CS:GO Betting Sites

CS:GO Betting in the UK

Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is one of the world's most popular first-person shooter esports despite only being launched in the 2010s. By 2016, CS:GO had already overtaken Minecraft as the best-selling PC game before the move to release it as a free-to-play game in 2018 made it even more popular. There are over 400,000 CS:GO players worldwide, with monthly peaks that can hit a staggering 750,000.

It’s no surprise this popularity has attracted punters willing to wager on the various teams participating in the game.

The game is quite simple, with two teams comprising five players. The game involves two teams: one team plays as Terrorists and tries to plant a bomb, while the other team plays as Counter Terrorists and attempts to eliminate the terrorist before they plant the bomb. The teams play either as a terrorist or counter terrorist, exchanging roles during each of the potential 30 rounds. The winner of the game will be the team that wins 16 of the 30 rounds.

The game relies on raw skills and strategy, which means that if you're going to bet on a particular team, you must have some background information about their gaming strategy. For instance, the in-budgeting strategies contributing to the overall gameplay have a huge significance on the result of the encounter. Betting on CS:GO reflects this, which is why you need to know the intricacies of the game to predict it correctly.

Top 5 CSGO Betting Sites in the UK

CS:GO betting is available for punters who wish to bet on a host of events, including lower-tier and highly competitive matches.

To help your efforts, we'll look at the top 5 UK betting sites offering CS:GO betting markets. 

GG.Bet

Founded by Brivio in 2016, GG.bet has grown into a household name in esports betting. The bookie is regulated by the UK Gambling Commission hence legal and safe for bettors. To boost its image as the CS:GO esport betting platform to look out for, the company got into a partnership deal with Luminosity Gaming, Team Empire and a host of their reputable cybersports companies. 

GG Bet is one of the very few platforms that offer CS:GO live betting and other esports such as Dota 2, League of Legends, Starcraft2, and Smite, among others. In its arsenal of attractive features, GG Bet enables winning sides to share a portion of their winnings. 

With a minimum betting amount of £0.5, GG Bet is set to attract all kinds of bettors. Coupled with competitive odds, a wide range of CS:GO markets and an average payout of at least 95.4%, this is one betting platform you wouldn't wish to write off. 

Unikrn

Licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, Unikrn is considered one of the most progressive esports betting platforms for fans of Counter Strike: Global Offensive. The website has an immense range of CS:GO betting markets that avid punters will love. 

Unikrn also features modern and expandable navigation making it easy to browse the platform's pages quickly. The CS:GO section displays different live and upcoming tournaments. 

There's also a mobile version of the Unikrn website optimised to fit any smartphone device automatically. With this, you can easily place bets on your favourite CS:GO betting markets without a hassle.

Betway eSports

Owned and operated by Betway Limited, Betway is a registered betting company in Malta with great coverage of esports markets. Since the company is a registered entity with IBAS with ESSA membership, it operates under fair policy and a regulated environment. 

Betway eSports is dedicated to igaming events such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Its features make it one of the top-rated platforms, including a slideshow highlighting best offers, upcoming matches and live odds. Besides, for ease of accessibility, you'll have a slideshow of the popular eSport CS:GO events. 

Betway also offers live betting with a bonus to reward eSport betting loyalists. There's also a dedicated Betway app that features all the CS:GO markets.

Finally, this betting platform offers customer support 24/7.

Cyber.net

Cyber.net is a relatively young platform dedicated to eSport betting. It is owned by Ice Gaming which is registered in Curacao. It is licensed by the government of Curacao; hence can operate internationally. 

This betting site offers one of the best CS:GO betting experiences with its simplistic user interface. 

Punters can also enjoy live betting and live streaming certain CS:GO events as the action unfolds. This is available for both the website and mobile browser versions.

With reliable odds on all the CS:GO markets out there, Cyber.bet makes things even better by offering secure payment methods available to everyone.

The platform also provides 24/7 live chat with responsive customer support, which is highly plausible considering the site's young status in the industry.

Midnite

Midnite is owned by Dribble Media and licenced by the UKGC. Midnite’s CS:GO events that you can bet on are quite extensive. You can place pre-match or live bets on these events with plenty of unique markets.

Live betting on Midnite is further supported by a live streaming feature. To access this option, punters must select the specific CS:GO match they wish to watch and hit on play to follow the live action. 

Midnite also has promotional packages, including a chance to win a VIP experience through special VIP draws on the platform. In addition, there's also a Cash mode feature that CS:GO gaming punters can use to win cash prizes.

The platform also has a mobile app focusing exceptionally on CS:GO matches.

How We Vet the Best CSGO Betting Sites

Here we look at the key features we looked for while selecting the top 5 CS:GO betting sites.

Customer Support

For any online-based CS:GO betting site to be successful, it must have efficient customer support.

The customer support features we look out for include:

• 24/7 availability of customer service team
• Responsiveness to issues raised within reasonable timelines
• Multiple communication channels, i.e., customer support email, customer support hotline, and social media handles.
• Live chat feature to help tackle urgent issues
• A comprehensive FAQ section to facilitate self-help

Licensing

Operating a betting company in the UK requires you to adhere to strict regulations aimed at protecting punters. For this reason, we only select bookmakers that are licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. 

A licensed bookmaker is more credible and conforms to the fair gaming policy; thus, players can rest assured that they're in a safe betting environment. 

Betting Markets & Events Coverage

Betting on CS:GO requires carefully studying the range of tournaments and betting markets offered. The ideal betting platform must cover all the CS:GO markets and events. 

Each year, different sponsors organise a host of CS:GO tournaments that provide a great opportunity for esports betting fans. Premier tournaments have the biggest prize pools and include events such as ESL Pro Leagues, Intel Extreme Masters Series and DreamHack Events. 

On the other hand, Major events include ESEA Global Challenge and certain DreamHack tournaments. Although they have a smaller prize pool, Major CS:GO events also attract the strongest teams making it an excellent encounter to bet on.

Having a wide coverage of CS:GO events means there is a higher number of games and more betting markets. Major events tend to have the highest market variety, giving you a better chance of betting on less risky outcomes.

The best bookies should strive to include at least 25 betting markets with additional markets exclusive to CS:GO. As such, markets such as knife kills, pistol round winner, clean sheet, most kills, first blood and headshot should never miss out. 

CSGO Odds

The best websites should provide competitive odds with an average payout of at least 93%. We do not recommend bookies with extremely low payouts of 90% or lower because there are better CS:GO odds out there you can make a kill from.   

Promotions & Bonuses

To stay competitive, CS:GO betting sites run a series of promotions that include special bets, free bets and bonuses on a select number of tournaments or for new customers. 

In our selection, we considered betting sites that offer the best of the following promotions and bonuses:

Odds Boost – Counter-Strike:Global Offensive betting becomes exciting when bookmakers scale up the odds. Bookies will randomly select a few matches and increase their odds significantly just before kickoff.

Cashback Offers – CS:GO Sportsbooks may sometimes include cashback options. These types of bets attract punters who enjoy betting on the underdogs or betting big. Cashback offers ensure you recoup some of your money back.

Full Refund - These offers are excellent for first-time CS:GO bettors since bookies will refund your first bet in full up to a certain amount.

Free First Bet – This is similar to a no-deposit offer that allows you to take advantage of the free first bet on your sportsbook. Everything that you win with the first bet is yours to keep.

Keep in mind that these offers are subject to certain terms and conditions. Always check to ensure these terms are friendly to your CS:GO betting endeavours. 

Live Streaming & In-Play Betting 

There's no doubt that the betting experience on CS:GO matches is more exhilarating when following the live action as it happens. Live streaming of CS:GO matches gives bettors a point of reference when placing live bets.

We opt for betting sites that give punters accurate match statistics updated at every turn to give in-play betting a strategic edge. 

User Interface & Mobile Optimisation

It is no use if a betting platform for CS:GO events offers all the above features but makes navigating them hard. Whether it's the events section, live events, FAQ page, or bet slip, the user interface should be simplistic enough for any punter, irrespective of their experience level. 

Besides, CS:GO betting sites should be mobile-first optimised to ensure they run smoothly on mobile devices and ideally offer betting apps for both iOS and Android devices.

Deposit Methods & Fast Payout

CS:GO tournaments can come thick and fast, thus necessitating the need for readily available betting money. It is, therefore, important to factor in the speed of receipt of the deposits and withdrawal of winnings. This is where deposit methods play a significant role. 

Betting platforms should support a variety of deposit methods and e-wallets for instant payments.

9 Most Popular CSGO Betting Markets

CS:GO has a variety of special markets that can be high-risk but with a better-paying margin. Let us discuss the 9 most popular CS:GO betting markets.

Match Winner

This is arguably the most popular traditional CS:GO betting market. It is a staple option for many bettors because it is straightforward. 

Although Match Winner looks like a simple option to bet on, multiple factors must be considered before you can confidently settle on one of the warring teams.

CS:GO Handicap 

If you come across events where one team is a heavy favourite, you shouldn't write it off completely because of the low odds. You can still bet on the favourite through the handicap market.

Handicap markets give you better odds than Match Winner. In CS:GO handicap, the stronger team is put at a disadvantage but with better odds. For instance, if Team A is a heavy favourite choosing a handicap of -3.5 on this team to win will give you better odds. However, to win, you must be guaranteed that the team will win a map with at least four rounds. 

Handicaps are a good strategy in cases there is a team dominating a tournament.

CS:GO Pistol Round

Another exciting market that is popular in CS:GO betting is the Pistol Round. In this market, you wager on a team to win the pistol round, also known as the first round in a specific map. 

This market usually has decent odds because it looks like a coin flip — any team has a 50% chance of winning the first round. This is especially true if both teams are new to the bettor. However, to boost your luck, we recommend researching the previous matches to see how each team has been performing in previous tournaments. 

CS: GO Map Winner

Map Winner is a market that needs a lot of strategising and analysing the competing teams’ game plans. In this type of betting, you pick a team to win a specific map.

Map Winner markets are common for BO3 and BO5 matches. There are teams who have performed better in specific maps throughout their gaming history. Knowing how the other team in the encounter has been performing on the same map will give you a better chance of profiting from this market.

CS:GO Over/Under

Over/Under betting market in CS:GO can be used in several ways. The popular one is betting on the number of rounds, where the bookmaker gives you a set margin. You can then predict how many rounds will be played for a map winner to emerge. 

For instance, a bookie may give a 27.5 round margin for a map in a match, and you can then bet Under or Over. For your Under bet to succeed, the total number of rounds should be 27 or less. This means the winner clocks 16 rounds to the loser's 11. For an Over market to win, the match should end with 28 rounds or more. This means a winning score of 16-12 or more.

The competing teams' strengths determine the odds in this market. This means a strong team playing against a weak team will have low odds for Under because the chance of winning the map within fewer rounds is highly likely. 

CS:GO Match Score

Match Score is another straightforward market that only requires you to select the final map score. This means you can bet on a 2-1, 2-0 or other likely match outcomes. 

The odds of a favourite winning with a smaller match score are high compared to a match score where both teams score. Researching both teams gives you an informed angle to place such a bet. For instance, strong teams tend to win at least 2 of the 3 maps. If a team wins two maps consecutively, there's no need to play the final map — the team emerges as the winner with a match score of 2-0 (2 maps won to nill). 

Clean Sheet

This market is quite risky because you're betting on a team to win a map without losing any rounds. The odds for this kind of market are usually very high because even the strongest teams rarely win a map with a score of 16-0. 

However, you can try the clean sheet on the map score. This means you're betting on a team to win 2-0, which is common for favourites.

Race to Rounds

Race to Rounds is another high-odds but volatile CS:GO betting market with huge returns if the outcome goes your way. In this market, you wager on a team to reach a specific round count. 

For this market, you should be aware of the maps being played and the side your team is playing – Terrorist or Counter Terrorist. This is because some maps favour one side over the other, making it tougher for the opposing side to reach a certain round count in that map.

Tournament Winner

The Tournament Winner is a good option if you want a safer market with decent odds. This market is unique to specific tournaments allowing you to place a bet on a team to emerge the winner. 

If you have a decent balance, you can bet on a few favourites to emerge Tournament winners. Some teams have been known to do perfectly in tournaments, so in-depth research will benefit your betting strategy.

Top 3 CSGO Betting Events

CS:GO is a huge esport with a great following worldwide. Due to its popularity, the game conducts tournaments throughout the year. These tournaments have varying difficulty levels, with premier events being touted as one for pros only. 

Some of the top-tier CS:GO events you can bet on include:

• Flashpoint
• CBCS Elite League
• PGL Major
• Perfect World League
• CS Summit
• ESL
• Intel Masters
• DreamHack Open
• ESL One

The lower-level events are usually more entertaining because they are more predictable than the premier or major events, where professionals compete against each other. 

The following three are the most popular of the CS: GO events;

1. ESL Pro League – This is a biannual event organised by ESL and comprises 24 best teams on the planet. Currently in its 14th season, the ESL Pro League is held in the Fall and Spring each year.
2. BLAST Premier – This is another CS:GO event held twice yearly in Spring and Fall. The event is usually divided into Group Stages, Showdown and Season Finals. There is a penultimate encounter known as the World Final, which is held at the end of the season. This seven circuit event takes place throughout the year and has plenty of markets to punt on.
3. Flashpoint – This is the first franchised CS:GO league that features 8 permanent partner teams which compete in two seasons each year. Recently, this league altered its format to accommodate the RMR rankings for CS:GO due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Besides these global events, the IEM Katowice and ESL One Cologne are also popular CS:GO tournaments to bet on. Global elites compete in these events in February and July of each year.

CSGO Games101; A Brief Guide

Counter Strike: Global Offensive is a popular esport due to the ease with which viewers can follow the action. You'll probably agree that certain esports, such as Dota 2 and League of Legends, have a high learning curve when it comes to playing styles and strategies.

The basic principle of betting on CS:GO market is the same as on any other esport, with the standard being betting on a team to win a match. There are other markets, but regardless of which market you decide to bet on, the betting odds will be less for the more likely outcome.

If you want to bet on better odds, you'll need to explore special markets and do thorough research to back up your selection.

What Type of CS:GO Bets are There?

In CS:GO betting, different types of bets can be placed. These include:

• Moneyline
• Total Rounds
• Spreads
• Proposition Betting (aka Prop Bets)
• Most kills?
• Round Advantage?
• Futures
• Winner of Dreamhack
• Winner of IEM Katowice

Some of these bets are general and can be executed on any event, whereas others are unique to certain CS:GO tournaments. You'll need to choose your bet type beforehand to have a good betting strategy.

CSGO Tournament  Rules

The CS:GO tournament has several rules, but you need only concern yourself with these 7 to understand a CS:GO game.

1. Matches are played in a Best of Five format.
2. Starting side will be chosen by a knife round.
3. The map each team will play will be picked through a map veto.
4. The first team to win 16 rounds will be declared the winner of the match.
5. Substitutions are not applicable, and the 5 registered team members must play through the tournament duration.
6. In case of a tie at the end of regulation rounds (15-15), the map winner will be decided through a best of 6 extra rounds — 3 rounds as Terrorists and 3 rounds as Counter-Terrorists.
7. The team will play 30 Rounds by exchanging roles as either Terrorists & Counter-Terrorists. Each round has a duration of 1 minute and 45 seconds.