Internet’s Best Esports Betting Sites

Everybody knows that practice makes perfect, and even champions need to train hard to maintain their status. The same rule applies to esports betting. This part of our website won’t make you a successful bettor, but it will surely put you on the right track.

Both beginner and pro bettors should find this resource useful because the esports industry is changing all the time. We are here to help you keep up with it by providing the latest and the most accurate esports-related info.

In addition to all the tips and advice you’ll find here, we also review and list the best and the most trustworthy esports betting sites. As esports is rapidly growing in popularity, new sites are springing up like mushrooms after rain. We rank the best esports betting sites in several different categories to make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for.

Most new sites are rather shady, and it’s our job to point out the good-looking ones that are legit. How do you recognize a good esports betting site? There are a lot of factors that go into this process, which we will cover later, but take a look at a few examples.

The betting sites we recommend need to handle document and financial transaction security the right way from start to finish. That means a secure encrypted upload process for any documents they need and for all financial transactions, as well as storage of documents and player records on a properly secured server.

The backbone of all of this is government oversight. Regulation by a state or federal gambling board provides the enforcement tools needed to ensure that betting sites stay on the straight and narrow. The safest sites are those that have strong regulatory oversight.

Nothing puts a damper on that big tournament win like having the payout process drag out for days (or weeks). If you’re concerned about getting your winnings in a timely manner, these are the sites to seek out. They offer a variety of withdrawal methods and have an excellent track record of processing payments quickly.

The sites we recommend have good payment policies and a great track record of living up to them. Some also offer special enhanced payment methods to VIP players that allow them to speed up their withdrawals, sometimes making money available to them instantly! The only thing better than hitting that string of Dota 2 or Rocket League parlay picks is seeing the money hit your bank account the very same day.

We look for sites that understand esports and what bettors are looking for. Sites that offer multiple withdrawal methods and that have a reputation for fast payments through any and all of them. Each method should also be conducted with proper security measures in place, and customer service should be available around the clock in case any issues pop up.

Aside from offering a much wider range of action, one of the biggest benefits of esports betting on the internet is the flexibility in payment methods. While land-based sportsbooks are pretty much a cash-only business, online esports betting sites let you fund your account with just about everything other than cash!

You can break down the payment methods into the following major groups.

God bless internet gaming. While a standard sportsbook would never dream of taking your credit card for an esports bet, it’s a cornerstone payment method at any fast-payout esports betting site. The two biggest names in the industry, Visa and Mastercard (or Maestro Card, depending on where you hail from), are accepted just about anywhere in the world you’d like to play. If you’re playing in the United Kingdom or Europe, you’ll also find quite a few betting sites that accept the Diner’s Club International card.

The best news is that you can also usually withdraw funds as a credit back to your Visa card. Withdrawals are more spotty with Mastercard, however. It used to be more common, but it seems the company has started to frown upon allowing sportsbook withdrawals (though they still allow deposits in most territories where gambling is legal).

E-wallets are the various convenient online payment services like PayPal. PayPal is indeed available as a sportsbook withdrawal method in many areas. Two other big names are Skrill and Neteller, which have been big in Europe for some time now and are starting to gain footing in the United States thanks to legalized esports betting in New Jersey and other states. Those three are the big kahunas in online betting right now, the ones you can expect most betting sites to support. Other big names have been slower to embrace online esports betting, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see them fall in line as more and more states in America allow some form of legalized sports betting.

If you would prefer to receive and send money directly from your bank account, that’s an option at many fast-paying esports betting sites, too. Just about any betting site will support direct wire transfers at a minimum. These can be a bit of a problem for withdrawals, however. They take the longest amount of time of any method, and they often have the heftiest fees attached to them. VIP players can sometimes get breaks on the transfer times and fees from the betting site, but for the most part, a standard wire transfer isn’t the best choice for most esports bettors.

There are some other options that make bank transfers faster and more inexpensive, however. If you are in a territory with legal gambling, your bank might allow you to connect with the betting site for transfers using your online bill pay feature. In territories such as the United Kingdom, some third-party direct money transfer services like DIRECTebanking and Citadel Instant Banking have popped up to speed up and secure the process (at the cost of a transaction fee).

An industry of prepaid cards that guarantee approval for esports betting site deposits and withdrawals has sprung up in response to the occasional issues with more traditional banking methods. Some of the big names in this sector are Paysafecard and Wyrz, and some betting sites and casinos even offer their own unique branded prepaid card. You usually don’t need the physical card in your possession to use these; you can sign up online and immediately begin depositing funds and using the number for payments and withdrawals.

Before jumping into any prepaid card, however, be sure to check the terms and conditions for that card type at each fast-payout esports betting site you plan to play at. Some sites allow deposits by prepaid card, but not withdrawals to certain kinds.

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin can be one of the fastest withdrawal methods of all. The only issue is volatility; holding them is kind of a gamble in itself. By the time you’re ready to withdraw your funds, they could be worth significantly more or less than they were just a few hours ago!

It is sometimes possible to withdraw your online esports winnings in cash. If you’re playing at an online casino or betting site that is tied to a physical location, you may be able to withdraw at the cashier’s cage at that location. For example, this option is very common among the online casinos based in Atlantic City.

There are two main factors in how fast a withdrawal request goes through: the betting site’s internal approval process and the banking method that the money is passing through.

The site’s approval process usually takes no more than 24 hours. This is just an internal review to make sure everything about the transaction is on the up-and-up. It also gives players a period in which to change their minds if they decide they would rather continue playing the funds instead.

The funds are then released to the banking method used, and this is where the transaction times can start varying greatly. A lot of it depends on how friendly that payment method is to online gambling. That’s why e-wallet services like Skrill tend to be very quick, while a transaction with a major credit card will take a while longer.

The betting site can help out VIPs by cutting down the internal processing time, but there’s not much they can do about the delays that the banks put on transferring the funds once they are released.

Hang around betting sites long enough, and you’ll hear some recurring complaints about payouts. Just about all of these situations can be avoided with a combination of simple caution and a little planning ahead, however.

The #1 thing that esports bettors (particularly new ones) get hung up on is rushing into the action too quickly without verifying their accounts first.

When you set up a new account at an esports betting site, you can sometimes deposit and begin wagering right away. However, you won’t be able to withdraw funds until your identity has been verified. At a minimum, you can expect to have to send over a scan of your government-issued photo ID and something like a utility bill or bank statement to prove your place of residence.

It can take up to a few days for these to go through the review process and be accepted. If you’re able to play in the meantime, you’ll have to wait until everything is settled to make a withdrawal.

Depending on where the esports betting site is located, they may need to exchange your currency to cash you out. There is sometimes a fee for this, and it usually adds at least a little time to the withdrawal process.

At this site, we do our very best to recommend fast-payout esports betting sites that are fair to players and above board. Your journeys may take you to some other sites that are not such fair dealers, however.

If you suspect a betting site of dealing in bad faith, such as making up excuses or not responding when you try to withdraw a large win, you have methods of recourse. Any legitimate betting site should be regulated by either the national government or the territory they are based in. These regulatory agencies are the first place to go if you have a complaint.

If the esports betting sites have a loyalty program with a tier system, moving up in the tiers can sometimes bring faster withdrawals as a perk. And if the site has a VIP program, acceptance to that almost certainly will open up faster withdrawals to you. High-stakes esports betting sites often advertise faster withdrawals for high rollers, and when they do, we expect them to honor those terms and treat their VIPs right.

“Manual flushing” is a service that some betting sites offer. A manual flush basically freezes the withdrawal amount so that it can’t be returned to the betting site account in any way. It won’t make withdrawals faster or slower, but it’s good for players who have a problem with continuing to play with funds they’ve already withdrawn while waiting for the process to finish. With the fast-payout esports betting sites we’ve listed here, you won’t have to worry about these withdrawals taking too long.

“Reverse withdrawal” is basically the opposite. If you’ve made a withdrawal, you can initiate a reverse withdrawal to get access to those funds for more betting. Most sites will allow you to play just part of these funds and then withdraw whatever is left, but be aware that this could add some time to the withdrawal procedure.

Choosing the right site to place your bets at is vital, and not only because of the competitive odds, lines, markets, or good value. The most important thing is finding a legit and trustworthy site where your money will be safe, and your experience won’t get ruined by a fraud. Of course, you can dig up the internet and find a site on your own (and we can help you do that, too), but there’s an alternative. You can always use our recommended sites list, where we post only the best places to bet. All of these sites are thoroughly tested by us to ensure maximum quality and safety for our readers. Here, we list the sites by game-specific bets.

The above example of an outright tournament winner bet is a type of “moneyline” bet. This term refers to the style of listing the odds seen above, with a positive or negative number next to the team name. It’s far from the only type of moneyline bet you’ll find; they are also commonly offered on individual matches, for example.

As mentioned earlier, this format with the pluses and minuses is most commonly used at American betting sites. If you’re playing at sites in other parts of the world, you’re most likely to see a decimal system. With the decimal system, the number to the right of the team name is simply a multiplier on whatever amount you wager. So, in our example, Cloud9 would be listed as 3.00 instead of +300.

The lone international exception is in the United Kingdom, where a fractional odds format is the one most commonly used. In this format, each team is listed at “(x) to one” odds. If we transport our Cloud9 example into this format, they would be listed as 3/1 instead of +300. Fractional odds can be more complicated at a glance than other types, however, because the denominator is not always 1. For example, you might see a team listed at 7/4. An easy way to understand these odds in any situation is to simply think of the denominator (number on the right) as the bet amount and the numerator (number on the left) as the amount you’ll get back. So for a team listed at 7/4, you’d simply get back $7 for every $4 you wager.

When a moneyline bet is on an individual match between two teams, the favorite usually requires you to stake more than you’ll win back. Obviously, a big favorite will also have an unfavorable moneyline. If you see a moneyline for a relatively small favorite or an expected close game grow over time, it’s probably because a lot of people are betting the favorite, and the betting site wants to encourage action in the other direction.

There are some cases where you’ll see positive numbers on both sides of the moneyline. This happens in types of esports where it is possible for a match to end in a draw. You could make two separate bets on each side of these lines to guarantee yourself a profit no matter who wins. The catch is, if the match ends in a draw, you’ll lose both of your bets.

With a moneyline bet, the numbers attached to each team only represent how much money you can expect to win. A point spread bet is a little different. Instead of simply picking the outright winner, you’re deciding if the favorite is going to be able to win by a certain margin. If they win the match but don’t win it by a large enough margin to cover the spread, then you lose the bet.

You can potentially see point spread bets offered for any match, but they attract the most action in matches that are expected to be a lopsided win for one particular side. Putting a large handicap on the expected victor by forcing them to win comfortably makes these matches more challenging to predict and attracts more action to the underdog’s side.

The point spread is usually listed as a “+(x)” next to the name of the underdog team, with “x” being the value the winning team has to cover. A simple way to think about it is to add the “x” value to the underdog’s total if they lose the match. If that boost puts their score over the favorite’s final score, then you win the bet.

As you get closer to the start time of the match, you’ll usually see the point spread shift (as with moneyline bets). Bookies may adjust it based on changes in match expectations (like an injury) or simply to balance out the action they’ve already taken. Betting sites will always adjust their lines to try to get the money bet on each side as even as possible because they make most of their esports betting profits from commissions rather than by trying to beat the gamblers.

Aside from moneylines, over/unders (O/Us) are probably the most common and popular types of esports bet you’ll see online. Instead of betting that a certain team will win, you’re betting on a specific match statistic. For example, the most common type of O/U is a bet on whether the combined scoring of both teams will fall over or under a certain specific number.

You’ll often see O/U bets listed at a value of “(x).5,” even though it’s not possible to score .5 points in that particular type of esport. This is just a mechanism to avoid “pushes,” or a return of the wagers to both parties due to the score falling on exactly that specific number.

Let’s use Rocket League as an example to illustrate that. Say the O/U on total goals scored in a Rocket League match was set at 6.5. If six or fewer goals are scored, the “under” bet wins. If seven or more are scored, the “over” bet wins. Since there’s no way to score half a goal, all bets will end up having to be settled one way or the other.

You can learn more about the types of O/U and total bets that are unique to esports in a special section covering them below.

The term “prop bet” covers a broad category of bets that basically are those that don’t involve picking the winner of a match. You can include the over/unders described above as a type of prop bet if you like, but betting sites often have O/Us and props listed under different headers or tabs. Prop bets go beyond simple point totals to cover all sorts of events that may or may not happen during a match.

For example, a common type of prop bet is to pick the team that is first to do something in the match – first kill, first score, and so on. Another common prop bet in team games is to pick the individual player that will lead in certain categories such as kills, damage dealt, or individual goals scored. The possibilities are only limited by the structure and rules of each individual type of esport.

A “parlay” isn’t just a way to get pirates to stop attacking you and have a nice chat. It’s also one of the most popular esports betting options, particularly for those who want to bet just a little money but have the chance to win a lot back.

A parlay is basically just a series of bets in which you have to pick most or all of the winners successfully to win money. The series of bets that you take is often referred to as a “parlay card.” You pick the matches you want on the card, then pick the match winners. Each match you add to the card is referred to as a “leg.” Hitting a parlay card with three or more legs can turn a bet of just a couple of dollars into hundreds or thousands of dollars in return.

The total return of the parlay often varies depending on your choice of match and winning team. Basically, the longer the odds are against your picks, the more you can expect to get back if they come through.

Parlay cards have been around in general sports betting for a long time, but they’re relatively new to esports and can be somewhat hard to find at esports betting sites. At present, you’re most likely to see them offered at the betting sites that specialize in esports. At some time in the future, you might see esports included as part of regular sportsbook parlay offerings, however!

Betting “skins” is more of a different type of currency than a specific type of bet. Skins are digital cosmetic items for games like CS:GO. Players can buy and sell skins for real money, so they are used as a proxy for cash betting at some sites. The sites act as an intermediary, holding the skins and distributing them to the winner.

Skin gambling sites have some issues that players should be aware of. Skin betting basically evolved as a way to sidestep online gambling laws in the United States, since trading skins in this way is technically not illegal. However, laws can always catch up to gambling activity. Skin betting also takes place at the pleasure of the game publishers, who have the ability to shut it down if they feel enough legal or social pressure.

The recent Supreme Court ruling that enables states to legalize online sports betting is also likely to put an eventual end to skins gambling. Cash betting in legalized states is going to be inherently safer and more reliable than unregulated skins betting will ever be.

There are fantasy sports options for esports that are basically just like the big traditional fantasy sites (such as DraftKings). Bettors select rosters of players, who then earn points for their in-game performance.

You’re more likely to find this type of action on esports-focused sites that are dedicated to fantasy (like Vulcun and ESP). The big sites are branching out into it, however; for example, DraftKings has started offering a League of Legends fantasy game.

“In-play” or “live” betting markets offer many of the options listed above but give you the ability to bet while a match is currently going on. There are two major formats for these sites. One is like a traditional sportsbook, where the betting site adjusts the odds lines and the bets they are offering during the match. The other is an open marketplace where players are competing against each other rather than the house. In these markets, players propose bets that other players can opt to take the opposite side of, and the house makes money by taking a small commission from the winner.

If you are new to betting on esports, your big advantage as a high roller isn’t the ability to place huge bets and win lots of money in return. It isn’t even the extra special treatment you get from betting sites (though that is a nice perk). Your big advantage is your ability to dictate terms to the betting site, something that players with smaller bankrolls never get to do.

The betting site may create all sorts of unusually favorable conditions for you just to keep your business – for example, adjusting the odds just for you and other select VIP bettors. That gives you a powerful advantage over every other bettor out there.

Your other big advantage is having the bankroll to absorb variance. In other words, you’ll inevitably lose some bets, but if you play a sound strategy, you should stay winning over the long run. There are many bettors out there who know how to do this but who do not have the bankroll to absorb those really unlucky runs where they just keep losing for days or even weeks at a time.

Of course, you should always bet in the way that is the most enjoyable to you. If that means laying out a cool $50,000 on the outright winner of The International, then hey, more power to you. But if you want to be a long-term consistent winner and keep getting that VIP treatment from the betting sites without losing your shirt, it’s important to leverage these two huge advantages that are only available to the big players.

As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest benefits of finding the best high-stakes esports betting sites is the ability to get more favorable odds than anyone else. This might be something the betting site offers to you, or you might be given a limited ability to tweak the odds to your favor in a given match.

You can also expect the free gifts to be showered upon you. You’ll no doubt get free bets, and if the betting site is tied to a casino, they will probably give you all sorts of casino game perks to try to entice you into paying more money. Sometimes these can actually be quite useful if you know what you’re doing with them!

Gifts aren’t limited to just virtual funds, however. High-stakes esports betting sites will often mail their VIPs all sorts of fun goodies, and sometimes they even pay for you to take trips to vacation destinations. It all depends on how much money they think you’re worth to them.

If you bet with a casino brand that has an online sportsbook, you might also plug into their land-based VIP system and get rewards for use at their physical locations. That includes things like free hotel stays, free food and drinks on the property, free show tickets, and access to private lounge areas.

If you just bet for fun and take the wins and the losses as they come, you don’t have to worry about this. But if you’re a high-stakes bettor who takes esports betting seriously and plans to win more than they lose, you have to be familiar with some of the unspoken lines that betting sites don’t want you to cross.

As a high-stakes bettor who does pretty well over a long period of time, you’ll be under the microscope like no other player on the site. Betting sites very much want the business of VIPs, but not if they’re giving them a bunch of perks and benefits to be a consistent money winner.

Of course, being good at what you do isn’t your fault; the betting sites just won’t like it if it goes on for too long. That’s why it’s good to spread the action around to a number of the different top sites if you’re an experienced esports bettor with a big bankroll. That way, no one betting site thinks you’re taking them for a ride. You can also concentrate your action on live player-vs-player betting markets, where the casino makes their profit no matter how often or how much you win from the other players.

Finally, if you choose to engage in advanced “sharp” strategies like arbing (betting both sides of a match at different sites in such a way that you’re guaranteed a profit), be careful about where each side of the bet is placed and how much information these sites potentially might be sharing. Also keep in mind that your site betting patterns over time might be grounds for an account ban.

Betting is mainly about fun. But will you have fun playing chess, for example, if you don’t know the basic rules? Probably not. Same goes for betting. It’s good to know some tactics and strategies to maximize your fun and give yourself a bigger chance to win some money. Betting for profit is not an easy task, and it requires a lot of work and dedication. This guide won’t make you a successful bettor, but it will give you all the tools necessary. The rest is up to you.

One of those tools is an understanding of esports lingo. The gaming community uses its own language. Heck, every game has its own language. If you’re a complete outsider, there’s a good chance that you won’t understand most of the terms used in video games. Lots of abbreviations and metaphors can make your head hurt. But worry not; we’ve also got you covered here. We’ve put together an easy and comprehensive glossary with most common gaming terms and slang phrases.

Esports bets are much like regular sports bets, but there are some differences. Knowing them will help you make good decisions, and good decisions lead to profit and therefore more fun. If you already have some basic sports betting knowledge, understanding esports bets will be much easier for you. However, we try to explain things as simple as possible throughout our guides, so you should be fine even as a beginner.

Esports Betting FAQ