One of the most anticipated StarCraft 2 tournaments is just around the corner, with the world's best players getting ready to fight for their share of $500,000 in prize money.
A legendary esports event, the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Katowice is a CS:GO tournament held in Poland. In this guide, we'll go over all the participating teams, details about the schedule, as well as everything you need to know about IEM CS:GO betting!
The Dota Pro Circuit is in full flow. The next big tournament in this seasonal circuit is the PGL Arlington Major. Texas is the location, Esports Stadium Arlington is the venue of choice, and seventeen brilliant Dota 2 teams will be eyeing their chances here.
The LEC (League of Legends European Championship) is entering a new decade starting with the inaugural Winter split. From team rosters to an all-new tournament format, the league will be seeing much more competition.
With the global video gaming market worth around $365 billion in 2023, players’ esports earnings have been on the increase through participation in different tournaments, sponsorship deals, merchandising, streaming services, and so on. In this article, we take a look at the top player earnings and prize money.
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If you'd like to start betting on esports, there's no time like the present!
In our list below, we have compiled the best esports betting sites:
Apart from their highly user-friendly interface, bet365 offer superb cash out options and outstanding customer support, available 24/7. Markets for prominent esports like CS:GO, Dota 2, and CoD are supported here, as well as many others.
GG.BET is a young but highly popular esports bookie that specialises in esports betting offers and promotions. Overall, you’ll be able to enjoy placing live bets, cashing out early if things go awry, or accessing match stats for further info.
This bookie supports dozens of esports games to bet on, including Dota 2, CS:GO, League of Legends, Fortnite, FIFA, and even NBA 2K.
Pinnacle is home to several esports markets, including for games such as DOTA 2, League of Legends, StarCraft II, and even Warzone. You can also expect some incredible odds, especially when larger tournaments come knocking. Overall, they’re an excellent choice when it comes to betting on esports.
In this section, we list the top esports players around and how much they earn, as well as the esports games in which they compete.
N0tail is easily the highest-earning esports player, beginning his gaming career with Heroes of Newerth. In 2015 he created “OG”, a professional esports organisation based in Europe with teams representing Dota 2, CS:GO, and VALORANT.
As the captain of OG, N0tail has shown his quality in the past by winning The International in 2018 and 2019. This feat made him and OG the first back-to-back winners of the competition.
To date, he has earned a whopping $7,172,436, making him the highest-earning Dota 2 player as well as the player with the most earnings in esports. However, while achieving decent results in 2021, he is (as of yet) still on a break from competitive gaming.
Bugha is an American esports Fortnite player who is currently on the Sentinels team. Having risen to the limelight at 17 years of age, he then emerged as the winner of the 2019 Fortnite World Cup. As the highest esports earnings when it comes to Fortnite, he has pocketed $3,503,911 in prize money.
Some other tournaments he has taken part in include DreamHack Open and Ninja Battles, and he is also famous for appearing on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
A former member of the Astralis team, Denmark native Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen has played as AWPer, lurker, and recently as an entry fragger. He is also among one of the five players in Astralis who has attended all Majors.
As a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player, he has garnered approximately $2,038,000 in tournaments, with his most recent win at the 2022 ESL Pro League Season 16 with Team Vitality.
Arena of Valor has become an immensely popular mobile esports game that’s most commonly played in Asian countries such as China and South Korea. It’s also the 5th-ranked game when it comes to esports player earnings and overall tournament prize pools.
HuaHai has managed to join the top esports earnings club by accumulating over $1,610,000 throughout his professional Arena of Valor career.
Winner of three League of Legends World Championships, Faker is the heart of T1 where he plays as a mid laner. Faker holds the record of being the sole gamer to win over 600 games in League of Legends Champions Korea.
In his award-filled career, the “unkillable demon king” has succeeded in earning $1,434,000 in total. He has also been listed in the Forbes “30 under 30 Asia” list.
PUBG Mobile is another mobile game that’s been making rounds in recent years. Its accessibility has enabled millions of players around the world to play whenever they want, which ultimately led to this game’s esports environment expansion.
The player that has made the biggest impact on the PUBG Mobile ecosystem is the 21-year-old paraboy, who managed to earn an impressive $1,384,000.
A StarCraft II player, Serral has played in three different teams and is currently playing for BASILISK (a team he joined on the 27th of January, 2023). Although the Finnish star keeps a low public profile overall, his gaming career is admirable.
In 2018, he set the record of being the only player to win every WCS Circuit Tournament within a single year; in 2022, he went on to win the IEM Katowice. He has currently acquired total earnings of $1,215,000.
Hailing from South Korea, Loki played for Gen.G before switching to DAMWON Gaming and then joining Danawa e-sports. He was instrumental in Gen.G winning the PUBG Global Championship 2019, which had a prize pool of $2,000,000.
2021 and 2022 also saw him winning several larger prizes with his team, meaning that, altogether, his total personal earnings added up to $983,000.
Rocket League is one of the most unique esports games out there, primarily because its mechanics can be closely compared to FIFA – but with the catch that you control cars instead of players.
In any case, GarrettG has made a mark on the Rocket League esports world not just by being one of the best in the world, but also by earning more than $500,000 from his tournament participations.
A Hearthstone player, Thijs has been a member of G2 esports since 2015. His major career victory came in 2018 in the CN vs EU Championship, where he defeated XiaoT and won $204,600.17. Having enjoyed more victories throughout 2021 and 2022, he has presently amassed total winnings of $493,000.
This Hearthstone record will most likely remain permanent, since the game’s esports scene was shut down a year or so ago.
Having listed the players with the highest esports earnings above, let’s check out the top esports earnings seen in games and tournaments. If you enjoy esports betting, this will be beneficial to you, as you will know which games and tournaments are the best to wager on:
One of the top esports earnings Dota 2 tournaments is The International, which started in 2011 and is held yearly. Contested by 18 teams from different countries, 12 of these come from the Dota Pro Circuit, while the teams that are successful in the regional playoffs make up the other six.
The International 2021 tournament had a $40,018,195 prize pool, with the winner – Team Spirit – taking home $18,000,000. The 2022 edition had a prize pool of $19,000,000 and the winner (Tundra Esports) took home $8,500,000 of that amount.
The Majors are professional CS:GO tournaments that are held annually, began at DreamHack Winter in 2013, and are sponsored by Valve. Two Majors are held in a year at several locations, with 24 teams competing in total.
The competition starts with the New Challengers Stage followed by the New Legends Stage and then the New Champions Stage, where the eight remaining teams battle it out for the title of Major Champion.
The PGL Major Antwerp 2022 offered a prize pool of $1,000,000, of which $500,000 was won by Faze Clan who emerged as the victors.
The Fortnite World Cup has one of the highest prize pools in any esports competition. The inaugural tournament was held in 2019, with over $30 million awarded between its “Solo” and “Duo” events. Nyhrox + aqua won the Duo, while the highest-earning Fortnite player Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf won the “Solo”.
The event did not return after 2019; in its place, the Champions Series came to pass, replacing the World Cup. To date, no other Fortnite tournament was as large or as prestigious as the Fortnite World Cup in 2019.
The League of Legends World Championships started back in 2011, and features 24 teams from across the globe.
The 2021 League of Legends World Championship (which took place in Reykjavik, Iceland) featured 22 teams, but due to travel restrictions, two teams from Vietnam could not join.
The 2022 event was won by DRX, who defeated T1 in the Grand Finals and took home $489,500. South Korean dominance has seemingly continued, but we’ll have to wait and see what the 2023 edition of Worlds will bring.
With a $4,000,000 total prize pool, the 2022 PUBG Mobile Global Championship was won by S2G Esports who took home the win out of 50 participating teams. They also got $521,000 in prize money for their efforts.
DH SC 2 Masters is the biggest StarCraft II event that sees the best players compete against each other in a few action-packed days. While we wait for the 2023 iterations of the event to begin, here’s a quick recap of the latest two:
The Honor of Kings World Champion Cup is the annual major competition for Arena of Valor. The competition started in 2016 and has been held every year since.
In 2021, the prize pool of the tournament was $7,680,730. QG Happy, the winners of the tournament, took home a whopping amount worth $3,251,669.00.
The 2022 edition featured an even larger prize pool, with $10,000,000 available to the teams. eStar Pro came out on top and took home a huge $3,500,000 after defeating Gank Gaming in the Finals.
With its inaugural season having made its debut in 2018, a total of 20 teams compete in the Overwatch League. These teams are in two conferences and are further grouped into divisions. The format is just like a standard league where each team is scheduled to play the other, with the aim of getting a place in the playoffs.
It contains:
In 2021, Overwatch had a prize pool valued at $4,250,000, which was won by Shanghai Dragons. The 2022 season was divided into six primary events:
It’s also worth noting that the 2023 season (and onwards) will be played on Overwatch 2, the newly released sequel to Overwatch.
The 2023 Six Invitational event featured a $3,000,000 prize pool, with the eventual winner (G2 Esports) taking home an impressive $1,000,000.
While it might seem like a good idea to bet on high-earning teams and players, it usually isn’t. Here are the reasons why:
Remember that esports teams are only as successful as their players working together towards achieving greatness. And even then, it might not be enough due to lack of talent or lack of motivation. The truth is, earnings don’t play a role in how you bet and what bets you place; previous performances do so make sure to look at those numbers instead of these.
Players from top esports countries get their earnings through several means – and not just from prize money won. Sponsorships, for example, are a major income source, as well as others which we've listed below:
Sponsorships come in various forms, the most common being jersey sponsorships. This is why you'll see many teams wearing certain brands, such as Team Gullit displaying the Samsung Logo on their shirts. Players then get a cut of the profit gained from these sponsorship deals.
Sponsorships are also common online, whether on a player’s livestream or videos. However, the player needs to actively stream to an audience, otherwise this form of sponsorship won’t work.
Selling merchandise is a big part of every esports organisation's source of income. Everything from apparel, coffee mugs, and keychains to partnerships with computer hardware manufacturers is there to generate revenue. One good example of this is 100 Thieves, who raised $500,000 within 5 minutes in one of its merch sales.
By competing in tournaments, the players earn prize money. Most tournaments reward esports organisations who take part, with the winning team receiving a huge chunk of the prize money. The rest is shared amongst the other competitors. For instance, in Dota 2, The International 2021 tournament had a $40,018,195 prize pool, of which $18,000,000 went to the team who placed first.
Esports streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube have provided other means of earning for esports players, as broadcasting is a perfect money-making venture. Millions of subscribers tune in to watch their favourite player as he streams a game, all the while being treated to hilarious commentary or even giveaways!
From Rainbow Six Siege and Overwatch, to PUBG, Dota 2, and Arena of Valor, esports earnings have never been higher. We're sure that this factor will keep a steady flow of young players drawn toward a career in esports.
And for the punters, it’s good to know there are so many games and tournaments to bet on. As long as you have a sound betting strategy in place and do your research, you stand a pretty good chance of landing some pretty hefty winnings yourself!
The esports industry is currently worth more than $1.2 billion, with some projections showing immense growth in the coming years. As there are still plenty of events scheduled, we can expect this figure to increase even more drastically.
In 2022, Arena of Valor surpassed both PUBG Mobile and DOTA 2 in terms of total prize money; it has paid out the sum of $21,592,632.92 to 521 players in 117 Tournaments. Seeing how there’s still plenty of action to be had this year at the time of writing, we still have to wait for the final numbers to be added up.
The players who are ranked as having earned the most from esports gaming include Dota 2’s “N0tail” ($7,184,163), Fortnite gamer “Bugha” ($3,503,911), and CS:GO player “dupreeh” ($2,044,164).
In general, most professional players that play under the top organisations earn the best salaries. This ranges from $5,000 upwards, depending on the organisation. Furthermore, through prize money, streaming, and sponsorship deals, some even manage to make millions of dollars.
Yes – this is evident from the huge earnings esports players all over the world make. Other career paths even include coaching, production, media strategy, and more!
Through our in-depth guides and reviews, we are focused on providing the best insights into esports betting.