Esports Odds

Top bettors often place simultaneous bets on multiple esports betting sites, with the goal of guaranteeing themselves a profit regardless of the match outcome. Our esports odds comparison tool makes the best esports betting odds much easier to notice.

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The fundamentals of esports betting odds

When you bet on esports, you’re constantly working with the latest esports odds. These odds represent two things: the returns you will get in case of a correct prediction and the likelihood that a team will win, from the bookmaker’s perspective.

When you bet with real money on a team whose odds are 2.00, the bookmaker has assessed that its odds of winning are slightly below 50% and you will get a 100% return on your wager if you win the bet.

How esports odds are calculated

Bookmakers determine the odds of an esports match based on a number of factors. Their goal is to have an accurate representation of how likely it is for a team to win. The more likely it is, the lower that team’s odds are going to be. The list includes:

1. The team’s recent performance
   When teams prove to be in great shape by defeating strong opponents right before a certain match, bookmakers take this into account and decrease their odds because their probability of success is higher. But if a team is on a huge win streak and doesn’t seem capable of winning even against relatively weak opponents, their odds will go up.
2. Recent roster changes
   Roster changes usually affect a team’s performance in a negative way because they decrease cohesion. But sometimes, if the new player is much stronger than the one that got replaced, the bookmakers will regard the team as being more likely to win than before.
3. Home advantage
   In esports, this concept is less relevant than in traditional sports like football, but it’s still relevant enough to be taken into account. For example, if a Brazilian CS:GO team plays in Brazil, their chance of success against any opponent is regarded as being considerably higher.
4. Community behaviour
   If a lot of people bet against a team, that team’s odds will naturally go up. This encourages some people to bet on an upset.
5. Past head-to-head results
   Head-to-head results are one of the most important factors taken into account by bookmakers, especially if those results involved the exact same rosters. If a team already lost three times this season against its upcoming opponent, that team’s odds of success are regarded as being low.
6. Data analysis
   Esports games are not all the same. Each esport is different and has its own peculiarities. Bookmakers will try to take into account as many tiny factors as possible when determining how likely a team is to succeed.
7. Other factors
   Even if there hasn’t been any obvious change that could affect the result of the match, there are other factors that have the potential to do this, such as a player’s health. Sometimes, players receive bad news from their family right before a match and even tweet about it. Bookmakers try to take such things into account whenever possible.

The three main representations of esports odds

Esports odds come in three representations, just like sports betting odds. Based on your preferred bookmakers, some of these representations might feel more familiar than others. These are the three existing types:

1. Fractional odds
   For the UK betting market, fractional odds are the most common and they look like this: A/B, where A represents your potential profit while B represents the amount you’ll have to wager to make that profit.
   For Example: if a team’s odds are 3/1, you’ll need to wager £1 to make a profit of £3. The total amount returned to you will be £4, for an obvious reason: when you win, you also get your wager back.
2. Decimal odds
   Decimal esports odds are also very popular and they look like this: 2.00, 1.85, 1.35. These odds are really intuitive and they constitute the number by which your wager will be multiplied. So if you bet £1 on a team whose odds are 2.00, you will receive £1 * 2.00 = £2. In essence, you will double your money.
3. American odds
   American esports odds are the hardest to understand and they look like this: -x/+y. When you bet on the favourite, you need to wager £x to make a profit of £100. When you bet on the underdog, you will make a profit of £y for each £100 you bet. The key thing to keep in mind is that the x value is associated with the favourite while the y value is associated with the underdog.

What is the VIG factor

The VIG factor, also known as Vigorish or “the vig,” plays a pivotal role in esports betting. It’s essentially the bookmaker’s commission on an esports event. In simpler terms, it’s the percentage that the bookmaker retains as profit.

Understanding the VIG is essential for bettors as it helps assess the true cost of placing a bet and the implied probability of a particular outcome. The VIG is calculated as follows:

VIG (%) = (1 / Odds for Outcome A) + (1 / Odds for Outcome B) – 1

Where Outcome A and Outcome B represent the two possible outcomes of a given bet, and “1” is subtracted from the sum to account for the bookmaker’s profit margin.

Here’s a crucial insight: the lower the VIG, the better it is for the player. A lower VIG indicates that the bookmaker is taking a smaller commission, which means there’s more potential value for bettors. By grasping the VIG factor and how it’s calculated, you gain insights into the bookmaker’s profit margin, enabling you to make more informed betting decisions and potentially identify value bets with a higher chance of success. It’s a crucial tool in the arsenal of any savvy esports bettor.

What sites offer the best esports odds?

For a perfectly even match, no bookmaker will give you 2.00 – 2.00 odds. The odds will look a lot more like 1.85 – 1.85. However, some bookmakers tend to be a bit more generous and give you 1.90 – 1.90 odds. The best ones are listed below.

Rank	Betting Site	Odd Value Score
#1	bet365	95
#2	Paddy Power	95
#3	Betfair	90
#4	Parimatch	75
#5	Midnite	70

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Take advantage of boosted esports odds

Boosted esports odds are simply odds that are increased by various betting bonuses offered by the bookmaker. Every major esports betting site offers such bonuses under special conditions.

After you apply a 100% bonus, if the odds of the team you are betting on are 2.00, they will become 4.00. So you’re practically getting the opportunity to double your profit without doubling your level of risk. In most cases, bonuses are much smaller, ranging from 10% to 25%.

Three bookmakers that offer boosted esports odds are these:

1. LeoVegas
   LeoVegas is known for its generous bonuses and promotions for esports betting enthusiasts. Their boosted esports odds can significantly enhance your potential winnings.
2. Betway
   Betway offers competitive boosted odds on a wide range of esports events. With Betway, you can take advantage of special promotions to increase your betting value.
3. Pinnacle
   Pinnacle is renowned for its low-margin approach, which means that when they offer boosted esports odds, you can expect attractive returns. Keep an eye on their promotions for esports events.

The bonuses available for LeoVegas esports odds, Betway esports odds, and Pinnacle esports odds vary based on the bookmaker’s decisions. But even a small bonus can greatly increase your profit if you know how to use it.

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What are the available esports betting markets?

Esports odds are available for a wide variety of esports betting markets, and bookmakers will usually give you the possibility to bet on a lot more than just the result of the match.

Pre-match esports odds

Pre-match esports odds are those that are available before the match begins. As soon as the match starts, some of them become unavailable while others start to change based on what is happening.

1. Match markets
   Examples of match markets include: map winner, handicap betting, unders/overs, and many more. Most of them are esport dependent, in the sense that they are only applicable to one esport genre or even one particular game.
2. Outright markets
   Outright markets are associated with entire tournaments of esports titles like Dota 2 or League of Legends and are often available for major events. Before a competition or a league starts, you can often place a bet on who you think will win it or its outright winner.

Live esports odds

After a match begins, many betting markets remain open and the esports odds associated with them change frequently, based on what goes on between the two teams. A bookmaker will usually temporarily suspend these markets during the important moments of the game, reassess the situation, and then open them again.

If you want to place live bets, be prepared to act quickly. Because in competitive gaming, live odds are very unpredictable and the opportunities often last for less than 5 seconds.

Esports odds cash-outs

Bookmakers usually give you the chance to cash-out before the end of the game. However, you’ll need to do it while taking a partial loss or a partial gain. It all depends on the action.

If you placed a bet on a team and that team played worse than you expected, you’ll lose a percentage of your wager when you get your money out. But if they played better, you’ll make a profit, but not all the profit that you would have made if you decided to wait until the end and not cash-out early.

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The usefulness of an esports betting odds calculator

If you’re not comfortable with math calculations, you can use a calculator to figure out what your profit will be based on the odds and your wagers. Here’s an example:

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How to improve your odds of success

Improving your odds of success when placing esports bets requires you to have good knowledge of the games that you’re betting on. Apart from that, you can also use various betting techniques.

1. Take advantage of bonuses
   Whenever you use a bonus, you can afford to take a lower risk for the same amount of profit. This is one of the best ways of improving your success.
2. Use a rational approach
   If you develop your own betting system, your decisions will be a lot more rational and you will know in advance how to maximize profits and minimize losses.
3. Use an esports odds checker
   This type of tool will simplify the process of finding the best odds and spotting the opportunities created by the opinion differences between the bookmakers.
4. Use multiple betting sites
   There’s nothing stopping you from using 5 betting sites instead of one. If you do that, you can make better use of the hedging method to guarantee that you will make a profit regardless of the result of the match. If a bookmaker gives one of the teams high odds of success while another one has already decided to regard them as almost certain losers, that creates a great opportunity.

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Esports odds vary by game

Each esport has a series of unique betting markets that you can explore and take advantage of. The better you understand an esport, the more specific you’ll want to be when placing your bets. And to further improve your understanding of what is available, consider studying the betting markets of each major esport.

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Tutorial completed

Esports odds are very easy to understand and function just like traditional sports odds. Each esport has its own betting markets but some markets apply to all competitive video games. Now that you’ve learned how the system works, you can start placing bets on your favourite esports by simply signing up on your preferred esports betting site.

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FAQs