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If there was ever any doubt in the growth and sustainability surrounding eSports, this latest report will put those doubts to bed.
Pro gaming appears to be going from strength to strength, with record-setting investment, increased audience ratings, and more games being added to the eSports circuit every year.
Now, the latest report to come out of the industry points to the investment paying off, with revenue expected to increase substantially over the next few years.
Newzoo has released its latest study on eSports revenue, and the figures point to a 12-month period of $696 million being pumped into the sport from multiple sources including sponsorship, advertising, subscription-based mechanisms, and other variables.
The company predicts that by 2020, the eSports industry will be generating more than $1.4 billion in revenue.
This year stands to be the best yet for pro gaming, according to Newzoo, with media rights being the next big battleground.
Companies like Activision Blizzard, Riot, and Valve are all looking for different ways to broadcast and sell their more popular professional games to large media markets.
Riot, developer of League Of Legends, has already sold the rights to broadcast its eSports games for a reported figure in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The increase in revenue will come from beyond just broadcasting rights, however.
Newzoo predicts that there will be almost a 50 percent increase in merchandise and ticket sales, pushing the figure beyond $60 million annually.
The next 12 months is expected to bring in almost 400 million unique viewers in 2017, with nearly half identify as hardcore enthusiasts of a particular brand or game.
“eSports is not only growing exponentially as a new independent business and industry, it is also accelerating the convergence of various established industries,” Newzoo CEO, Peter Warman said.
“For brands, media, and entertainment companies, eSports provides a chance to capitalise on the favourite pastime of digital natives and Millennials: playing games and watching game content. With the arrival of live streams and events, gaming has entered the realm of broadcasters and media that can now apply their advertising business model to a market previously out of reach for them.”
Interestingly, the report does not include betting of any kind. eSports and its benefactors have come under fire somewhat the past 12 months, with a number of controversies aiming to compromise the sport’s competitiveness and legitimacy.
However, despite a history of betting scandals and underground gambling websites, Las Vegas bookmakers are embracing eSports, and have started taking bets for the Intel Extreme Masters Oakland.
Understandably, Newzoo considers gambling to be an industry in and of itself, sustainable away from the mechanisms of eSports more broadly.
eSportsbet’s opinion: It should really come as no surprise eSports is going through this sort of growth. Even with tiring games such as StarCraft and CS:GO still leading the way, there’s a constant stream of new and exciting games entering the competitive arena. Further, companies have improved the viewing experience tenfold over the past 24 months, making major events incredibly enjoyable, even for viewers not overly interested in the game being played. Expect the rise to continue on beyond 2020 and well into next decade.
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YouTube is growing in stature in the gaming world, playing host to some of the world’s best video game personalities and pro gamers. It continues to be one of the best ways to share information online, as well as to broadcast the best the esports world has to offer. The likes of Twitch, Raptr and Discord dominate a lot of the primary ways to engage and share information for gamers, but YouTube may very well be the definitive place to scourge the internet for tips, summaries, and replays of all the best esports action.
It may have a ways to go to compete in the live streaming aspect with Twitch and other big players, but YouTube has already established itself as the premier entertainment destination for pro gaming. So which esports YouTube channels should you be following from the world of professional gaming? Here’s our list of channels you have to follow.
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Overwatch Central
Overwatch Central may not be the definitive eSports-focused channel out there, but it’s frequented and loved by the pro gaming community. It is the definitive source of Overwatch tips and guides, focusing on a lot of the game’s issues, additions, changes and rumours, which obviously change the way the game is played in eSports tournaments.
It’s quickly become one of the most respected video game channels on all of YouTube, and as such should definitely be followed by anyone looking to break into the Overwatch eSports scene.
CSGOWorld
CS:GO World focuses on tips and tactics, while also providing a deep insight in the pro gaming world of Valve’s FPS juggernaut. It has some fantastic coverage and videos on how to start an eSports team, how to improve your CS:GO skills, and even how to communicate better with teammates during a match.
The folks behind the channel are from Poland, and offer some spectacular eSports game footage from live events, while also providing the occasional interview and roundup of the latest tournaments.
Rocket League eSports
The Rocket League eSports YouTube channel allows you to catch all of the high-speed action from the game’s pro gaming scene, offering up the best the professional league has to off. There’s regularly updated content, pro player interviews, and live event coverage, so you probably don’t need to look anywhere else for Rocket League eSports.
Rocket League is quickly establishing itself as a force in eSports. It should come as no surprise: the game’s unique spin on car racing, football, and just all-round multiplayer shenanigans has allowed it to develop a passionate and highly competitive community. While it’s certainly unlike any other game on the pro gaming circuit, it has the potential to grow into something massive.
TheScore eSports
TheScore is a Canadian-based digital media company that owns and operates mobile sports platforms theScore, and ‘theScore eSports. It also has a very large presence on YouTube, and definitely shouldn’t be overlooked. Its website is also great, covering pretty much everything in the world of pro gaming.
It has plenty of great content including interviews, round-ups, live events and coverage of tournaments, and plenty of off-beat stuff like best and worst eSports moments. Perhaps the best independent media coverage of eSports on YouTube.
Yahoo! eSports
Yahoo! eSports is the big player in this group. Yahoo! has invested heavily in eSports, having poached one of Gamespot AU’s editors to lead editorial coverage from Los Angeles. It covers all of the major events from across the globe, and has everything from on-site interviews, live streaming events, on-the-ground coverage from tournaments, and plenty of other great content across the biggest eSports games.
LoL, CS:GO, Overwatch, Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. and more fill the channel’s eSports coverage. Hit that subscribe button!
LoL eSports
If you’re a League Of Legends fan, then you really can’t look past the LoL eSports channel. There you’ll find the best of one of the most competitive titles on the pro gaming circuit. There are live streams from major leagues, including North America and Europe, as well as coverage of the NA and EU Challenger Series, the LCK, the LMS, and all live in HD straight through the YouTube channel.
Serenity17
Serenity17 is one of your traditional YouTubers, having built their channel up on the back of a specific game. In this case it was Rainbow Six: Siege, a game that is growing in stature in the esports scene and could take it by storm in 2017.
Serenity17 offers fantastic daily content from pro Siege players from around the globe, and also offers reviews, tips, guides, and random gameplay footage. Siege is one game to keep an eye out for in eSports, and so this channel is a must-watch.
One game which has quickly risen the esports ranks to establish itself as a pro gaming juggernaut is Blizzard’s critically acclaimed team shooter, Overwatch. Taking Korea and the United States by storm, it’s set to overtake Dota 2 and League of Legends as the most played and viewed video game, both casually and professionally, around the world in 2024.
The Overwatch Champions Series is big news for the game, for Blizzard, and for esports, because the first-person shooter genre is normally not one to grab much of a foothold in Asian markets. The fact it is set to kickstart a new eSports era and challenge other genre heavyweights of the Halo and Call Of Duty variety, suggests it is time to sit up and take notice of the heroes from Overwatch.
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Overwatch Champions Series Key Dates
- May 31 – June 2 – OWCS Major 1
Overwatch Betting Odds
The odds for the Overwatch Champions Series are not available at this time.
What is the Overwatch Champions Series?
The Overwatch League ceased after the 2023 season, allowing the Overwatch Champions Series to take over as the premier Overwatch esports league.
In 2024, Blizzard unveiled its comprehensive esports initiative, starting with the Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS).
This cutting-edge international competitive circuit is open to players from across North America (NA), Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa (EMEA), as well as Asia.
The 2024 season promises a dynamic array of competitive stages.
Each region will host its own Open Qualifiers, providing players with the opportunity to assemble their teams and vie for a coveted spot in the Main Event.
These stages will build up to two electrifying live international tournaments, uniting regions for the ultimate showcase of Overwatch skill on an unprecedented scale in esports history.
Overwatch Champions Series betting guides and tips
So you want to bet on the Overwatch Champions Series, huh? First thing’s first: Overwatch is the type of game that can appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers and esports fans, but it pays to brush up on your basic gameplay knowledge so you can keep up with the fast-paced nature of the extremely high-level of play apparent in the OWCS.
Top-level teams like Seoul Dynasty and Dallas Fuel have demonstrated a whole other level of skill on the battlefield, and when it comes to professional players and their speed and tactics, and you may be surprised at how much obscure jargon and unexpected strategies are thrown around that aren’t immediately recognisable to even to major OW fans (our editorial team included!). There is also a completely unique user interface and spectator camera implemented solely for OWCS play, which you must also familiarise yourself with to properly keep up with the action.
Before putting down your hard-earned cash for bets on Overwatch Champions Series, we have compiled a handy list of guides and walkthroughs for inexperienced and experienced esports bettors to go to for quick help and reference.
- Overwatch esports general betting guide
For more information on how Overwatch Champions Series is played competitive as an esport, we advise checking out our Overwatch esports and betting guide for more information. We extensively cover gameplay, heroes, maps, strategies, terminology, and how to spot a good team or a good player worth backing with a (winning) real money bet. We have team and player profiles available to get a better idea of which groups, based on performance, roster quality and other factors, will make the best and most valuable bets in Season 1. - Newbie’s guide to betting on OWCS and esports
It’s highly essential you’re familiar with online sports betting, including understanding how odds and betting markets work, before you even place a wager down on a team. We highly advise you check out our beginner’s guide to betting on esports to understand the OWCS odds and options available to you at this time. We also go over how bonuses and promotions work, and the types of bets you can place on esports. - Top Overwatch Champions Series betting sites guide
For Overwatch esports fans who are already experienced sports bettors or have placed a wager on other esports in the past, the process to bet on an Overwatch Champions Series match is very similar, and because the OWCS is this year’s big thing, you can expect to be able to wager on your favourite teams at practically every betting site we recommend on this domain. We’ve taken the time to write up an Overwatch esports betting sites guide so you can find the very best sportsbooks (or bookmakers, depending on where you live in the world) that are legally licensed, regulated and cater to customers from your country. Our handy tables and content are geo-targeted, meaning it will only show you the best current options for users from your region, so you’re never stuck signing up somewhere you can’t even legally bet on OWCS with. - Types of bets on the Overwatch Champions Series and how to place them
In this article, we go over the types of bets you can place on the typical Overwatch Champions Series match, based on the betting markets currently available at traditional sportsbooks and esports specialist betting sites – Match Winner/Moneyline, Handicap, Outright Winner, and so on. You can’t exactly expect to win some cash on your favourite team if you don’t understand what outcome you’re wagering on, so this guide is essential for both newbies and experienced punters. - Weekly Overwatch Champions Series betting tips and power rankings
Keep an eye out on our news and tips feed for regular match-to-match betting previews, odds, value tips, predictions and any news related to the Overwatch Champions Series by bookmarking www.fridaynightmadness.com or our news section.
What is Overwatch – for dummies
Overwatch is unlike any game you would have seen from developer Blizzard. This is the studio and video game publisher that has made the likes of World of Warcraft and StarCraft, so a first-person game from that studio seemed incredibly left-field when it was first revealed. Once the betas hit, however, it was clear the game was drowning in Blizzard’s video game DNA.
This is also probably unlike any first-person shooter you have played before. Sure, it takes obvious inspiration from the likes of Team Fortress 2 and a number of other team-based, class-based shooters, but we have never really seen something along those lines with the scope and scale of Overwatch. This is a huge game, and there is no surprise that it has taken off the way it has.
Firstly, the sheer diversity and variation on offer with the characters is unparalleled. Whether you’re watching it casually or checking out the pros, one thing you’ll notice is that players often change characters back and forth during a match, simply to change things up and try to turn a match back in their favour. In one instance they can be controlling a defensive player, and in the next instance they will switch back over to an attack or big, heavy tank character.
Matches play out like your standard multiplayer match: Two teams battle it out for control of an objective. In some matches, one player needs to guide a payload towards an objective, while the other has to stop the payload before it gets to checkpoints scattered throughout the map. With a constant timer and score ticker keeping the action fast, fresh and exciting, Overwatch is a unique sort of first-person shooter that gives the genre an energy shot in the arm (and boy did it need one).
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You could easily argue that the game’s popularity in Korea has helped kickstart Overwatch’s push into the eSports scene. There are a few other factors, however. The game is among the most talked about video games on the internet – only the PlayStation 4 was talked about and reported on more in 2016 than Overwatch – and it is also among the most popular on YouTube and Twitch. Throw in a player count of 25 million and, well, you get the jist: Overwatch is a very popular game.
Rarely does a multiplayer game as popular as this not make its way into the competitive scene, but Blizzard would have gone down this route eventually anyway, regardless of whether people were playing it or not. That’s because the game is so staunchly competitive, strategic and tactical that it suits the pro scene perfectly.
That also explains why Overwatch has become so popular in Korea, which many within in the industry consider to be a region that makes or breaks a strategy game’s success in the eSports scene. Overwatch is a shooter first and foremost, but its gameplay depth, character variation and excitement has helped feed into an eSports obsession in Korea that has been crying out for a StarCraft replacement for years.
How to bet on the Overwatch Champions Series right now?
The official season for the Overwatch Champions Series has started, and many of the world’s most highly-reviewed betting sites such as GG Bet have opened betting markets to take real money bets on the Overwatch Champions Series match winners. It’s safe to say we will be seeing some more competitive betting markets and prop bets open when the season furthers along, especially now that standout teams have had time to shine. Keep this page bookmarked to find the best esports betting sites and markets to place your wagers on your favourite Overwatch Champions Series teams, players and matches, along with more information on the types of bets that will become available.
Helpful esports betting guides and links:
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The NBA, the world’s premiere and most-watched professional basketball league, has teamed up with video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software to create the NBA 2K eLeague, based on the immensely popular NBA 2K video game series from 2K Sports.
The league will act as a professional competitive gaming league, one that hopes to bring together the best basketball gamers from across the world.
It will also be the first official eSports league operated by a professional US sports league.
The NBA 2K eLeague will kick off in 2018, with the ground-breaking competitive league consisting of teams operated by actual NBA franchise.
Each founding team will feature five professional eSports play, each with their own custom-made in-game avatar.
The league stands to follow an actual professional sports league format, with head-to-head battles throughout a regular season, following by a bracketed playoff system, and finally a championship matchup.
“We believe we have a unique opportunity to develop something truly special for our fans and the young and growing eSports community,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “We look forward to combining our best-in-class NBA sports team operators with Take-Two’s competitive gaming expertise to create a brand new league experience.”
“We are proud to expand our strong relationship with the NBA and co-create the NBA 2K eLeague,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two. “Through the NBA 2K series, which is renowned throughout the world for capturing the authenticity of the NBA and the passion of its fans, we have a proven track record of highly successful collaboration. With this new venture, Take-Two and the NBA aim to fuel the accelerating growth of eSports and take the thrill of competition to exciting new heights.”
NBA and Take-Two have had a long-standing working relationship dating all the way back to 1999.
The collaborating has created a multi-million selling video game franchise in NBA 2K, which has gone on to sell 68 million units worldwide and continues to be the dominant NBA video game franchise, having toppled EA Sports’ once-dominant NBA Live franchise.
Aside from being the highest-rated NBA 2K entry in franchise history, last year’s NBA 2K17 also went on to sell more than 7 million units, and is now poised to become 2K Games’ highest-selling sports title ever.
The NBA 2K eLeague joins the NBA 2K17 All-Star Tournament, which was launched in 2017.
It’s a professional tournament in which competing players can battle it out to win a trip to NBA All-Star 2017 weekend. The 5-on-5 tournament, featuring a $250,000 grand prize, will culminate on February 17 in New Orleans.
eSportBet’s opinion: As a seasoned NBA 2K player myself — I’ll probably beat you — I’m ecstatic that 2K Games is taking the franchise into the competitive arena. If games like FIFA and Rocket League can make it, there’s no reason why NBA 2K can’t. This is a ruthlessly competitive game and always has been, so it’s definitely a long-time coming. 2018 stands to be an awesome year for eSports.
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League of Legends is set for a bumper start to 2017, with Riot announcing plans for the upcoming League Of Legends Mid-Season Invitational, as well as the highly anticipated LoL World Championship.
The Mid-Season Invitational will head to Brazil, kicking things off from April 28 and running until May 21. The structure will be different compared to past seasons, however.
The 2016 Mid-Season Invitational feature six teams and an International Wild Card, with champions from Korea, China, North America and Europe battling it out.
In 2017, Riot will get rid of the Wild Card system, and will instead turn to smaller leagues to fill the spot.
That means a roster of thirteen teams will battle at the Mid-Season Invitational.
There will also be a brand new tournament structure, with a six-team group stage complimented by a new play-in stage, which will determine each team’s seed.
Teams from last year’s three best-performing regions have already been granted a place in the group stages. Other regions will need to find for a place.
Here are the regions that will — alongside the five major leagues already intended to attend — be represented:
- Japan (JPN)
- Brazil (BR)
- Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
- Latin America – North (LAN)
- Latin America – South (LAS)
- Oceania (OCE)
- Southeast Asia (SEA)
- Turkey (TUR)
World Championship
China will be host of the World Championship for the first time ever.
Kicking off from September 23 and running until November 4, it’s getting a slight restructuring with 24 teams competing, up from 16 in past years.
There will be a knock-out play-in stage, which will determine group staging. Each representative from the regions will battle against third-seeeded teams from each region. Four teams from this group will then proceed to the group stage.
The 2017 League of Legends World Championship in China will run from September 23 until November 4.
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Major League Gaming, commonly abbreviated and referred to simply as “MLG”, is a large organiser of eSports events held across North America and the world. MLG was bought out by Blizzard in 2015, and has since stripped back the event side of their offering, instead focussing on the streaming service MLG.tv. Founded in 2002, MLG has grown into one of the industry’s trailblazers, setting the standard for broadcasting of major events, and elevating the likes of Halo and Call Of Duty into permanent pro gaming schedules. As it looks to grow and evolve into a major broadcaster of eSports events for a mainstream audience, Major League Gaming has
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Key MLG events in 2020
- Overwatch League: The Overwatch League is one of the key events under the MLG banner, with this drawing huge interest right around the globe.
- Call of Duty League: The COD League is the new competition being launched in 2020, replacing the Cod World League. MLG is a major broadcaster of this event.
- Blizzcon: A huge video gaming celebration of Blizzard’s titles. Of course this translates to esports events. Blizzcon is broadcast and promoted by MLG. No surprise really, given Blizzard owns MLG.
History of Major League Gaming
MLG was founded in 2002 by Sundance DiGiovanni and Mike Sepso. It quickly grew into a dominant force in pro gaming, and became the first televised video game console gaming league in 2006 with the hosting of the Halo 2 Pro Series. Such was the popularity of MLG in its first few years, it was able to raise more than $10 million in investment capital, despite eSports still being a fairly niche aspect of the gaming community.
The company is in many ways credited with reigniting interest in the fighting game pro gaming circuit. In March 2010, it acknowledged the popularity and watchable of Tekken 6, and added it back to the pro circuit, hosting tournaments on PlayStation 3. It also brought back Super Smash Bros., which arguably led to what is a thriving eSports community for that game today.
MLG has been active in stamping out cheating, and as such removed the official “Pro Circuit” branding from the Xbox 360 after JTAG Hacks were found to be extremely common in the console’s version of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which was added to the Online Pro Circuit in 2009. This forced pro 360 players to compete online without earning pro points, pushing a lot of the competitive scene over to the PS3.
The year 2012 would prove to be an important one in MLG’s history. It would partner with CBS Interactive, integrating a lot of its coverage on CBS’ dedicated gaming site, Gamespot.com. It would also team up with KeSPA (Korean eSports Association), which allowed MLG access to KeSPA’s Starcraft: Brood War players. As you can imagine, this led to the creation of some truly dominant teams.
The MLG sale to Activision Blizzard
Come late 2015, and MLG was the dominant force in eSports events and broadcasting. So much was the company, it was purchased by Activision Blizzard for $46 million. It was an unsurprising purchase, seeing as though both Call Of Duty and StarCraft — two Activision Blizzard-owed franchises — were two of the more popular MLG games.
Activision admitted that the purpose of the purchase was mainly to get its hands on MLG’s streaming service, MLG.tv. Activision CEO, Robert Kotick, explained as much, telling the New York Times that his goal was to create the “ESPN of video games”. As of early 2017, MLG still exists in its current form, and it continues to innovate and evolve the eSports broadcasting experience.
Call Of Duty Pro Circuit
Call Of Duty is undoubtedly the biggest game and event on the MLG gaming calendar. While there are other events and public tournaments across the likes of Overwatch, CS:GO, StarCraft, FIFA, and more, Call of Duty is the epitome of the big-time MLG pro gaming event.
It has a prize pool totally more than $4 million as of the 2017 season, with the Call Of Duty World League standing as a tour de force for the most competitive first-person shooter on the market.
MLG Pro Circuit Events
Throughout the years, MLG has hosted pro tournaments at a number of locations across North America.
- MLG Vegas: Overwatch, Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare
- Gears of War Columbus Open
- World Of Warcraft Road To Blizzcon
- Counter-Strike:Global Offensive Americas Minor Championship
- MLG CS:GO Major Championship
- Halo World Championship
- MLG Smite Pro League Championship
MLG and the future of eSports
With Activision’s purchase of eSports and celebrities also looking for a piece of the pie, it’s clear the pro gaming has a very big and important future. Stadiums are filling up across the globe, more and more regions are getting involved, and the mainstream success of eSports is all but guaranteed.
Games like Rocket League, which MLG has sponsored in the past, look to reinvigorate eSports just as the older games become stale, while the likes of Rainbow Six: Siege looks guaranteed to find a place among the tactical shooter juggernauts of the CS:GO variety.
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It started off as the small indie-developed sports game that could, but has grown into an eSports juggernaut that has blown the industry away.
Rocket League will kick off 2017 with the commencement of Season 3 of its eSports tournament, which will offer a $300,000 prize pool, a small chunk of the larger $1 million prize pool on offer throughout the year.
The Rocket League Championship Series, as its called, will feature the best teams from multiple regions as they battle it out for soccer-football supremacy.
Season 2’s $250,000 was impressive enough for a self-funded eSports tournament, but with an additional $2.5 million investment in the game’s eSport circuit, that number will continue to rise with upcoming seasons.
As one of the most popular indie games in recent memory – 25 million registered players cannot be wrong – it seems like there is no end in sight for the unique and innovative sports game.
Season 3 will allow teams from Australia and New Zealand to compete for the first time, and they will come up against the best teams from North America and Europe.
The plan for the game from Season 3 onward is to have “more meaningful appearances” at major events, including PAC and SXSW.
Community-run tournaments will also be looked at as wildcard qualifiers, with “extensive funding” being pumped into each region.
Adding to the Rocket League eSports hype will be a new weekly talk show on Twitch, while a new eSports hub is also being planned for the official Rocket League website.
Finally, the game’s broadcast and eSports features will be improved and expanded upon to make for a more accessible pro gaming experience.
For newbies, Rocket League is a vehicular soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix, and is perhaps best described as soccer – but with cars.
It is a sequel to Psyonix’s Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, which was no well-received upon launch, but developed a loyal fanbase.
Rocket League, on the hand, has garnered critical acclaim and commercial success, and slowly made its way from PC to Xbox One and PS4, where its place in mainstream gaming really took off, leading into what is now a very popular and entertainment eSports league.
If you’re looking to get into Rocket League eSports – and you should because it is perhaps the most entertainment new eSports scene – then tune into the North American Open Qualifier finale at 12:00pm PST/ 3:00pm EST on Saturday, March 11.
That will be followed by the European Open Qualifier on Sunday, March 12 at 9:00am PDT/ 12:00pm EDT.
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The COD World League Championship has been discontinued, instead replaced with the Call of Duty League for the 2023 professional COD season.
The 2023 Call of Duty World League Season will run from December 2, 2022 until August 1, 2023, and see the best teams from around the globe shoot it out, with unmatched betting interest set to surround the event. All of the major esports betting sites will have extensive markets on the COD World League.
Running for the first time in 2016, the Call of Duty World League will be played for a sixth time on with this year’s tournament set to be played on PC on Call of Duty: Vanguard, with over USD $6 million in prize money to be handed out.
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What is the COD World League
The Call of Duty World League is one of the world’s largest eSports tournaments. With a prize pool totalling more than $6 million for the 2023 season, it also stands as one of the most lucrative events in pro gaming.
Held annually to coincide with the release of every new Call of Duty video game, the CWL stands as a tour de force for the most competitive first-person shooter on the market.
The league culminates in the the COD World League Championships, which pits all of the qualified pro and amateur teams against each other, in a season-ending, big purse event.
So what is it about the tournament that makes it so special, and why do so many people tune in? Let’s take a look at the history and future of the Call Of Duty World League.
How to bet on CWL esports
Many of the world’s best esports betting sites regularly offer betting markets on Call of Duty World League events. The 2023 season has more fanfare, funding and popularity than its previous efforts, so be sure to join in on the discussion at Esportbet and keep us bookmarked for the latest match updates and betting guides.
If you’re new to betting online, please read our how to bet on esports guide to learn how to place a wager on your favourite Call of Duty pro gaming matches, and how the odds and betting types work. Readers from South Korea are recommended to check out GG Bet or any of the highest-rated sites listed in the table at the top of this page.
More detailed esports betting site reviews can be found in our best esports betting sites guide.
Call of Duty World League Odds
Below are the odds for a team “To Win” the CDL Championship (odds are correct as of May 1);
- LA Thieves – $3.50
- OpTic Texas – $4.00
- Atlanta FaZe – $4.33
- Toronto Ultra – $4.50
- New York Subliners – $8.00
- Seattle Surge – $9.00
- Boston Breach – $21.00
- Minnestoa ROKKR – $26.00
- Las Vegas Legion – $251.00
- Florida Mutineers – $751.00
- LA Guerrillas – $1,001.00
- London Royal Ravens – $1,001.00
History of the Call Of Duty World League
The Call of Duty World League kicked off its first ever season in January 2016, with Call Of Duty: Black Ops III on PlayStation 4 acting as the tournament’s game. It acted as a qualifier for the Call of Duty Championship, which hosts the world’s best teams and players, who battle it out for ultimate CoD supremacy. The prize pool started off at $3 million, half of which was designated for the Championship at the end of the season.
The 2017 season expanded upon this concept, introducing the offline Pro League so the best Call of Duty players from around the world could compete in consistent high-level matches. It also marked the full return of open events, which gave amateur players a shot at playing against the greatest esports players in the game.
The 2018 season of the Call of Duty World League saw some new beginnings, with team banners introduced to recognise the accomplishments, history and champions of wining a CWL event.
Since the 2020 season the tournament transitioned to a five versus five format, prize money was increased to make it the largest tournaments in history, while region restrictions on LAN events have been lifted, meaning players from everywhere can qualify for the events.
Tournament organisers have also vowed they will release the weapons and equipments list well in advance of the CWL beginning.
Call of Duty World League structure and qualifiers
The tournament acts as a qualifier for the Championship, with regional qualifying events and online qualifiers for the League itself held at the end of the year prior. Teams that make the League then compete for a place in the Championship, which takes place before the launch of the next Call Of Duty in November.
There are two divisions: the Pro Division, and Challenge Division.
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Pro Division
The Pro Division is hosted across the globe at tournaments in North America, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand. The structure of these tournaments is different depending on the amount of teams competing, and all take place before the Championship.
Nine teams from North America, six from EU, and one from APAC are placed in four groups, with placement dependent on how many points they earned during their respective regional qualifiers. The top eight teams will make it into the Stage 1 Playoffs, while the bottom four teams will compete in a relegation battle. At this point, new teams can compete for a spot in the Pro League in progression to Stage 2.
The winners of the relegation battles will join the Stage 1 top teams in the second round, which ends with eight teams competing for prize money and seeding. Once a team makes it to stage 2, they are granted automatic inclusion in the Championship in June.
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Challenge Division
The Challenge Division acts as a qualifying for up-and-coming players, who can compete against similarly-skilled players for a place in the Championship. These qualifiers are LAN events, offer a prize pool albeit a smaller one compared to the Pro Division. Each competitor plays to earn World League points, which are then used to work towards a place at the Championship.
Call of Duty World Championship
In the Call of Duty World Championship, 32 teams battle it out across multiple pools. 16 of the teams come from the Pro league, while the remaining 16 are made up of winning teams from the qualifying LAN events and regulation battles.
The odds for the 2023 edition of the Call of Duty: World League Championship have been released. Our top betting site that has CWL Championships for South Korea is GG Bet.
Call of Duty World League Winners And Prize Money
The 2021 League was won by Atlanta FaZe taking home $1.2 million in prize money, followed by 2022 League winners Los Angeles Thieves who also took home $1.2 million of the $2.55 million prize pool.
Call of Duty World Championship Winners
- 2016: Team EnVyUS
- 2017: Optic Gaming
- 2018: Evil Geniuses
- 2019: eUnited
- 2020: Dallas Empire
- 2021: Atlanta FaZe
- 2022: Los Angeles Thieves
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The underground world of eSports gambling just took a big from UK gambling authorities.
YouTube and eSports star Craig Douglas pleaded guilty alongside his business partner, Dylan Rigby, for running an illegal gambling ring.
They both admitted their roles in prompting eSports players to bet on their own and other pro gaming matches using an in-game FIFA currency called FIFA Coins.
They created a website called “FUTGalaxy”, on which users could bet using the currency and engaging in lottery and slot-like games to win additional coins.
The site generated a pre-tax profit of ￡96k in less than a year from July 2015, with thousands of registered users on the site, many under the legal gambling age in the UK.
While both men were spared jail time, Douglas was fined ￡16,000 and ordered to pay ￡75,000 after he admitted his role as an “advertiser and a promoter” of the service.
Rigby received a much harsher penalty, ordered to pay a ￡24,000 fine and ￡150,000 in court costs after admitting to have been a “prime mover” in the operation of the site.
District Judge Jack McGarva said both men were clearly aware that children were accessing the site.
“At the very least, you both turned a blind eye to it,” he said.
Legal proceedings began against the duo in late 2016 when the UK Gambling Commission accused them of running an unlawful gambling syndicate.
They accused Douglas of promoting illegal gambling activities via his YouTube page, where he has more than 1.3 million subscribers, many of whom are minors.
The pair had initially entered not guilty pleas, but changed their pleas leading into a hearing. Douglas had feared jail time, telling his followers there was a probability that he would not be walking out of court on Monday morning. “[And] that’s scary,” he said.
Governments around the globe are working to reign in the growing underground eSports gambling industry, which mostly deals in in-game skins, video games currency, and tokens.
A popular scene is occurring with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Team Fortress 2, with developer, Valve, sending cease a desist letters to a number of illegal gambling operations.
These sites generally allow users to bet either in or for in-game currency, with certain items being extremely rare in the game and therefore demanding a high real currency cost.
eSportBet’s opinion: This has been a long time coming, and it raises interesting questions not just about the influence of “influencers”, as they are called, but also the relationships they have with audiences. Recent laws passed in Australia and current laws in the US force YouTubers, Streamers and other online personalities to disclose any promotions. In this case, even disclosure would not have mattered as the act was illegal. We don’t have an issue personally with the use of in-game currency as a betting currency, but it is clear it needs to be regulated and managed in a way to avoid it being used to exploit minors.
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The Intel Extreme Masters is perhaps the most respected and well-known series of eSports tournaments on the pro gaming calendar. Players from around the globe compete in a series of events scattered around the world, with tournaments taking place across the globe, events on nearly every continent, and an epic final in Poland.
Sponsored by Intel and organised and sanctioned by the Electronic Sports League (ESL), the Intel Extreme Masters covers all the biggest and best games on the pro gaming scene, including CS2 and Starcraft II.
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History of the Intel Extreme Masters
ESL first introduced the Intel Extreme Masters to the world in 2006 following a number of successful albeit smaller European tournaments. Intel, extremely pleased by the performance and fan interest of the events, sponsored the event’s expansion, leading to the creation of the “Extreme Masters” from what was initially individually-named events.
The very first Intel Extreme Masters took place in 2007, with smaller qualifying events leading into an epic final. This structure remains today, although the final has moved from the CeBIT trade show in Hanover, Germany, to Katowice in Poland.
Those beginning seasons were small and limited in scope: the only game being played back in 2008 was Counter Strike 1.6. As history would show, this quickly expanded to become a lineup of five before retracting back to the two main titles, Counter-Strike and Starcraft II.
Intel Extreme Masters Events in 2024
Intel Extreme Masters Games
The Intel Extreme Masters has experimented with a number of different games throughout the years. Counter-Strike 1.6 was used in the tournament’s early years, while both Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos and Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne lasted for three years from the event’s inception. Quake Live managed to last two seasons before essentially falling off the eSports map, replaced by the likes of StarCraft II, League of Legends and Overwatch.
These are the games that have been played during each season of the Intel Extreme Masters:
Season 1
- Counter-Strike 1.6
- Warcraft
Season 2
- Counter-Strike 1.6
- Warcraft
Season 3
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Warcraft
- World Of Warcraft
Season 4
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- World of Warcraft
- Quake Live
- Dota
Season 5
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Warcraft
- Dota
- StarCraft II
- Quake Live
Season 6
- League of Legends
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- StarCraft II
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Season 7
- League of Legends
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- StarCraft II
Season 8
- StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Heartstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Season 9
- StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- League of Legends
- Heartstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Season 10
- StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
- League of Legends
- Heartstone: Heroes of Warcraft
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Season 11
- Overwatch
- League of Legends
- StarCraft II
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Season 12
- StarCraft II
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Season 13
- StarCraft II
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Fortnite: Battle Royale
- Dota 2
Season 14
- StarCraft II
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Season 15
- StarCraft II
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Season 16
- StarCraft II
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
2022
- StarCraft II
- Counter-Strike 2
2023
- StarCraft II
- Counter-Strike 2
2024
- StarCraft II
- Counter-Strike 2
Format of the Intel Extreme Masters
The Intel Extreme Masters relies on a qualifying season by which teams compete in an offline environment. Qualifiers tend to move around the globe, with the most recent 2023 qualifiers held in Rio de Janeiro, Dallas and Sydney.
Teams that qualify from these rounds are placed into the finals, where two groups of six teams are made, with the top two advancing to the grand final. The first placed team of each group will go directly to the semifinals, while second and third place go into the knock-out quarter finals.
Intel Extreme Masters Prize Money
The prize money on offer for the Intel Extreme Masters has fluctuated, but it still remains one of the most lucrative events on the pro gaming calendar. The current season offers a US$2.75 million prize pool in total, with both the IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne events having a prize pool of US$1,000,000.
Top Intel Extreme Masters earning players
- Joona “Serral” Sotala (StarCraft II) | US$427,300
- Nikola “NiKo” Kovac (Counter-Strike) | US$401,400
- Havard “rain” Nygaard (Counter-Strike) | US$382,950
- Finn “karrigan” Andersen (Counter-Strike) | US$370,286
- Byung “Rogue” Ryul Lee (Starcraft II) | US$365,700
Top Intel Extreme Masters earning teams
- FaZe Clan | US$1,996,000
- Natus Vincere | US$1,734,200
- G2 Esports | US$1,690,500
- Astralis | US$1,614,750
- Team Vitality | US$1,167,750
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- FaZe Clan | US$1,996,000
- Natus Vincere | US$1,734,200
- G2 Esports | US$1,690,500
- Astralis | US$1,614,750
- Team Vitality | US$1,167,750
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