Professional esports is continuing to grow in popularity worldwide, and esports betting has been gaining traction right along with it. I don’t see this trend slowing down in the next several years, with esports continuing to gain mainstream attention.
On this page I’ve recommended three popular betting sites for Americans, each with great esports betting platforms. I also touch on some of the popular esports for betting, look at the different bets you can make, and finish up with a simple 3 step guide you can follow to get your esports bets placed from anywhere in the United States.
Best Esports Betting Sites for Americans
- Built for American bettors
- Wide variety of competitive betting lines
- Easy to navigate betting platform
- Accepts players worldwide
- Competitive betting lines
- Fast & easy deposits and withdrawals (including Bitcoin)
These are our three top rated esports betting sites for Americans. Bovada includes an esports category in their normal sportsbook, while BetOnline and SportsBetting have dedicated esports sections.
If you also like to bet on traditional sports, then I suggest using Bovada.lv because esports is treated just like another sport on the site. This means you can use the sportsbook in the same way for esports betting as you would for traditional sports like NFL betting.
If you are only interested in esports betting, then I would suggest using BetOnline.ag because they have a dedicated esports section with categories for all of the different games, making it ideal for someone who is solely betting on esports.
I will be using Bovada.lv examples for the rest of tutorial.
Popular Esports To Bet On
There are a wide variety of esports that have professional leagues and events that garner betting interest. That said, the majority of esports betting action takes place on Call of Duty, Counter-Strike 2, DOTA 2, League of Legends, and Valorant.
Other games such as Rocket League, FIFA, NBA2K, Overwatch, Rainbow Six and Starcraft also have betting markets, but it’s the big five games that take the majority of bets.
- Call of Duty – A multiplayer first person shooter video game series that began in 2003. The current version is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (released in November of 2023).
- Counter-Strike 2 – A multiplayer first person shooter game where two teams battle against each other to win rounds on different maps. Counter-Strike 2 is the fifth instalment of the Counter-Strike video game series (released in 2023). It’s the updated version of CS:GO, which came out in 2012, while the Counter-Strike series began way back in 2000.
- DOTA 2 – A multiplayer online battle arena game where two teams of five players battle each other on different maps in an attempt to destroy the opponents “Ancient”. DOTA 2 was released in 2013, but the Dota series started back in 2003.
- League of Legends – A multiplayer online battle arena game where players choose a “champion” to battle against their opponent and defeat the oppositions “Nexus”. League of Legends was released in 2009.
- Valorant – A free-to-play multiplayer first person shooter video game that is similar to Counter-Strike. Valorant was released in 2020.
As you can see, all three of these major esports games have been around for over a decade.
Different Esports Bets
There are a variety of bets you can make on esports. The most popular bet on every different esports game, is betting on which team (or player) will win a match. Here’s an example from Bovada.lv using CS:GO:
Match Winner
This example is from an ESL Pro League match between Team Vitality and Team Spirit:
The “To Win” odds can be are the second shown. In this example, Team Vitality is a -235 favorite, which means a $235 bet on Team Vitality would win $100 (payout $335). Team Spirit is the underdog with odds of +180, which means a $100 bet on Team Spirit would win $180 (payout $280).
You can also see the spread for maps won and over/under odds for total maps played in the match.
Other Bets
The other bets you can make will depend on the game you’re playing. For example, with Counter-Strike 2 you can wager on the over/under for maps won in the match (as shown above), over/under for rounds played on each map, the spread for rounds won in the match or on each map, the correct score, etc.
There are similar bets that can be made on Call of Duty, Valorant, League of Legends, and DOTA 2 as well, but all games will have their own unique betting offerings depending on the gameplay.
How To Bet On Esports Online – 3 Step Guide
Complete these three steps to get betting action on your esport of choice from anywhere in the US.
Step 1. Open a Sports Betting Account
First you will have to open an online betting account. I suggest using one of the sites we recommend for Americans above.
I’m using Bovada.lv for this guide because I think they have the best esports platform for Americans who bet on both esports and traditional sports.
Click here to visit Bovada.lv. Fill out the overlay form on the home page to open your account.
Step 2. Deposit
Next you will have to deposit the money you want to wager online.
After logging into your new account click on the ‘Deposit’ button under your accounts drop down menu. Select your preferred deposit method and follow the instructions to fund your account.
Bovada accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express and bitcoin deposits.
You can cash out via bitcoin, bank wire or cashiers check through the mail.
Step 3. Place Your Esports Bets
Click on ‘Sports’ from the top menu bar on the Bovada website. Select ‘All Sports’ from the second menu and click ‘Esports’ from the drop down list.
This will bring up all of the esports betting options you have at Bovada. You can click the ‘Esports A-Z’ drop down menu and select which game you want to bet on to narrow your search.
Next click the odds for the bet you want to make, enter your risk amount on the Bet Slip and click ‘Place Bets’ to lock in your wager.
Here’s a screenshot to show you the clicks from the example I used above:
Check out our reading betting odds page if you don’t understand the odds.
Most of the matches are shown on Twitch.tv, so head over there and sweat your bets!
Ready to bet? Click here to visit Bovada.lv.
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