 Major League Gaming was founded, and the organization still actively puts on major tournaments in a number of games. In South Korea, dedicated television channels covered games such as StarCraft and Warcraft III 24 hours a day, revealing the market for such programming.
In recent years, internet streaming through services such as Twitch has even better married consumer and product, taking advantage of the same internet that pushed Esports to their current level. Mainstream companies have recognized this, and made major pushes into the market as well, with Amazon spending nearly $1 billion to buy Twitch last year, while American sports broadcasting giant ESPN bought the rights to stream the League of Legends final on their ESPN3 platform. Recent years have also seen prize pools for individual tournaments exceed $10 million, with $5 million plus going to teams that claim the top spot.