Counter-Strike: Basics and how it works
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, or CS:GO, is a tactical first-person shooter computer game, which is played competitively all over the world. While the game offers several game modes for casual players, the competitive games are played with two teams of five players and closely resembles Search and Destroy game mode in Call of Duty titles.
At the beginning of the match, each team gets assigned a role - Terrorist or counter-terrorist - with the roles swapping at the halftime, once the first 15 rounds are finished. The objective of the terrorist side is to either kill all enemy players or plant a bomb on a bombsite, located on the opposite side of the map.
Meanwhile, the counter-terrorist team has to prevent terrorists from completing their objective by either killing all five members of defusing the bomb once it's planted within the 45-second time limit.
Games are played on one of seven maps in a best-of-30 round format, meaning that the team which wins 16 rounds first wins the game. If the teams are tied at 15-15, the game enters overtime, where the team that reaches 19 rounds first wins the game.
Additional overtimes are possible if the two sides tie at 18-18 and so on. Each round lasts for 1:55 minutes.
CS:GO's In-game Economy
CS:GO in-game economy is an important element of the game for anyone who wishes to bet on CS:GO matches or even play the game should understand. The in-game economy allows players to buy better guns, equipment and other utility items before each round starts.
The player's ability to partake in the economy, however, is entirely reliant on what the said player was able to achieve in the game.
Each player starts the game with a simple gun and $800, which is not enough to buy any notable upgrades outside of armor and grenades. The first round is commonly referred to as a "pistol round," since everyone is forced to use pistols and is extremely important to win, as it can award one team with a better economy and a massive advantage.
Players earn money by killing the enemy players, planting the bomb, defusing the bomb, and winning the round. The amount of money each player receives is based on his individual performance and the performance of his team.
Understanding the economy will prove vital for anyone planning on trying out CS:GO match betting, especially when it comes to live-betting.
Betting on CS:GO - Basics
Before we look at the CS:GO esports betting sites and unveil our list of the best CS:GO betting sites, we will first walk you through some basics of CS:GO betting, including odds and types of bets, which should teach you how to bet on CS:GO and how to approach it the right way.
CS:GO Betting Odds
The first thing anyone should understand is the betting odds, how do they work, how to read them, and what do the betting odds reflect.
Based on the part of the world you live in and the bookmaker you choose to bet on, you will be greeted by one of the three formats the betting odds are written in – fractional (4/5), decimal (1.80) and Moneyline odds (-125).
While understanding Moneyline odds will be a great step towards learning how to bet on CSGO in the United States, knowing how to read the other two formats will go a long way in your betting endeavors. However, most, even small CSGO betting websites, have an option for you to change the formats.
CS:GO bet Types
Map winner
The professional CS:GO scene has seven maps in rotation, with teams picking which ones they wish to play on and which they want to ban ahead of each competitive match. Depending on the format of the tournament or the match itself, games can be either played as best-of-one (Bo1) or more commonly best-of-three (Bo3) and rarely best-of-five (Bo5).
Each team has its own set of maps which they practice on the most and are as a result more efficient on them, whereas they tend to underperform on others. By knowing that information, you will be able to place a favorable bet on a team to win a certain map of the series, if that map happens to be on where they excel.
All CSGO esports betting sites will offer you a chance to bet on a map winner, and since the map winner on Bo1 series will be the same as the outright/Moneyline bet, we won't be looking at Moneyline/outright bets here. On the other side, Bo3 and Bo5 series offer CSGO bettors a lot of opportunities to beat the market.
As an example, we can look at a match between FaZe Clan and G2 Esports, where FaZe Clan is better on map Inferno, whereas G2 Esports excel on Train.
Map 1 (Inferno)
| FaZe Clan | -130 | (1.77) |
| G2 Esports | +110 | (2.10) |
Map 2 (Train)
| FaZe Clan | +115 | (2.15) |
| G2 Esports | -135 | (1.74) |
The odds on map winner shift based on the team's efficiency on certain maps, and although FaZe Clan are entering this match as underdogs, they're priced as favorites on Inferno.
Spread Betting
Spread betting is one of the most commonly used types of bets not only in esports and CS:GO but across all of the betting industry.
In most cases, esports bookmakers will offer only moneyline bets on CS:GO matches, meaning you will only be able to place a bet on which team will win.
But occasionally bookmakers will offer a spread bet on either kills, maps or rounds. Since all three work the same way, we will look at the most common CS:GO spread betting option, which is map spread betting.
When you're betting on spread, you're essentially betting whether a team will win the match by a certain number of maps, or on the other side, if a team will be able to keep their opponents on their toes and force a close series. Based on the format of the match (Bo3 or Bo5), the map spread will offer you either +/-1.5 or +/- 2.5 bet.
As an example, we will again look at a match between Cloud9 and Team Envy, who are competing in a Bo3 fixture.
| Envy | +1.5 maps | -250 (1.40) |
| Cloud9 | -1.5 maps | +175 (2.75) |
In this case, the bookmaker is offering you to either back Envy to win at least one map or bet on Cloud9 to walk away from the match with a clean sweep. This means that if you back Envy at +1.5 maps and they end up losing 1-2, you will still get paid your winnings since the combined number of maps they won (1+1.5) exceeds that of Cloud9 (2).
Totals Betting
Totals betting or Over/under betting is another very common bet type you will find at any esports bookmaker. The concept behind totals betting is fairly simple, as you are only predicting whether a certain element of the game (kills, rounds or maps) will exceed the predetermined amount set by bookmakers.
If we return to the previous match between Team Envy and Cloud9, which is played as Bo3, bookmakers will offer you to bet on whether the match will end with over or under 2.5 maps played, essentially meaning you're predicting whether either of the team will win without losing a single map.
| Over 2.5 maps | -120 (1.83) |
| Under 2.5 maps | -120 (1.83) |
Some bookmakers will also offer you to bet on total rounds played in each map. Those odds will differ greatly depending on the teams and which map will be played.
| Over 26.5 rounds | 1.90 |
| Under 26.5 rounds | 1.80 |
Futures Betting
Instead of focusing on a single match, futures betting in CS:GO focuses on the final placement of a team in a large event, tournament or league. The futures bet is as simple as it gets, as you are only betting on whether a team will win the tournament.
Rarely you will come across a bookmaker who offers you an opportunity to bet on whether the team will reach a certain stage of the tournament. However, the most widely spread future bet in CS:GO is a simple outright win bet, where the only thing you have to predict is which team will win the title.
Where to bet on CS:GO
Being the most popular esports title amongst esports bettors, finding a suitable bookmaker for your CS:GO betting endeavor is as simple as finding CS:GO betting websites that still work. Even a simple Google search will unveil a long CS:GO betting sites list, where you will have plenty of options to choose from.