Esports betting insights: Key takeaways from latest report

Key learnings from Oddin.gg’s State of Esports Betting Report:

1. Esports average bettor stake 7x higher than traditional sports
2. Betting volume grew a median of 31% YoY
3. €77 average stake at esports’ most important event
4. Live betting dominated vast majority of betting activity
5. Sophisticated betting markets are growing

Esports betting is a valuable but comparatively poorly understood vertical of the wider sports betting sector.

The phenomenon of watching esports events has long been popular but it accelerated in popularity significantly around the Covid-19 pandemic. It continues to attract a highly-engaged global audience both online and within physical arenas across the world. Top tournaments regularly manage to attract millions of concurrent viewers, according to data from Esports Charts.

However, tracking esports betting can be harder. One of the main sources of insight into the sector comes from Oddin.gg’s State of Esports Betting Report.

Each year, Oddin.gg releases a report on the state of esports betting, shedding light on the rapid pace of growth in the vertical. The report aims to replace the guesswork, hype and assumptions around esports betting with data sourced directly from those actively serving the vertical.

In March, Oddin released its latest report covering 2025. The report is based on data Oddin.gg aggregates from its broad portfolio of esports betting clients.

iGB has pulled together the headline takeaways that offer insights into how the vertical is changing, as well as how different esports titles are differentiating themselves in ways that offer strategic opportunities for operators.

(A4 \055 1)

1. Esports average bettor stake 7x higher than traditional sports

One of the headline findings from this year’s report is that according to Oddin.gg’s data, esports bettors stake an average of approximately seven times more on their first bet than bettors from ‘traditional’ sports.

Esports has long been described and promoted as a vertical that appeals to a young but highly-educated and more affluent audience. This may play a factor in the ability of esports bettors to wager significantly more money than their peers in traditional sports.

According to Oddin.gg, larger average stakes are one of the clearest signs that esports bettors are becoming more confident and more engaged.

2. Betting volume grew a median of 31% YoY

This year’s report found that betting volume for all esports activity, across Oddin.gg’s client base of hundreds of sportsbooks, grew by 31% year-on-year.

It follows on from what was already a bumper year last year. The 2024 State of Esports report found total esports betting volume had grown 103% YoY from 2023.

In fact, in 2025, all five major esports titles – Counter-Strike 2, League of Legends, Dota 2, VALORANT and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang – recorded double-digit growth in betting volume and bet count in 2025.

The fastest-growing esports title covered in the report was Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, with a 62% YoY growth in volume, perhaps unsurprising as a fast-growing mobile esports title. League of Legends followed with 46% YoY growth, Dota 2 with 31%, Counter-Strike 2 with 30% and VALORANT with 18%.

It is notable that mature, stalwart esports titles like League of Legends and to a lesser extent Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2, are still seeing significant double-digit volume growth.

3. €77 average stake at one of esports’ biggest events

The League of Legends World Championship (Worlds) is the annual championship for the most popular PC esports title and regularly breaks world records for esports viewership.

It also saw an astonishingly high average stake amount in 2025, according to Oddin.gg’s data. The average stake at ‘Worlds’ hit €77 for the 2025 edition of the event, a 166% YoY increase over the previous iteration.

That compared to an average stake of €47 for VALORANT’s main event, VALORANT Champions, and €28 for Dota 2’s crowning spectacle The International.

4. Live betting dominated vast majority of betting activity

In what Oddin.gg describes as a clear sign of growing maturity for the vertical, it found live betting (in-play betting) accounted for the vast majority of esports betting activity.

In total, it represented between 72%-86% of esports betting activity across the five titles. Dota 2 led the pack with 86% in-play activity, followed by League of Legends (79%), Counter-Strike 2 (75%), VALORANT (73%) and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (72%).

Dota 2 and League of Legends are both highly technical games with deep, intricate gameplay mechanics that can significantly influence a game – perhaps a reason why they lead on in-play engagement.

As the report notes, live betting is where sportsbooks typically see the highest engagement and margins. Oddin.gg cites esports markets’ minimal downtime, fast pace and high volatility for keeping bettors engaged, generating additional betting opportunities throughout matches that stretch up to an hour.

5. Sophisticated betting markets are growing

The report underscored that volume is increasingly being driven not just by straightforward, entry-level betting markets but by increasingly sophisticated ones.

The report found that player props, ‘utility’ markets (player usage of in-game consumable items like grenades) and combination bets all grew in 2025.

In CS2, player- and utility-based markets increased by up to 80% between major events.
In Dota 2, combination markets quadrupled in volume year-over-year. And in VALORANT and League of Legends, player-focused markets became a larger part of the overall betting mix.

This is significant because sophisticated bettors are more engaged, place more bets per session and generate higher handle per match, dispelling some of the notion that esports betting is an immature vertical. The report notes that the opportunity for operators goes beyond the volume this generates – it represents a retention play and opportunity for margin improvement.