Esports betting: how the business works

Esports betting means betting on professional competitions in video games such as Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Dota 2 and Valorant. For licensed sportsbooks it is simply another sport with its own calendar; its audience is younger and more online than for traditional sport, which shapes how it can be marketed.

Markets and pricing

Match winner, map winner, handicaps and totals, much like traditional sports markets.
In-game markets, such as the first team to reach a milestone, which need fast official data.
Prices come from specialist esports trading suppliers or in-house teams, with margins that are usually higher than on major football because the markets are less liquid.

Integrity and data

Lower-tier esports competitions are vulnerable to match fixing because players' salaries are small compared with what can be bet. Integrity units, official data rights and tournament organisers' monitoring play a larger role than in most sports.

Skins and unlicensed products

Betting with in-game items ("skins") grew outside regulation and has been the subject of enforcement in several markets. Licensed operators bet in money under their normal licence; skins gambling sites generally hold no licence where their players live.