eSports betting has come a long way since it was introduced for the first time, even though a small amount of time has passed since then. Namely, in the early days, the options that punters had at their disposal, i.e. both the bet types and the number of eSports and particular competitions that were offered for betting was pretty limited.
Now you can bet on practically every video game that is played competitively, i.e. which can be classified as an eSport, and when it comes to the types of bets there are a lot of options. Firstly, there are a number of markets with multiple available selections, and secondly there are different types of bets in regards to the number of selections that are included in the bet slip.
First we start with match betting. That is the simplest type of bet and most punters start with this market when they are inexperienced and new, and only later they move onto other more complicated types of bets.
With match betting you simply need to predict which one of the two teams is going to win a particular match. You don’t need to guess how fast will they win, what will be the final score, how many rounds will the two teams need to play before a winner is determined, nothing of that, just which team wins the match.
One of the teams will usually be the favourite and the odds for them to win will be lower, whereas the other team, the one that is less likely to win will be offered at higher odds.
Draws aren’t very common in eSports, but there are certain eSports, and certain competitions and tournament formats where it is possible for a game to end in a draw. In that case bookmakers will also allow you to bet that the game will end in a draw. Betting where there are two options is known as 2-way betting, whereas a market where are 3 possible outcomes is known as 3-way betting.
Bear in mind that even if the draw is an option, the game might go to overtime, an extra round, so that one of the teams can claim a win. If that is the case and you place a selection from a market where the draw is also an option, you will lose your bet even if your team wins after the overtimes, simply because the game wasn’t settled in the regular period. Sometimes the bookies will often a special market where the option of a draw is eliminated and in that case your bet will stand even if the team wins during the overtime.
Handicap betting became a very popular betting option among football punters, and punters in general, and it has become a pretty popular eSports betting option as well. Basically, the logic behind handicap betting is the following – as one of the teams is usually the favourite, it results with a vast majority of punters betting on that team, which creates an uneven situation.
The bookmaker might even lose money even though the odds for the favourites are pretty low, especially if a large percentage of the bets are on the favourite. That’s why, with handicap betting, the underdogs are given an imaginary advantage at the beginning.
For example, if a match is played in a best of 3 format, the handicap betting market will give the underdog an advantage of 1.5 rounds, which means that in order to win, the favourite will have to win in two rounds. If the underdog manages to win at least one round, then a handicap bet on the favourite to win will be lost. Handicap betting is known as spread betting in the US.
When the format is not best of 3, but best of 5 or some other format, the handicap advantage can be formulated differently. In some cases, the bookmakers will offer multiple handicap betting options. For example, the underdogs may have an advantage of 0.5, or 1.5 rounds, but an additional advantage may be given to the favourite as well. In that case, the odds for the stronger team to win will be even lower, due to the fact that they have been given extra advantage.
The advantage is usually expressed in numbers ending in 0.5, in order to eliminate the opportunity for a draw. For example, if the underdog is given an advantage of 1 round, and the game is played in a best of 3 format, if the favourite wins 2 rounds and the opponent just 1, the result would be 2-2, which would be a draw. Whenever you’re placing a handicap bet, make sure that you understand the propositions and the rules, so that any possible confusions would be avoided.
Over/under is another very popular option. Here you bet on the total number of rounds that will be played before a winner is decided. A decimal number is given and you need to predict if there will be more or fewer rounds or maps. The referent number depends on the match format. If it’s best of 3, the number will be 2.5 and you’ll need to guess whether there’ll be fewer than 2.5 (which is 2), or more than 2.5 rounds (which is 3).
However, the offered number may vary. If an eSports is played in a larger number of rounds, then there might be multiple options. For example, if the format is best of 5, then the bookmaker might offer both 3.5 and 4.5 and the odds for each selection will vary depending on the likelihood of the particular outcome.
If a game is played on multiple maps, and each map is divided into rounds, the bookmaker may offer over/under betting both for the total number of maps, but also the number of rounds, either per map or in general.
Correct score is one of the most difficult bets, but it also offers some of the best pay-outs. Here you try to predict not only which team is going to win, but also what will be the result per rounds or maps. If the game is played in a best of 5 format, for instance, you can bet that team X will win 3-1.
Win margin is where you need to predict the margin by which a team is going to win. For example, if you bet that they will win by two 2 maps, and the game is played in a best of 5 format, then the results of 3-1 and will make your bet winning. The difference between win margin and correct score is that here you don’t need to guess which team will win. Some bookmakers offer markets where you need to predict the winning team, but the margin is expressed as ‘win by two maps or more’, in which case both 3-0 and 3-1 will result in a winning bet.
Specialist bets are all bets that don’t fall into the above mentioned categories. They are less common and have been introduced later than the main categories. However, specialist bets are gaining popularity and many punters prefer them to standard betting markets. The number and range of specialist bets depend on the policy of the bookmaker and the particular eSport. Some eSports offer the possibility of multiple specialist markets.
For example, whenever it is applicable, punters may bet on the first team that will draw first blood, or the first team that will reach 5 or 10 kills (or any other types of scores) during the first map. A similar bet might be wagered for each of the following maps. Make sure that you understand the bet propositions and what needs to happen for your bet to win, only then you’d be able to evaluate the probability of the bet.
Outright or tournament betting is betting on a tournament, or a competitions as a whole, rather than betting on individual matches. The most common bet is tournament winner, where you need to predict which team will win the tournament.
Naturally, the odds for the highest ranked teams, the favourites are the lowest. In addition to tournament winner, you can also bet on whether a particular team will reach the semi-finals, or the quarter finals and numerous other options. These bets cannot be combined with bets on matches that are part of the same tournament.
You may include multiple selections in your bet slip and you may combine them in different ways. The simplest bet is of course the single bet, which is consisted of just one selections. The situation is clear here, either you win, or you lose, except in the case where, for some reason, the bet is voided.
Placing a bet on multiple selections, where all selections need to win, in order for the bet to win as a whole is another popular option. When a bet is consisted of 2 selections it is a double, when it is consisted of 3 selections it is a triple, and if there are more than 3 selections it is called an accumulator or an acca. Generally, you can combine any eSports selections, as well as other sports selections, as long as they are not on the same match, or a somehow connected in a way that the outcome of the one match is going to affect the outcome of the other.
The more selections you add to your accumulator bet slip and the more money you wager on it, the higher your potential winnings would be.
System bets are bets placed on multiple selections where all selections don’t have to win in order for a bet to win as a whole. With the ‘x out of y’ format, you pick a number of selections and as long as a sufficient smaller number of selections win, your bet will win as well. For example, if your system bet is 3 out of 5, then you will win as long as 3, 4 or all selections win. There’s a specific mathematical formula that is used to calculate your winnings.
There are many traditional system bets where all selections are combined in different ways. For example, if you pick 4 selections, then you may place single bets on all 4, then doubles on all possible combinations consisted of 2 selections, triples on all possible combinations of 3 selections and a 4-fold acca. This particular combination is called Luck 15, whereas if you exclude the 4 singles, it is a Yankee.
