These days people can bet on practically everything. Gone are the days when bookies offered just horse racing betting or football bets. It goes way beyond that now, with some of the best bookies offering not just sports, but also popular event betting, political bets and even betting on computer games and esports.
Here we will look at the most popular esports games that people bet on.
Dota 2
Dota 2 was released in 2013 and has huge tournaments to bet on such as The International. Top players such as Johan “n0tail” Sundstein, Anathan “ana” Pham, and Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka all face off to win large prize pools which, to date, have exceeded $224 million.
The game is a MOBA game that was created by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel game to the original DOTA, Defense of the Ancients: All-Stars and is popular in Europe and North America. The game is generally played in teams of five, all defending their area on the map. The team wins by destroying the “Ancient” structure in the opponent’s base.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
CSGO was created in 2012 and there are numerous tournaments including the World Electronics Sports Games (WESG), ELeague, and more. To date, more than $96 million has been awarded in prize money with top players such as Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth, and Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz all vying for a slice of the prize pie
This game was another game by Valve Corporation, in collaboration with Hidden Path Entertainment. The game is the fourth one in the Counter-Strike series and is a first-person shooter. Each match is played between two opposing teams: the terrorists and the counter-terrorists. The terrorists need to plant a bomb and the terrorists need to defuse it to win.
Fortnite
Fortnite was released in 2017 and includes noteworthy tournaments such as the Fortnite World Cup, Fortnite Fall Skirmish Series, Fortnite Summer Skirmish Series and more, awarding prize money exceeding $89 million. Top players such as David “Aqua” Wang, Harrison “Psalm” Chang, and Kyle “bugha” Giersdorf play for a slice of the winnings.
The Fortnite game was developed by Epic Games and is a multiplayer online game. It offers three different game modes, but all count as the one game. The first game mode is Save the World, which involves up to four players fighting zombies to defend themselves and others. The Battle Royale game is a PvP game mode where up to one hundred players all fight to be the last man standing (although it can be a team game). There is also the creative game mode which allows players to have complete creative control.
League of Legends
League of Legends was released in 2009 and includes tournaments such as the League of Legends World Championships, where the prize money to date has exceeded $75.5 million. This is a multiplayer real-time strategy action game that was created by Riot Games. The game is played by two teams, each with either three or five players and works in a similar way to Dota 2, except they have to destroy the Nexus in the other team’s area, not the Ancient.
StarCraft II
Starcraft was released in 2010 and includes major tournaments such as the WCS Global Finals, World Electronic Sports Games and more, where more than $33 million in prize money has been rewarded.
This game was developed by Blizzard Entertainment and is a real-time strategy game, developed as a sequel to the original Starcraft game. It is set in the world of sci-fi, with three species (Terrans, Protoss and Zerg). The game is split into three parts: the Wings of Liberty base game plus two expansion packs. The first is based on the Terrans (humans), with the other two based on the Zerg and Protoss.
