Esports betting insights: Key takeaways from latest report

Key learnings from Oddin.gg’s State of Esports Betting report:
Esports average bettor stake 7x higher than traditional sports
Betting volume grew a median of 31% YoY
€77 average stake at esports’ most important event
Live betting dominated vast majority of betting activity
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.
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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 be
Source: iGaming Business. Summary reproduced for informational purposes.
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