Global Esports Betting Monitor: H2 2025
Sharpr breaks down the companies, tech, and trends shaping the future of internet gambling
Global Esports Betting Monitor: H2 2025
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 50 operators in regulated markets across the globe. Market data may vary depending on the source.
Abios delivers an odds feed with engaging features such as same-game bet builders, player props, and flash markets. Discover more today.
Click here to view the H1 2025 report.
League of Legends betting handle continues to grow while Dota 2 slides
Two titles dominated the year outright: Across 2025, Counter-Strike (57.0%) and League of Legends (27.3%) combined for approximately 84% of total esports betting handle, reinforcing the market’s concentration around these two titles.
League of Legends grew its betting share year-over-year in 2025: League closed 2025 at 27.3% of total esports betting handle, up roughly +2 percentage points YoY.
Valorant remained structurally consistent year-over-year: Valorant’s betting share held steady at around 4% in 2025, reinforcing its position as a dependable, but still under-monetized, top-four esports betting title.
Dota 2’s market share halved in two years: Dota finished 2025 at 7.7% of handle, down from 10.5% in 2024, and 14% in 2023. Short-term rebounds failed to offset a broader loss of betting relevance tied to calendar inconsistency and shrinking operator focus.
League of Legends, Valorant betting is growing in North America
North America is betting on League of Legends: North America was one of two regions where League of Legends betting outpaced Counter-Strike. LOL betting in NA was up 8% from 2024, while CS2 dipped from 44% → 30% YoY.
League of Legends booms globally: Outside of NA, League of Legends recorded notable YoY jumps in betting handle in Australia (up 16%) and Africa (up 8%), while the title remained steady in Europe (22%) and Latin America (39%).
Interest in Valorant continues growing in NA: While Valorant saw marginal decreases in betting across international markets (>1%), North America continued to show its interest in the tactical FPS shooter, which represented 13.7% of wager volume in the market, up from 11.1% the year prior.
Bettors aged 19–35 drove two-thirds of esports betting in 2025
Esports betting remains concentrated among younger adults: Bettors aged 19–35 accounted for 69% of the audience in 2025 (up ~3% from the year prior), reinforcing esports betting’s popularity among younger, digitally native cohorts.
The core betting audience is holding steady, not aging up: The 26–35 segment remained the largest group year-over-year (42.8% in 2025), while older age brackets continued to make up a relatively small share of total bettors.
Minimal traction beyond age 45: Bettors aged 46+ represented approximately 12% of the audience in 2025, highlighting the limited penetration of esports betting among older demographics.
Counter-Strike sees big dips across several regions
Regional softness weighed on Counter-Strike outside its core markets: Counter-Strike saw material dips in betting handle across several regions in 2025—down 10.3% in Africa, 16.4% in Australia, and 14.8% in North America, where League of Legends increasingly absorbed betting activity.
Europe and LATAM continued to anchor global CS2 liquidity: Despite regional declines, Counter-Strike still accounted for 57% of total esports betting handle in 2025, underscoring how dominant Europe and Latin America remain in sustaining global segment volume.
CS2’s global strength masked growing regional divergence: While Counter-Strike remains the most bet-on esports title worldwide, its performance in 2025 became increasingly uneven by region, with Europe driving the majority of volume as secondary markets softened.
Trendspotting
📈 Trending up: Esports betting is consolidating around publisher-backed ecosystems
By late 2025, esports betting has become more publisher-driven. Titles with standardized calendars, supportive partnerships, and global competition structures—namely Counter-Strike and Riot’s ecosystem—continue to attract the bulk of operator attention and betting liquidity. As sportsbooks prioritize efficiency, integrity, and scalability, games that behave more like traditional sports are pulling further ahead.
Counter-Strike has long benefited from this dynamic organically. Its international majors, consistent cadence, and deep cross-region appeal have made it a natural fit for sportsbooks, which enable liquidity to compound over time with relatively little intervention from the publisher.
Riot Games, which has historically taken a more passive stance toward esports betting, is becoming an active participant in shaping how wagering operates around its titles. The publisher behind League of Legends and Valorant, both of which continue to trend upward in betting share, taking steps to formalize how data is distributed, partners are approved, and how betting activity supports the broader competitive ecosystem. The result is a cleaner, more predictable environment that appears to bring increased betting liquidity.
📉 Trending down: Dota 2 is losing share as new betting volume flows elsewhere
Dota 2’s position in the esports betting hierarchy continued to weaken in 2025. The title finished the year at 7.7% of total betting handle, down from 10.5% in 2024 and 14% in 2023—effectively halving its market share over two years. On average, Dota has shed roughly three percentage points of handle per year since 2023, with short-term rebounds failing to reset its prior baseline.
That decline, however, does not necessarily point to a collapse in Dota’s core betting audience. Instead, the data may suggest that incremental betting growth is flowing elsewhere. Dota 2 tends to attract an older betting audience relative to other major esports titles—something we highlighted in 2Q24, when bettors aged 18–27 drove anywhere between 40–55% of handle for League, CS2, and Valorant, while the same cohort generated only 22% of Dota 2 betting.
As more of the Gen Z, esports-facing generation ages into the legal betting market, new betting activity may continue to skew toward structurally advantaged titles like Counter-Strike, League of Legends, and Valorant. These games benefit from more predictable calendars, deeper global liquidity, and stronger operator support, allowing them to capture a disproportionate share of net-new volume.
Dota 2 may not be fizzling out from esports betting, but it is clearly being outpaced. As sportsbooks and bettors alike concentrate around titles that offer consistency and scale, Dota’s challenge is less about maintaining relevance with existing fans and more about bringing new fans into the mix.
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