CSGO Betting Guide for 2025

Updated: 2025

You want to improve your CSGO betting performance. Maybe you're looking for consistent monthly profits, or maybe you're just looking for a way to dip your toes into eSports betting. If you fit either of these profiles, you've come to the right place!

This online CSGO betting guide is the ultimate tool for betting on everyone's favorite first-person shooter game. Our take is as comprehensive as they come, with a whole heap of information ranging from the best CSGO betting sites and the most common types of esports bets, all the way to basic information about the game, its mechanics, history, as well as the biggest events people love to bet on.

There are many similar guides on the Internet, but we assure you that ours contains the most useful and up-to-date information. Therefore, if you are ready to discover how to bet on CSGO online with real money, let us dive right in!

Best CSGO Betting Sites

Let's start with the basic information about online CSGO betting platforms. What are the most important features to look for when choosing a CSGO real money betting site? The answers to this question tend to vary depending on who you ask, and nowadays it seems that everyone is affiliated with someone else. Partnerships are the order of the day, which is probably why it's so difficult for the average person to find a betting site that meets all their requirements.

There are many factors that go into making a good bookmaker, and novices typically lack the know-how and savvy to discern what those factors are. To make matters worse, in an age of so many new names in the industry, the novice is now faced with the problem of sorting out who is good and who is not. New esports betting sites - the nickname for these new bookmakers - are popping up everywhere, all trying to get a piece of the lucrative esports story. They promise better service, better lines, and more generous bonuses. But how do we know that these new sites can be trusted?

Rank	Gambling Site	Deposit Bonus	Get Started
#1	BetUS Casino	250% Up To 5,000 USD	Visit Site
#2	BetOnline Sports	60% Up To 1,000 USD	Visit Site
#3	SportsBetting.ag	100% Up To 1,000 USD	Visit Site
#4	Bovada Casino	100% Up To 3,000 USD	Visit Site
#5	XBet.ag Casino	100% Up To 500 USD	Visit Site

What should you make of the table above? Should you trust us? Well, we've been in the business for years, and we certainly don't have a hidden agenda. We're here to provide online betting enthusiasts with the most up-to-date information on all things gambling. In the case of eSports betting, the biggest "problem" seems to be the influx of bookmakers, and it's our job to point our visitors in the right direction. As far as the best CSGO betting sites are concerned, the bunch listed above are no brainer! Go ahead, compare them to other CSGO betting sites and you'll see that our advice is legit!

What Makes These the Best Sites for Betting on CSGO?

How should you compare them? What are the key features to look for when choosing your primary bookmaker? Well, when I think about it, there are a lot of them, and a lot of them aren't that obvious. Customer support is probably the most important of them all. And it's not just because of the sheer critical nature of customer support. It's also because real money CSGO odds betting sites that take their customers seriously tend to do well in a number of other important areas as well. We're talking about things like how many different deposit and withdrawal methods they have, how fast they process withdrawals, and whether you can place all sorts of ridiculous bets on your favorite eSports on their site.

What Is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?

Let us take a step back! We have covered a considerable amount of information about betting on CSGO, but we have yet to discuss the game itself. What exactly is CSGO? How does it play, and how widely is it played? At this point, is it a lost cause to try to get into the game?

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (some people spell it CS:GO for some reason) is Valve's most successful first-person shooter (FPS, from here on out), which has not only endured, but thrived for over eight years since its initial release.

What makes CSGO special? It has taken the best elements from previous games (CS 1.6 and CS Source) and molded them into a future-proof package, adding in extra elements like weapon skins, trading, battle passes, and community maps to keep players interested.

This still doesn't explain why the average number of players this year is around 650,000 and why there are currently over 900,000 active players. Well, let's put it this way: CSGO is just a fun game, perfectly balanced between casual and competitive modes. It's a fast-paced, tight game that takes place on small, tight maps and punishes players for the slightest mistakes in both the low and high levels of competition.

In addition, Valve understands that games like Overwatch, Rainbow Six, and the latest entry, Valorant, are poised to dominate the first-person shooter esports scene - so a number of long-awaited (and sometimes demanded) improvements have begun to roll out. For now, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is putting one foot in front of the other on the right path, which means that betting on CSGO is not something you should put on your list of things to avoid.

Switching from another FPS to CSGO shouldn't take too long, as most of the mechanics that make a particular FPS stand out are borrowed in some way from Valve's eSports masterpiece. With that in mind, here are six tips to help you make a smooth transition to CSGO.

How to Play CSGO

Although this guide focuses mainly on online CSGO betting for real money, we feel it's necessary to share some details about the actual CSGO gameplay. All things considered, you cannot hope to be proficient at CSGO betting if you do not understand the fundamentals of the game. Knowing the ins and outs of the gameplay, learning the core mechanics, and getting the war-torn experience are the first steps you take on the road to becoming a profitable CS:GO betting enthusiast.

To become a (reasonably) good CS:GO player, you need to master these three steps:

Aim

The aim is the base! Clicking the mouse is a good way to practice aiming in CSGO. But for a more realistic training experience, one should play the game with fresh spawn times and free-for-all showdowns that challenge the player's reflexes and provide ample opportunity to "headshot". The best mode for this is Deathmatch.

If Deathmatch isn't your thing, there are plenty of target maps to choose from on the game's Community Workshop. Pick one that suits your needs and begin your aiming odyssey! You can even step outside the game and use a third-party aiming trainer, like the community favorite AimLab. AimLab is a powerful program with tons of features, and its innovative approach to aim training has made it a favorite of many streamers, pro players, and prominent figures throughout the FPS community.

Being competitive in CSGO means doing well in many different areas of the game, and crosshair placement is a big one. You know how in some games aiming is really just pointing at what you want to hit, but in CSGO a lot of hitting what you want to hit is knowing where the crosshairs should be and where the crosshairs should be when you can't even see the enemy. Of course, this is easier to write about than to do, but doing it well actually gives you a big leg up in combat situations.

Map Pool Depth

However, aim is only a fraction of what makes great CSGO players. After spending countless hours training your aim, and assuming you have not relied solely on Aim Lab, you should be fairly proficient on most of the maps in the current competitive map pool.

The difference between losing a round and winning a round is understanding every card in the current competitive pool. It's knowing all the angles, sound cues, nade alignments, side executions, and one-ways. It's knowing how to uniquely approach each and every round. All of these things matter.

The ideal way to increase the depth of your map pool is to set up a dedicated lobby for the specific map you want to play. While you're at it, queue up a recent YouTube video showing the ins and outs of the map in question - the alignments, the one-ways, and so on. Do this, and add in a generous helping of playoff experience, which is key if you really want to brush up on the perfection of your map pool!

Game Sense

Finally, let us talk about Game Sense! What exactly is game sense? How to understand it well? According to PCGAMER, gaming sense is just another term for "instinct". But these are not the basic, everyday instincts we are all familiar with. These are high-level instincts, honed over countless hours of focused and attentive play by some of the best players out there. They are able to focus and pay attention not only to the immediate surroundings of their own characters, but also to the movements and immediate surroundings of teammates and revealed/visible enemies.

Some people claim that it is possible to teach game sense, but we recommend learning it through your own play. This method allows for a personal and unique understanding of the material. It is, in our opinion, the best long-term practice there is.

History of CS:GO Betting

In this part of our online CSGO betting guide, we'll take a look at the history behind this thriving industry. CSGO was released in August 2012, and it didn't take long for the first esports events to start popping up. With the rise of Starcraft and League of Legends as global esports wonders, it was only a matter of time before Valve got in on the act with CSGO and Dota 2.

Golden Age of Skin Betting

The CS:GO betting scene was born under rather shady circumstances. Despite the fact that legitimate online betting on eSports has been around for a very long time, the first few years were heavily dominated by various skin betting sites.

As you all know, CSGO is a Valve game, which means it's available on Steam. It has a ton of skins and all the benefits of Steam's community market. This was the perfect opportunity for shady companies to make things their own, and the industry flourished.

But things quickly went from boom to bust. Valve sent out 23 cease and desist letters to major skin betting sites, resulting in a massive wave of shutdowns across the scene. Some skin betting sites are still up and running, but their popularity has plummeted with the rise of legitimate e-sports bookmakers.

Modern Era of Betting on CS:GO

Yes, real money CS:GO betting is currently in what we commonly refer to as the modern era. Ever since the esports gambling liberalization movement made headlines around the world, legal betting on CSGO (and other esports, for that matter) has flourished on all fronts.

We're seeing a massive influx of new bookmakers, some of which are offering more eSports promotions than ever before. Backed by the giants of the gaming industry, new online CSGO betting sites are doing their best to attract a wider audience to what's still one of the most thriving businesses in the world.

Biggest CSGO Events to Bet on

In the grand scheme of the eSports industry, events like The International, LoL Worlds, CDL, OWL, and Fortnite World Cups are typically the most popular. However, when it comes to the competitive ecosystem of CSGO, these are the events that most people like to bet on.

CSGO Major Championships

Of course, the CSGO Majors are the number one event! It's the largest gathering of competitive CSGO, where only the crème de la crème of CSGO teams show up. It's also the event that all CSGO betting enthusiasts eagerly await. Held twice a year (except in 2025), the CSGO Major Championships provide the ultimate CSGO action, both in terms of betting and viewing.

ESL Events

Esports bettors also enjoy betting real money on CSGO ESL events. Whether it's ESL One, the ESL Pro League, the Intel Extreme Masters, or any of the other lower-level competitions organized by the ESL, the betting presence is always there! If CSGO match betting is something you're interested in, then you'll appreciate the sheer number and production quality of the aforementioned ESL events.

DreamHack Events

Similar to the ESL, DreamHack has several notable events where you can bet real money on CSGO. The DreamHack Masters is the biggest and most notable of the bunch, while the DreamHack Open serves as the little brother, with up-and-coming teams vying for a top 20 spot.

Flashpoint

Last but not least, there's Flashpoint! Flashpoint is a brand new IP, a league designed to rival the ESL Pro League. It was the first major CSGO event to use a franchise system with teams as full partners. However, Flashpoint's inaugural season didn't fare too well in terms of overall viewership. This wasn't due to poor production quality, but because Flashpoint was held at the same time as the ESL Pro League and, you guessed it, most of the top teams sided with the esports industry giant instead of the newcomer.

Types of CSGO Bets

Nowadays you can find a wide variety of CS:GO betting options, which wasn't the case a few years ago. Back then, during the transition to skin betting, most legitimate CSGO betting sites only offered match winners. Nowadays, however, bookmakers are competing to offer the widest range of CSGO specials. Here are the most common types of CSGO bets and brief explanations for those just starting out.

Match-Winners

Match Winners are the simplest bets for real money Counter-Strike betting. Team A plays against Team B and your job is to guess which team will win the match. See? It doesn't get any easier than that! You can bet on a single match winner, or you can combine several into an accumulator. Learn more below.

Esports Specials

When we talk about eSports specials, we have to distinguish between long-term and short-term specials. Starting with the latter, they range from player-based stats (e.g. player vs. player kills), team-based stats (e.g. team vs. team total kills), and all sorts of totals, to map-based bets and handicaps.

Live Betting Options

Another cool type of CSGO match betting options revolves around live betting. Yes, you read that right. Some CS:GO betting sites allow you to bet on all sorts of aspects of the match while it is in progress. Live betting in esports has its roots in traditional sports betting. Keep in mind, though, that live betting coverage isn't that common. Typically, CS:GO live betting is only available during the biggest events and on a few top-tier betting platforms that have been smart enough to recognize the demand.

Accumulators

Finally, let's talk about batteries. We've mentioned them before, so it only makes sense to tell you more about them. An accumulator is a bet that consists of multiple bets on different games, all combined into a single bet. All of the bets have to win in order for the accumulator to win, which significantly increases the risk.

However, the odds on all bets are multiplied by each other and by the stake at the end of the game, so you can make a nice profit if you manage to nail down a long accumulator.

How to Bet on CSGO Online?

Here's a quick step-by-step guide to help you understand the basics of placing real money bets in CS:GO.

1. In order to start betting on CSGO matches, first, you’ll have to find a good bookie. The sites listed at the top of the page are some of our favorites!
2. After joining a CSGO betting site, you’ll have to confirm your email address. Some esports betting sites might want you to confirm your identity as well.
3. Once you have full control over your account, it’s time to go through the available payment methods. Pick one you can use, and deposit money into your account.
4. During your initial deposit process, keep in mind that some betting sites with esports bonuses calculate the bonus based on the amount of your initial deposit.
5. Once you have money in your account, it’s time to place your first CSGO bet. Head to the esports category, select CSGO, and scroll to the event you want to bet on.
6. The last part is the most time-consuming one—doing research. Do plenty of research before placing each bet; this will greatly increase your chance of success!
7. That’s about it as far as our step-by-step CSGO betting guide goes. As you can see, Counter-Strike betting isn’t too difficult once you’ve chosen a reputable site.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Betting Advice

This step-by-step guide offers only the most basic advice to help you place your first CSGO bet. If you're looking for more useful advice on how to improve your CS:GO betting stats, be sure to check out our eSports Betting Strategy Guide! Not only does it explain the importance of experimenting with different strategies, but it also offers plenty of useful advice to help you get a handle on things.

CSGO Betting

Conclusion on CSGO Betting Online

CSGO betting has been, is, and will most likely remain at the forefront of the eSports betting scene, along with the likes of League of Legends and Dota 2. It's a fun game with a loyal community full of online betting enthusiasts.

The game's betting scene is as healthy as it gets, with great new online betting sites popping up left and right. There's plenty of entertainment to be found here. So if you're interested in online CSGO betting, we highly recommend giving it a try. Just make sure that you don't invest too much money right away! You can always place higher bets as you gain more experience.