The Perfect Beginners Guide to eSports

If the Covid-19 crisis has given us anything, finding new hobbies and ways to make money are definitely some of them.

11:07 20 May 2020

One of the more fun and popular ways to make extra cash is in sports betting. With so many teams not playing now because of the pandemic, esports is seeing a healthy jump in popularity. In this piece, I will be giving you all the ins and out of esports.

 

Let’s jump right in!

What are eSports?

eSports betting is very similar to betting on traditional sports. The main difference being that eSports are betting on people playing a variety of video games. The betting is all conducted via various esports betting sites, like Rivalry. What is unique about esports betting is the variety of factors you can bet on. 

Calculating Odds

Decimal Odds

A European system for betting. This is used throughout the EU and bets are placed with the win being the decimal amount. For example, if you bet on a DOTA tournament and the decimal odds are 2.5 - your bet of 100euros will be 250 should you win. A 2.5 return on your investment. 

In other places like the UK, you will see the fraction system being used while the U.S. favours Moneyline. 

For fraction odds simply think of the fraction as Win over Bet. So if you bet 100£ and the odds are written 4/1, you will win four times your bet and of course your original bet as well. Your total would be 500£.

Moneyline is written in plus and minus. A positive number shows what you will win with a bet of $100. The negative number, on the other hand, doesn’t show a loss, but rather what you would need wager to get your $100. 

As you can see, decimal odds tend to be a fan favourite for their ease but each system works. 

Betting Tactics 

As mentioned above, the things you can bet on are different For example, maps, first kill, or who first kills specific characters. In traditional sports, there isn’t a comparison but there are some similarities with play-style being bet on. 

Many people find the variation on esports betting sites very exciting as you can bet beyond just playing and also wager bets on a variety of situations outside of the playing and specific to how well you know the game, intuition, and odds. Below is an example of a popular betting strategy, called a parlay. 

Parlay Betting

A parlay refers to one wager that combines multiple bets. That means that the payout can be huge if you win. This also means that there is a considerable risk as if any element o the parlay loses you lose the wager entirely. 

For example, if you bet only $5 on 2 teams with a decimal odd of 2.65 your payout would be $35.10. At a 3-team parlay, you can win $105.70 but for all four teams, you can win a healthy $243.10. Remember you started at only $5! Seems too good to be true? Don’t worry the bookmakers enjoy a parlay as well as a person wagering like this needs to have a considerable level of accuracy. Consider that on a regular bet of $5, you would lose $1 if your team lost but in a parlay, all $5 goes to the house. 

For the scope of this piece, laying out all the various esports strategies isn’t possible. Rivalry offers a wealth of information, I especially love their academy which is chock-full of easy to understand esports tips and tricks from the pros themselves.