Esports betting handle grew 41% year-on-year globally in 2025, according to new data from esports intelligence platform Esport Betting Insider, with Counter-Strike 2 and League of Legends accounting for a combined 68% of all tracked esports wagering volume.
The growth marks the strongest annual performance for esports betting since 2022 and reflects both the maturation of the product within mainstream sportsbook offerings and the commercial success of several marquee tournament events that drove significant casual bettor engagement.
The CS2 Major Championships — the sport's premier events, organised by Valve Corporation — generated record betting handle at both traditional licensed sportsbooks and specialist esports platforms, with the November 2025 Shanghai Major cited by operators as one of the ten most-wagered single events of the year across any sport.
Leading sportsbook operators including bet365, Betway, and 1xBet have all expanded their esports product offerings in the past 12 months, adding dedicated esports sections, live streaming partnerships with Twitch and YouTube, and esports-specific promotional structures.
The regulated esports betting market faces ongoing challenges around event integrity. The esports industry's relative youth and the decentralised nature of some competitive ecosystems create vulnerabilities that established sport betting integrity frameworks — designed around regulated leagues with centralised governing bodies — do not fully address.
Sportradar's esports integrity monitoring team reported a 17% increase in suspicious betting alerts flagged across esports markets in 2025, though the company noted that awareness and reporting mechanisms have also improved, meaning the increase may partly reflect better detection rather than more incidents.
Source: Esport Betting Insider
Alex Biliy
Senior Editor
Member of the iGaming Pulse editorial team. Covering industry news, analysis, and B2B developments across the global iGaming sector.
