The esports industry has continued exponential growth over the past years. Esports is already considered as a billion dollar industry, which is possible with the help of millions of active fans worldwide showing their support. One of the primary reasons for esports success comes from fans betting on esports matches. Esports betting has also increased, as fans have multiple esports games to choose from, allowing for a wide variety of bets. In this article, we’ll cover the top four esports games fans love to bet on!
League of Legends
League of Legends is crowned to be the most popular esport game by far, and it’s not even close. Statistics say that over 100 million players play this game monthly. With such a massive following, it’s only natural to see that League of Legends has a massive audience who takes interest in the professional scene and placing bets on these matches.
League of Legends gained its popularity thanks to the requirement of strategy, teamwork, and individual skill. League of Legends is a team-oriented game, so the game heavily emphasizes collaboration and synergy. It is also vital for each player to have quick reaction times and precise movements, as skill shots are ubiquitous in League of Legends.
League of Legends esports is incredibly fun to watch, as players can display their mechanical skills and capabilities in chaotic team fights. This sort of gameplay has attracted millions of passionate League of Legends fans to follow the professional scene. With such a large following, massive esports tournaments such as the 2022 World Championship are held for the fans to watch. The prize pools for these tournaments can reach millions of dollars, making the stakes of each match super high and exciting for fans to witness.
With League of Legends being the most popular esport, it’s a no-brainer move for big businesses to invest money into the scene. The most notable businesses include Coca-cola, Red Bull, and even T-Mobile have invested money in multiple different ways, such as sponsoring tournaments or teams.
Valorant And Betting On Esports
Valorant is another game that Riot Games developed, but instead of a MOBA game, Valorant is a first-person shooter game. Valorant was recently released back in 2020, but the uniqueness of the game has already pulled in millions of fans to play.
Unlike other first-person shooter games, Valorant allows players to choose different agents with unique abilities that increase the tactical requirement of the game. The addition of agents in a first-person shooter game was brilliant and allowed Valorant to skyrocket in popularity.
Valorant is very young compared to the other games on this list, so their esports scene is still in the development process. Despite the game being premature, the esports betting scene in Valorant is facing continuous growth. All of the best esports betting sites are opening Valorant matches in their betting markets, where Valorant fans can bet on esports matches in the scene. Riot Games is doing its best to hold massive esports tournaments for fans to watch, with the Valorant Champions Tour being the highlight of the professional Valorant scene. Valorant Champions Tour matches are perfect for fans to bet on.
Colossal esports names such as Sentinels, 100Thieves, G2 Esports, and Cloud9 already have world-class rosters in Valorant. Huge esports names such as TenZ and Tarik are also getting involved in the Valorant scene. Valorant has really high potential to become the next big thing, so we’ll just have to wait a few years and see.
Dota 2
Next up is Dota 2, one of the oldest esports titles out there, but is still standing strong in popularity. Dota has been out for an incredibly long time but has remained very popular due to the game’s complexity. Most esports fans consider Dota 2 to be the hardest esports to master. With the game so difficult, watching professionals show their skills becomes much more entertaining!
Dota 2 is known to be the esports game that involves the most amount of money in their professional scene. The annual tournament every Dota 2 fan looks forward to is The International. Prize pools of The International consistently reach the 8-figure mark, as The International tournaments are crowd-funded by the Dota 2 player base. The 10th iteration of The International reached a mind-blowing prize pool of $40,000,000, where the winners, Team Spirit, took home over $18,000,000 in prize money!
The proof of Dota’s popularity can be seen through the tournament prize pools, which is why most of the most prominent esports organizations are creating Dota 2 teams, hoping to win The International one day. The most notable teams in Dota 2 include OG Esports, Team Secret, Team Liquid, and Evil Geniuses. These teams have major sponsorship deals with multinational companies, including Red Bull, Honda, Acer Predator, and major betting esports sites like GG.Bet.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Finally, we have Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valve’s first-person shooter title. With intense gameplay, tactical requirements, and a highly competitive environment, CSGO thrives as one of the most fun games to play and watch.
CSGO is incredibly developed regarding its esports scene, as the game has been out for a long time already. Massive CSGO tournaments are held regularly, which attracts millions of fans to tune in. Events such as the IEM Masters Rio 2022, PGL Major Antwerp 2022, and PGL Major Stockholm 2021 are only a few examples of massive CSGO tournaments; the list could go on. Major CSGO tournaments cause enormous hype in the community, as the best players compete for prize pools worth millions.
Some of esports’ most legendary names are born in CSGO. Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev, considered CSGO’s best player of all time, has become a standout name in the esports world, to the point that esports fans who don’t play CSGO know about him.
One of the most dominant teams in esports, Astralis, also made a name for themselves through CSGO. The Astralis roster won four CSGO majors, which has never been done before. Like the other three esports titles on this list, brands are investing heavily in the CSGO scene, as teams such as Natus Vincere, Team Liquid, and FaZe Clan have signed the best CSGO players to play under their names.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the esports scene has been facing strong growth and improvement over time. New players are joining the esports community daily, and more fans look into placing more esports bets on ongoing matches and tournaments, making the esports viewing experience much more exciting!
