Abios has published its ‘2023 Leaderboard’ report, showcasing the frontrunners and key statistics from the last year in esports betting. This data-driven report provides key revelations about the esports betting industry, highlighting the top-tier titles that bettors have been flocking to over the last twelve months. Abios is focused on ‘taking esports betting to the next level’, providing historical and live data, odds, and widgets to the regulated betting industry, making it perfectly placed to procure this deep data.
The recently published Leaderboard report revealed that Counter-Strike still has an iron-grip hold on the industry. With the game staking a claim to 56% of all wagers made, it’s the clear leader in the business. It’s followed up some distance behind by League of Legends at 24%, then Dota 2 comes in third with 14%. VALORANT, which is quickly becoming one of the most popular esports games, secured just 3% of wagers, and surprisingly, Call of Duty makes the top five with 2% of all wagers placed.
Deep Dive into the Data
The report, which details statistics from January to December 2023, revealed that the most popular event for betting was the IEM. This event alone claimed 10% of all wagers made during the year, followed closely behind by the ESL Pro League at 9%.
The most popular CS esports tournaments for betting in 2023 were fairly predictable. At the top of the table sat IEM, closely followed by the ESL Pro League and BLAST Premier. This is a list of the top five teams that were marked as favourites throughout the year in Counter-Strike:
- G2 Esports
- Team Vitality
- FaZe Clan
- Team Liquid
- Cloud9
In the last Abios report that highlighted industry performance in 2022, the state of play was mostly the same. For instance, the top five esports games were identical, but some League of Legends tournaments and teams found their way into the top rankings when it came to esports bets.
It was also revealed that in every region except LATAM, CS:GO was king in 2023. In Latin America, League of Legends was the top choice for esports bettors. In Europe, Counter-Strike 2 managed to be the fourth most popular esports betting title, despite only being released in September 2023. There was a special note for Brazil, which was remarked as being a ‘breakout region’ for esports betting.
What’s Next for Esports Betting
Abios’ Niclas Sundell offered a breakdown of what’s coming next for the esports betting industry in 2024.
“As esports continues to mature and become an integrated part of any modern online sports betting offering, it is essential for sportsbooks and other industry leaders to understand what products and services esports fans are looking for.”
With that in mind, Sundell pointed out that co-streaming will be a big aspect of esports broadcasts in 2024. We’ve already seen the rise of co-streaming and ‘watch parties’ in 2023, but that trend is set to increase in 2024.
There were also special nods reserved for player propositions (betting on specific players) and the difference between pre-match and live esports betting. In Abios’ report, it was shown that 60% of all wagers made are focused on live, in-play bets.
It’s interesting to see where esports betting is going as the industry expands exponentially.
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