CSGO is one of the most popular esports games for betting, which is hardly a surprise considering its global popularity. As a new bettor, the first step to getting into CSGO betting is finding the best CSGO gambling sites to use.
In this guide, I'll show you the best sites from CSGO betting and why they made my list. Additionally, you'll get a few esports betting site recommendations, free tips for betting on esports games like CSGO, the best betting markets to master, and some benefits and drawbacks of CSGO betting compared to regular sports betting, for example.
Most sports books categorize CSGO gambling in the sports book category under esports betting. That comes with a great deal of convenience, but it also means esports titles like CSGO will inherit some of the drawbacks of online sports betting. I’ve amassed quite a bit of esports betting experience over the years, and here are the top pros and cons I observed:
Just 10 years ago, you’d have to look hard to find esports betting sites offering CSGO or CS2 betting, but esports betting has thankfully come a long way. Since many of the best online sportsbooks now offer esports games, I tried betting on CSGO on some of the most popular, and here are the best esports gambling sites in my experience:
bet365 was one of the early adopters of esports betting, especially among the best online sportsbooks, so it has had time to evolve its CSGO betting offerings. Apart from CSGO, you can bet on a few other esports titles at bet365: Starcraft II, League of Legends, DOTA 2, Call of Duty, Rocket League, you name it.
My favorite thing about CSGO betting on bet365 is how the site has a section enumerating the rules it follows for esports games, CSGO inclusive. New customers also get sportsbook bonuses they can spend on CSGO betting at bet365, often coming in the form of free bets or a deposit match. With one of the most sports and leagues coverage of any online sportsbook, you can rest assured you have plenty of options on bet365, should you get bored of CSGO betting.
BetMGM has one of the most comprehensive CS2 coverages of any online sportsbook, featuring every ongoing major Counter-Strike tournament for betting. During my review, I found A1 Gaming League, BLAST Major, BLAST Rivals Spring, CCT European Series 1, ESL Impact League, and TP World Championship Series, among others, essentially covering all you’ll need from a CSGO betting site.
It features diverse betting markets, featuring props on individual players to create dozens of betting options per game. Like on bet365, new BetMGM users get a generous welcome bonus usable on the sportsbook, which may vary depending on location. With its extensive coverage of top CS2 tournaments globally, you’ll struggle to find online sportsbooks that outperform BetMGM, particularly in the CSGO betting category.
FanDuel may be yet to dabble fully into esports betting, but you’ll struggle to find a match for it, especially for its daily fantasy sports offerings. The site also features relatively creative welcome bonuses, a functional online sportsbook, legal horse racing, an online casino section, and as you’d expect, a separate section for its daily fantasy sports offerings.
FanDuel is popular for its user-focused features, like a standout user interface and huge variety in accepted payment methods. Throughout my testing for this guide, it distinguished itself as one of the best online sportsbooks accepting Visa, MasterCard, and e-wallets.
CSGO has a truckload of betting markets for every match, thanks to the game’s relative complexity compared to other first-person shooters. With each match having several maps and each map having several rounds, Counter-Strike 2 has a near-infinite selection of fun betting markets for beginners to try, and here are some of the most popular ones you’ll find on almost every CSGO gambling site:
CSGO tournaments typically use a best-of-three (Bo3) or best-of-five (Bo5) format, and the point of this market is to predict how many of those maps would be played before the game is decided. The options in a Bo3 match are two, which happens when a team wins the first two maps, or three, which is only possible when either team gets a win within the first two maps.
In a Bo5 match, however, the options range from 3 to 5, and with each option now having a lower likelihood of being a successful bet, they also tend to come with higher odds. Despite being one of the more unpredictable betting odds, the total maps market is one of the more beginner-friendly betting options you’ll find on most CSGO gambling sites, thanks mostly to the limited betting options.
The match winner market is the same as in regular sports betting, letting you predict who you believe will win the Counter-Strike match overall. Most competitive tournaments use a best-of-three or best-of-five format, and the match winner is the first to win two or three rounds, depending on the format used in the specific tournament.
The correct score market slightly alters the match winner market, as it requires you to correctly predict the final score of the full match to win. For best-of-three matches, your options often include either team getting a 2-0 or 2-1 outcome in their favor. Best-of-five matches usually have more options, as 3-0, 3-1, and 3-2 outcomes are possible for either side, driving up the odds on each betting option.
The Map Winner market differs slightly from the match winner market, since most competitive CSGO matches have more than one round, as most CSGO tournaments use a Bo3 or Bo5 format. During or before a game, most bookmakers accept bets on who wins each map, independent of the full match with the Map Winner market.
A slightly related market is Total Rounds, an over/under betting market that requires you to predict the total number of rounds in a match. The line is often set based on the difference in the relative strengths of the participating teams.
A short pistol round is held twice per competitive CSGO match, one at the beginning of each half, and it offers the winning team a significant advantage going into the main game. Most CSGO bookmakers accept bets on the pistol round, allowing you to predict which team wins either or both rounds in a competitive match.
Also common on Dota 2 betting sites, prop bets on players make up a significant majority of the betting markets on top gambling sites with CSGO, as they allow for precise bets on individual members of teams participating in CSGO tournaments, allowing for a nearly endless variety of betting options. They often come in as over/under bets, allowing you to bet on a specific player’s number of kills or headshots.
Other popular player prop bets in CSGO include Most Map Kills, Most Match Kills, H2H Kills (Player vs. Player), Total Deaths (over/under), and many others. If you’re into player prop bets, you want to choose CSGO gambling sites with several options, as they’re the least common betting market of all the options on this list. However, sites like BetMGM and bet365 offer a decent selection of player prop bets, so I recommend those two for beginner players.
Here’s a table summarizing the most popular CSGO betting markets:
| Market | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Total Maps | Predicting the total number of maps in a Bo3 or Bo5 match. |
| Match Winner | Betting on the outcome of a CSGO match. |
| Map Winner | Betting on the outcome of individual maps within a Bo3 or Bo5 match. |
| Pistol Round | Predicting the outcome of the Pistol Round before CSGO matches. |
| Player Props | Bets on individual player performances within maps, matches, or rounds. |
While CSGO betting has come a long way since its inception in the early 2010s, it’s still a relatively young activity compared to traditional online sports betting. If you’re just joining the bandwagon, a few tips shouldn’t hurt. Here are my expert tips for betting on CSGO after years of esports betting experience across various sites:
There are many avenues to bet on CSGO, from older sites offering CSGO skin gambling to traditional online sportsbooks with a CSGO esports betting option. As a beginner, you want to choose an objectively good site. For me, that’s an easy-to-use site that covers most CSGO tournaments, offers generous bonuses, accepts available payment options, and features various CSGO betting markets.
As someone who jumped on the CS GO betting train as early as it came around, I’ve tried almost all CSGO betting sites, and BetMGM and bet365 are standout options. After ticking all my boxes for a good CSGO betting site, they still offer tons of other sports for some variety, in addition to an online casino for slots and live dealer games for when you need a break from esports betting.
First-person shooters like CSGO aren’t rocket science: the better, more well-equipped teams often win. For straightforward betting markets like the Match Winner or Map Winner, check each team’s resources to see who has better skins, players, weapons, and patches—that’s probably the better bet. However, it’d be wrong to base all your betting decisions on a team’s resources; underdogs often pull surprises in competitions!
Esports is relatively predictable compared to regular sports, as you don’t have to account for factors like weather, player injuries, or a hostile fan base. So, looking at a team’s performances in previous tournaments against the same opponent can help inform your betting decisions in subsequent competitions. While there’s often plenty of variation, the importance of statistical and historical patterns cannot be discounted when betting on a CSGO match.
Studying and mastering statistical patterns and the game economy are powerful tips for CSGO betting. However, there’s no substitute for watching the participants play in real time, as that gives you unique insights that are otherwise impossible to deduce by looking at how expensive someone’s skins are, or how many times they’ve won the pistol round in their last five games.
Most CSGO tournaments available for betting stream all matches live, and you may even be able to livestream the matches on some of the best CSGO gambling sites. Unique insights aside, I find competitive CSGO fun to watch, so it’s a win-win scenario either way.
Most CSGO gambling websites offer welcome bonuses to new users, often in the form of a sportsbook bonus that works on conventional sports and esports titles. Additionally, you may qualify for several other bonuses for experienced users, depending on your betting behavior and how long you’ve had an account with the site. When betting on CSGO, I highly recommend researching all available bonuses and taking advantage of them; they’re there for you to use anyway.
CSGO was one of the pioneer games of esports betting, and with the release of Counter-Strike 2, CSGO betting sites have continued to grow leaps and bounds. In my experience, your CSGO betting experience will depend largely on the quality of the sportsbook you’re using. I recommend online sportsbooks with generous bonuses and excellent tournament coverage, as they often make for a decent experience.
If you’re unsure where to find them, try my recommendations: bet365 and BetMGM. From fun betting markets to live game streaming, these sites offer all you’ll need from a CSGO gambling site.
The answer ultimately depends on what you seek from a CSGO betting site. In my experience, BetMGM, FanDuel and bet365 are near perfect, offering the best betting markets, generous bonuses, and a great overall experience to all users.
Betting on esports games like CSGO using cryptocurrency is legal in many countries, but some countries have restrictions against either Bitcoin or esports betting. In any case, always check the terms and conditions or esports betting rules for any site you’re using; they often indicate the allowed or restricted countries.
CSGO skin betting is a precursor to regular CSGO betting that allows players to make predictions backed by in-game items like skins or weapons. It came before the popularization of modern sportsbooks, and the practice is still very much alive.
Loading …
