Counter-Strike 2 bettors now follow teams rather than tournaments. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang sustains engagement through weekly regional leagues in Southeast Asia instead of global championships. League of Legends stakes jumped 166% at Worlds when format changes reshaped how the game played.
The common thread? Esports titles stopped behaving like a single category in 2025.
A comprehensive new report by Oddin.gg, an esports betting ecosystem provider, found that the vertical entered a “maturity phase” where growth continues across titles, but what drives that growth has diverged significantly.
Drawing on billions of bets processed through its network, Oddin.gg’s 2025 report offers a detailed view of how the market is developing beneath the headline growth figures. Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, League of Legends, VALORANT and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang all delivered double-digit volume growth, yet each title now operates with distinct engagement patterns and revenue drivers.
“The conversation around esports betting has fundamentally shifted,” says Marek Suchar, Oddin.gg’s managing director and co-founder. “It’s no longer about expansion across esports as a whole. It’s about understanding that you’re managing a portfolio of titles, each with distinct growth potential and bettor behaviour.”
At the centre of the Oddin.gg report are five indicators of this transition: rising average stakes, growth in player-focused markets, teams driving engagement over tournaments, live betting dominance and sustained regional activity. Together, these signals point to a market that is becoming more sophisticated and increasingly segmented.
The switch from tournaments to teams
At a headline level, esports betting continues to expand across five major titles. The Oddin.gg 2025 report shows betting volume rose by 30% in Counter-Strike 2, 31% in Dota 2, 46% in League of Legends and 18% in VALORANT. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, a newcomer to Oddin.gg’s annual esports report, delivered the strongest relative growth of all titles covered, with the free-to-play title up by 62%.
Bet count growth followed a similar trajectory, with increases of 23% in Counter-Strike 2, 12% in Dota 2, 32% in League of Legends, 10% in VALORANT and 41% in MLBB. The report also highlights median betting volume growth of 31% and bet count growth of 23% across titles, reinforcing the overall strength of the vertical.
Average stakes are also climbing, signalling deeper engagement from bettors. Flagship events saw notable increases, including a 166% year-on-year rise at League of Legends’ World Championship to €77, alongside €47 at VALORANT Champions and €28 at Dota 2’s The International.
However, the more revealing shift lies in what is driving that growth. The Oddin.gg report identifies a move away from tournament-led engagement toward team-driven loyalty and behaviour, particularly in Counter-Strike 2.
“Matches with popular lineups generate consistent volume regardless of tournament tier,” says Suchar, pointing to a structural change in how bettors engage with esports. This signals a more mature audience, one that follows teams and narratives throughout the season rather than focusing solely on major events.
Explore the full findings of Oddin.gg’s esports betting report here.
Changing dynamics reshaping engagement
Beyond the headline figures, Oddin.gg’s 2025 report provides a clearer picture of how betting behaviour is evolving.
Live betting now accounts for the majority of activity across all five titles, ranging from roughly 70% to over 85% depending on the game. “These are real-time competitions where momentum shifts happen quickly, information is visible instantly and engagement naturally gravitates toward in-play betting,” Suchar explains.
At the same time, bettors are increasingly seeking more granular ways to engage. Player- and utility-based markets in Counter-Strike 2 were found to have grown by up to 80% between major events, reflecting strong demand for individual performance betting.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang offers a different lens on how engagement is evolving. The increasingly popular title delivered the greatest growth of all five titles in terms of both betting volume and bet count, with activity driven primarily by regional leagues in Southeast Asia rather than global competitions.
“That proves regional-first models can work at scale,” says Suchar, highlighting how consistent domestic competition can underpin year-round betting activity.
Meanwhile, Dota 2’s The International retained its unique status as the most important competitive and emotional event of the year, supported by peak concurrent viewership of around 1.8 million. Despite the popularity of that event, Oddin.gg traders advise operators to maintain robust market offerings across the full Tier-1 calendar, particularly in combination markets where recreational volume has grown significantly.
These patterns reinforce a central theme: esports betting is no longer evolving as a single market, but as a collection of distinct titles that require the same portfolio thinking operators already apply to traditional sports.
An emphasis on differentiation
As esports betting continues to mature, the differences between titles are expected to become even more pronounced.
Oddin.gg’s 2025 report positions Counter-Strike 2 as the most mature title, exhibiting all five key indicators, while Dota 2, League of Legends and VALORANT are described as maturing markets. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, meanwhile, is identified as an earlier-stage vertical with strong growth potential driven by regional ecosystems.
“Each title will continue to mature within its own commercial model rather than converging toward a single standard,” Suchar notes.
For operators, this growing divergence has clear commercial implications. The long-standing approach of treating esports betting as a single vertical is becoming increasingly ineffective.
Suchar warns: “Operators applying uniform coverage models, market depth strategies, and promotional calendars across all titles are seeing inconsistent results. The underlying engagement patterns don’t support that approach anymore.”
Instead, the Oddin.gg report suggests a more targeted approach, with investment decisions aligned to the specific dynamics of each title. That may mean prioritising deeper player markets in Counter-Strike 2, strengthening live betting infrastructure for League of Legends, or focusing on consistent regional league coverage in Mobile Legends.
Looking ahead, the emphasis is firmly on differentiation. Most sportsbooks already have the experience needed to manage this. Handling regional football leagues across different markets prepared operators for this dynamic. Operators that understand where engagement is strongest – and tailor their offering accordingly – will be best placed to capture long-term value.
“The key shift is moving from ‘we offer esports’ to ‘we offer esports as a portfolio’,” Suchar concludes.
As Oddin.gg’s 2025 report makes clear, esports betting has reached the same stage as traditional sports. The opportunity now lies in applying familiar strategies to a market that operators already know how to manage.
Want to explore the full findings in more detail? Download the complete Oddin.gg report here.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/esports/esports-betting-reached-a-turning-point-in-2025/
