Whether you’re new to esports betting or looking to expand your horizons with something new to bet on, CSGO odds are an absolute staple of the esports betting world. It was one of the first esports games to have regular esports odds posted by various online bookmakers – and not without reason. It’s not only a super popular esports title, but the game also follows a format that’s incredibly suitable for esports betting odds.
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Understanding the appeal of betting on CSGO
To understand why people enjoy betting on CSGO – and how CSGO betting works – you need to be familiar with the game format. There are two types of maps played – bomb and hostage maps. In the first, terrorists need to plant a bomb, and counter-terrorists need to defuse it after it’s been planted or prevent its planting. On a hostage map, counter-terrorists have to rescue some hostages the terrorists are keeping.
In either scenario, the round can end when an objective is complete (the bomb explodes, is defused, or a hostage is saved) or if one side manages to kill the entire other team. Rounds are relatively short, and everyone respawns at the beginning of each round. Additionally, there are also things like economy to consider – both teams have to buy weapons at each round, if they die. If not, they keep the ones they have from the round before. This means that being broke can really mess up even the best team’s plans… and of course the CSGO odds!
CSGO odds
Because of the round-based format of Counter-Strike, CSGO odds come in a variety of different setups, and you can bet on several different things. The most obvious ones are match results. The same as in sports betting, you place your bet on who wins a match. Matches are usually made up of multiple maps – and the next thing you can bet on is who wins an individual map. Influencing factors are whether a map is terrorist or counter-terrorist sided, what the objective is, and more. A map is complete after a team wins 16 rounds (more than half of the 30 overall rounds).
There is also the option of handicap betting – for example, a map handicap. In strongly uneven match-ups, you may be able to bet on one team with a handicap. If team A is strongly favoured to beat team B, then you can bet on Team A with a handicap of -1.5 maps. This means that Team A needs to win with at least 2-0 for your bet to take. On the flipside, Team B will have a handicap of +1.5, so they only need to win one map.
This same kind of CSGO odds setup also works for map handicaps within a specific map. There, it would be a handicap of X rounds. You can further bet on things like the correct score – whether a team might win 2-0, 1-2, and so on.
Making the odds work for you
CSGO betting odds are usually expressed either as fractional or decimal odds. Fractional odds are expressed as 5/3 A/B for a win, for example. This means the odds are 5 to 1 that A will win – a 63% chance of A winning, a 37% chance of B winning.
Decimal odds are a little easier to understand and more common on esports betting sites – you may see them expressed as the amount you win per unit wagered. So if you bet 1$ on a 3.2 odds match, you would get back 3.2$.
As mentioned, there are several things (other than team performance) that can affect how a match or map turns out. For one, which map is played – there is a rotation of several different ones in the competitive pool. Teams can pick and ban maps until 3 remain for the match – knowing these maps and team preferences is a key element to making CSGO betting odds work for you.
Another thing that has an impact is whether or not a match is played online. LAN tournaments eliminate lag concern but have the pressure of a live audience. Online events can have issues with lag spikes, but players can play more relaxed environment instead. Knowing how each team and player responds to those conditions can be instrumental in predicting CSGO odds. Of course, the same can be said for map and weapon preferences – learning them will strongly help you make the right calls when you place your CS:GO bets.