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Question

Can i actually bet on esports legally in the us or not

so i've been watching LCS and CS2 majors for years and finally wanted to throw like $20 on a match instead of just yelling at my monitor. opened the app i use for nfl stuff and there's literally no esports tab at all. googled it and got 40 different answers, some say it's legal some say only nevada, some say only certain games. i'm in new jersey if that matters. is this a state thing or am i just blind and missing a menu somewhere
Asked by kev_underscore
23 answers
Best
350
mmarsh_88
it's a state thing AND a per-event thing which is why it's so confusing. jersey is actually one of the better states for it, DGE has approved a bunch of esports events, but the sportsbooks only put up markets when they get the ok for that specific tournament. so you'll see LoL worlds and big CS majors and then nothing for weeks. i mostly use My Bookie for it and their esports section is buried under "more sports" or whatever, took me a while to even find it. before that i had an account somewhere else that only ever had csgo moneylines and nothing else, so shop around a bit. also don't expect deep markets, it's mostly match winner and map handicap, no player props like you'd get for nba
190
throwaway_lurk22
can confirm on the jersey thing. i've had valorant champions, worlds, and a couple of the CS majors up on my account this year. the trick is literally just looking during a big event window, if you check on a random tuesday in february there's nothing. put $50 on G2 last fall at +180 and it actually paid, felt like magic after years of just watching
107
dana_reads
fwiw the reason it's weird is that most states wrote their sports betting laws before esports was a real thing, so the regulators approve titles/events one at a time instead of blanket approving "esports". nevada is famously strict about it, they made everyone file for individual event approval for years. jersey, colorado, pennsylvania and a few others are way more relaxed
111
not_a_bot_promise
one thing nobody mentions: some states ban betting on anything where the participants are mostly under 21 or under 18. that's why you sometimes see certain rocket league or fortnite events blocked but dota is fine. age of the player pool matters more than the game itself in a couple jurisdictions
58
grizz_tv
yep same experience as the top comment. markets are shallow af though. match winner, map spread, sometimes total maps and first blood if you're lucky. no "kills over/under for faker" type stuff outside of a handful of events. still beats not being able to bet at all
72
quietstorm_pdx
wait so what about the DFS style apps? my roommate does esports lineups on one of those pick em apps and swears it's legal in more states than actual sportsbooks. is that a loophole or is he gonna get a letter from someone
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46
mmarsh_88
different legal category, at least in theory. those operate under fantasy sports rules instead of sports wagering rules, which is why they exist in states with no legal books. but a bunch of state AGs have been sending cease and desists over the pick em format specifically because it looks like prop betting with extra steps. it works today, i wouldn't build my whole thing around it
34
sk3ptic_dan
idk man, every time i see "legal esports betting in the us" threads it turns into people quietly recommending offshore sites. is anyone here actually betting esports on a regulated book or are we all pretending
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29
throwaway_lurk22
nah i'm legit regulated, geolocation plugin and everything. my withdrawals hit my bank in like 2 days. the offshore places have way more esports markets, i'll give them that, but i had a friend who couldn't get $600 out of one for four months and eventually just ate it. no thanks
21
bitterhops
the whole thing still feels like a scam to me honestly. match fixing in tier 2 counter strike is a documented thing, esic has banned like 30 people. why would a book even take my money on a match they can't police
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27
dana_reads
that's exactly why the regulated books mostly only offer tier 1 events. you'll get blast, iem, worlds, majors. you will basically never see an mdl or open qualifier match on a licensed us book, and if you do the limits are like $50 max. the integrity risk is priced in by just not offering the sketchy stuff
20
hollowpoint_j
dumb question but does the esports bet count toward bonus rollover the same as regular sports? i've got a deposit match sitting there and i don't wanna find out the hard way that it's excluded
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16
grizz_tv
in my case yes, esports counted the same as anything else, but the min odds rule applied. anything under -200 didn't count toward the playthrough. read the terms though, i've seen books exclude entire categories before
11
pretzel_logik
for anyone in a state without legal betting at all, esports isn't some carve out. no legal sports wagering means no legal esports wagering. california, texas, georgia, minnesota, all nothing. doesn't matter that it's a video game
8
mad_at_geo
my complaint isn't legality it's the geolocation garbage. i live 15 minutes from the jersey line and half the time the app decides i'm in a restricted area even when i'm sitting on my own couch in trenton. missed a live bet on a NAVI map because it made me restart the location plugin twice. absolutely maddening
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quietstorm_pdx
that sucks but mine's been fine tbh. i turned off the wifi and let it use cell data only and the location checks stopped failing. some routers report a weird location and the plugin freaks out. worth trying before you rage delete the app
5
silent_ko
one thing to keep in mind, esports lines move HARD on roster news. a starter subbing out for a stand in can swing a -150 to +130 in minutes. the books don't have dedicated esports traders the way they do for football so the numbers are slower to react than in traditional sports
5
aj_from_paterson
also worth noting the tax thing since nobody brought it up. winnings are winnings, doesn't matter if it's the super bowl or a dota match. if you clear the threshold you're getting a form. i keep a spreadsheet, learned that lesson in 2022
4
kev_underscore
OP here. found the esports tab, it was under "more" like someone said, i genuinely just didn't scroll. question though, do the odds even resemble the ones on those esports odds comparison sites? the numbers i'm seeing look worse than what i've seen quoted on twitter
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3
silent_ko
yeah they'll be worse. the odds you see quoted around online are usually from offshore or asian books with way tighter margins on esports because it's their bread and butter. us regulated books hold like 8-10% on esports vs 4-5% on nfl sides. it's the price of not worrying about whether you get paid
2
curbedwheels
pennsylvania has been decent for this too. pgcb has a published list of approved esports events, you can literally look it up. nice to have something official instead of guessing
2
ll_moray
small thing but the big mainstream apps like draftkings will sometimes have esports live but not pregame, or vice versa, depending on the event. so if you check once and see nothing, check again during game time
2
notyourmarge
late but agreeing with the top comment. jersey resident, been betting worlds and the CS majors for two seasons now with zero issues, cashed out $340 in january after a decent run on FaZe. it's real, it's just not advertised because the volume is tiny compared to football. took me an embarrassing amount of scrolling to find the section too

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