Sports betting is an industry that is always changing and looking to offer new ways of entertainment to its customers. Virtual sports and eSports are verticals that are gaining more popularity among regular punters. Esports is certainly the leader of these new products among millennial bettors – especially in Asia and some countries in Europe. Perhaps this demand is coming because of the fact that popular eSport games have a similar betting style and thrill as traditional betting.
Other reasons which are reflecting on eSports’ popularity are the exciting huge tournaments and prize pools associated with them which motivate more and more people to start competing in eSports. Last but not least, electronic sports are accessible to bet on at most bookmakers and could easily create extra winnings for punters who are well familiar with the games, teams and players.
Recent research is showing that the most popular games to bet on are the following:
- League of Legends (38% of the market share)
- CS:GO coming in close to the leader with 29%
- Dota 2 occupying 18% of the market
- Starcraft 2 Brood War at 7%
All other eSport games only share 8% of the market among punters. Market research also suggest that more than 1 billion people take part in eSports in one form or another, which is indicating that video gaming has become a new punters’ passion. That’s why we are looking to enhance your betting knowledge with the following article and why we want to give you extra details about the most popular eSport game, League of Legends and it’s betting markets and opportunities.
This is League of Legends
League of Legends (LoL) is inspired by a mod from Warcraft III (Dota) and is the most popular MOBA title in the world with over 100 million players every month. The game is developed by the gaming leader Riot Games which in turn is owned by the huge conglomerate known as Tencent. Nowadays the company organizes more than 20 major tournaments every year.
The game is played by two teams each consisting of 5 players, in which the winner must destroy its opponent’s nexus structure in the other team’s base. The length of a game is typically between 15 and 40 minutes. Each team’s player is controlling a single unit (which is named “champion”). Firstly the players choose their champion and the position that they will fight in. Positions available are top, bottom, mid and jungle.
Each game has four main modes: Howling Abyss, Twisted Treeline, Rift Summoner’s, and Teamfight. In each mode the team’s players are working together in order to win the game, which mostly is occurring by destroying their opponent’s nexus. Every champion starts from the lowest level, but during the game it can gain experience, which can lead to the hero reaching the maximum level of 18. Gradually, when the champion obtains experience it unlocks special skills, which makes it more powerful.
Keep in mind that the obtained experience, gold, and items are active only for the particular game and can’t be assigned to the next one. That’s why both teams in each game start with the their champions on level one, which is making each match very exciting. Simply because both teams have an equal chance of winning, while the winner depends on how well prepared they are, what strategy they use, how they counter-pick champions based on what the other team picks and many other things.
Wagering money on League of Legends
Even though we have explained how League of Legends is played, placing bets that will earn you a profit is not easy without a good insight in the performing teams. If you don’t have this it can be a good idea to follow experienced eSport tipsters and just go with their predictions. These are people who have specialized in keeping up with the latest LoL trends, analyzing the teams and pretty much staying on the top of all information.
Being gamers ourselves, not to mention huge fans of League of Legends, we would say that eSport tipsters are some of the best betting tipsters you can follow. Simply because they regularly play games (in this case LoL), have in depth knowledge about game strategies, team news and other information that makes a big difference in results.
If you like League of Legends and you want to place bets on a match going down, you can choose between many betting markets. To help you understand better what these are we have shortlisted some of the most common betting markets. You’ll find these at most major bookmakers:
- Match winner – you are betting on the winner of the game.
- Tournament winner – you can place a bet on which team will win the game. If you have a team in mind it’s better for you to place the bet before the start of the tournament, because if your team wins a few games in the beginning the odds will rapidly decrease.
- First blood – here you are placing a bet on which team will get the first kill in a match.
- First team to get ten kills – you are placing a bet on which team will be the first to hit ten kills in a game.
- Most kills – you are betting on that which team will make more kills in the game.
- Team to destroy the first tower – you place a bet on which team will destroy one of the opponent’s towers first.
- Total kills scored – you can place a bet on over/under how many kills a team will make.
- Team to kill the first dragon – you are placing a bet on which team you think will kill the first dragon.
These are the major betting markets on which you can place bets before the start of a League of Legends match. However, the biggest bookmakers also offer in-play betting markets giving punters extra betting enjoyment.
Just like every sport, betting on eSports involves a risk. It’s not guaranteed that you will win money by betting on a game. By doing your research you will, however, increase your chances. The more thorough you are the better. Some key metrics you may want to check out does, however, include kill-to-death ratio on players; average placements for teams at tournaments; if players in a team have recently been replaced; and how well two teams facing off against each other have previously performed.
If you look more deeply on the internet you can find eSport websites which are specialized and focused on players’ statistics, as well as teams’ tournament performances. They are an excellent source of information if you decide to start your eSports adventure and place some bets on it.
