In recent years a brand new betting market has emerged which has captured the imagination of a digitally-savvy audience meaning bookies have seen a huge growth in the Esports betting UK market and across the globe.
For a lot of people, especially the older generation who have spent most of their life either betting on the horses or football, this world of Esports betting will be difficult to comprehend but for the youngsters who fancy having a flutter on a bet every now and again, Esports is something they’d probably gravitate towards rather than your ‘normal’ sports.
In this Masterclass, hopefully, I can help everyone who wants to have a bet on CS:GO and other Esports.
My first bit of advice would be to stick to a popular Esport where you can find plenty of information, which can help you with betting.
When you put a football accumulator on, you don’t go blindfolded and click 6 random teams to win and then hope for the best. You have a look through the recent form, see if the teams are playing well/bad and then find the teams you want to bet on.
Introducing CS:GO
This should be no different in the world of Esports, and therefore my main game for betting is a game called Counter Strike Global Offensive (CS:GO), which some of the older people who played computer games back in the late 90s and early 2000s will recognise that name.
Counter-Strike has been around for a long time, under previous titles such as Counter-Strike Source, and Counter-Strike 1.6, this is why I think this game is one of the best examples, as it was big 20 years ago, and it’s still leading the way in Esports today.
Understanding CS:GO
Like I previously said, you need a lot of information to give yourself the best chance of winning. Thankfully, for CS:GO there is a website called www.hltv.org which is without a doubt the best website I’ve seen for esports in any game.
On this website you can find anything and everything related to CS:GO Esports, whether it’s recent news, fixtures, watching the games, statistics, the list goes on, and this is why I think this game is perfect for beginners who are entering the world of Esports betting.
When you click on matches, which is located at the top of the website, it will show you the list of games that are taking place for the foreseeable future.
From this, you can then click on any game you want, and it will show you the recent form of both teams, the players who are playing and will show you the odds from a range of bookmakers so that you don’t need to look around searching for the odds.
Further down on the page you can see what each team win percentage on every map is in the last three months, which is always good to know as if you know that one team is good at the map and one team isn’t then this could be a persuader to back them if the map doesn’t get banned in the veto.
Below this will show the recent form of the teams, which is always a big part in what team you bet on, no matter what sport.
You can dive deeper into the statistics if you decide to click on the button called ‘analytics centre’. On this page, it will show you a lot of useful information, such as the number of games each team wins 2-0, 2-1, or lose 2-0, 2-1, which can be a good indicator and help if you like betting on the Map Handicap markets, which can definitely offer you much better odds.
At the very bottom of the analytics centre, it will show you the statistics for each team on the maps they play.
In most tournaments in Counter-Strike, they will play something called BO3 (Best of three), which means there will be three maps being played. Each team will ban two maps, and both teams will pick two, and the one remaining will be played last.
These stats are very good, as you can get a good idea of what maps are going to be played, as there are percentages of what is played, and what is banned. Trying to get that slight edge is always the key, and this is something that could help.
Betting on CS:GO
Now you have an idea of how to delve into the stats of CS:GO, you’d like to know what you can bet on. For beginners, I’d recommend doing accumulators, as this is the safest way of landing a winner and it won’t cause confusion, like the other betting markets.
In the other markets you can bet on the correct map score, so either 2-0 or 2-1, but also you can bet if you think there will be over or under 2 maps played, and then you have map handicaps which includes +1.5 & -1.5. which can occasionally offer you good odds.
My biggest bit of advice for people who are new to Esports betting is to keep it to one kind of Esport game, and don’t over complicate it with multiple games. Try and become good at one before moving to another. It will take time if you’re new, so only bet what you’re happy to gamble, and don’t chase your losses!
