Global Esports Betting Monitor: Q4 & FY24

The Global Esports Betting Monitor is a quarterly report developed in partnership with Abios, providing our readers with a holistic snapshot of esports betting trends and activity.

All data is captured from the Kambi network, spanning more than 40 operators in regulated markets across the globe.1

Abios delivers an odds feed with engaging features such as same-game bet builders, player props, and flash markets.

Valorant betting up year-on-year in FY24

• Valorant’s share of esports betting handle nearly doubled on a full-year basis, growing from 3% to 5% between 2023-2024.
• Counter-Strike reached a new apex in the fourth quarter, courting 64% of total betting handle.
• On a full-year basis, Dota 2 handle dropped 4% from FY23; meanwhile, League of Legends’ share grew by 2%, accounting for 26% in FY24.

Gen Z esports bettors outpace Millennials in FY24

• While the average esports fan has continued to age up over the years, Gen Z-aged bettors are entering the betting pipeline in droves.
• Gen Z bettors outpaced Millennials in FY24–making up 44% of betting compared to 36% the year prior.
• Together, customers between 18-43 made up 87% of esports betting last year, while Gen X continued to float between 11-13%.

Prop bets gain traction among Counter-Strike bettors

• Breakout insights show the average age of a Counter-Strike bettor in Q4 was 31-years old; League of Legends, on the other hand, attracted a slightly younger customer (possibly by way of its World Championship event), averaging out at 29-years old.
• Player prop bets, including ‘total kills by player,’ made up 13% of all Counter-Strike wagers in the fourth quarter.
• Live betting accounted for 46% of Counter-Strike betting in Q4; meanwhile only 28% of Valorant wagers were placed in-play.

Shanghai Major, World Championship net close to half of Q4 betting action

• Between the main event and its international qualifiers, Counter-Strike’s Shanghai Major captured 28% of fourth quarter betting handle.
• One of the most-watched esports events globally, the League of Legends World Championship, accounted for 19% of handle in Q4, up from 15% in 4Q23.
• Dota 2 tournaments DreamLeague and PGL Wallachia landed in the top-ten most-bet on events in Q4, collectively drawing 5% of wagering volume.

Trendspotting

Trending up: Riot Games’ temperature to gambling

Riot Games–the publisher behind top games including League of Legends and Valorant–is warming up to gambling.

While other publishers such as Valve and Activision have flirted with betting plenty in the past, Riot Games has long maintained keeping itself at arm’s length.

That changed in Q4 when the publisher revealed it would allow partnered teams to strike deals with Riot-approved betting brands in 2025. There are plenty of stipulations attached, but it’s a signal that Riot’s outlook on gambling is starting to soften up.

There are mutual incentives to do so, though. Esports teams will unlock much-needed sponsorship revenue, while betting operators will have access to what many would consider prime advertising real estate. And of course, there’s the impossible-to-prove-yet-widely-understood belief that betting drives viewership, interest, and engagement back to the rights holders.

League of Legends and Valorant combined made up nearly one-third (31%) of betting handle in FY24 (up from 27% in FY23), and this change in policy may very well drive that figure further up in the coming years as more betting awareness is created.

Trending down: Dota 2

Interest in Dota 2 is waning, and operators are potentially feeling it too.

I was surprised to see that the game’s marquee tournament The International (think: Super Bowl of Dota 2) drew just 3% of wagers last quarter. The downtick was pronounced on a full-year basis as well; Dota 2’s total share of handle dropped to 10% in FY24 compared to 14% the year prior.

The dip could be explained by other additive volume–a boom in new customers or increased betting on other esports–but broader audience trends suggest to me that’s not the case.

The International is a good barometer for interest in competitive Dota 2, and results from last year’s headline event show which direction things seem to be moving in. After setting a viewership record in 2021 with 107M hours watched, ratings have continued to slide. Last year’s tournament viewership was down nearly 50% from the 2021 event, while the 2022 and 2023 editions both came below 70M hours watched each (-38%).

The International’s prize winnings are crowdfunded by players through in-game transactions–in 2021, the event secured a record $40M to be distributed to winners. Since then however, the tournament has seen a 53% average month-over-month decrease in its prize pool–last year’s purse was just $2.5M.

Whatever ground Dota 2 is losing, Valorant seems to be picking up, though. If things continue to trend in this direction, we may see the first-person shooter overtake Dota 2’s position as one of the top-three most-bet on esports next year.