DATA.BET: Live Betting Reached 70.9% at Esports World Cup 2026

Live betting accounted for 70.9% of betting activity across the Esports World Cup 2026, according to an analysis published by sportsbook technology supplier DATA.BET.

The company covered 24 titles during the tournament, including EWC newcomer Trackmania and the returning Fortnite in Reload mode. The event ran in Paris from July 6 to August 23 with a $75 million prize pool, marking the first Esports World Cup held outside Saudi Arabia.

Four games generated 93% of turnover across DATA.BET's coverage, showing a heavy concentration of betting activity among established esports titles.

CS2 Generated 41% of EWC Betting Turnover

Counter-Strike 2 led DATA.BET's rankings with 41% of total turnover, followed by Dota 2 at 31.8%.

VALORANT accounted for another 11.7%, while League of Legends represented 8.5%. Together, the four titles produced 93% of turnover.

Turnover did not correspond directly with average bet size. League of Legends recorded the highest average stake among the four leading disciplines, followed by VALORANT and Dota 2. CS2, despite generating the largest overall turnover, had the lowest average stake.

Outside the four leading titles, Rainbow Six Siege, Call of Duty and Rocket League generated the highest turnover in DATA.BET's coverage.

Dota 2 Had an 87.7% Live Betting Share

Across all disciplines, 70.9% of betting activity took place live, compared with 29.1% pre-match.

Dota 2 recorded the strongest preference for in-play betting, with live wagers accounting for 87.7% of activity. No discipline covered by DATA.BET was dominated by pre-match betting.

CS2 had the largest pre-match share at 29.1%.

DATA.BET attributed the wider preference for live markets partly to the number of variables that develop during esports matches. In titles such as Dota 2 and League of Legends, the company pointed to the draft phase, where teams select and ban heroes, as information that can materially affect how bettors assess a match.

The supplier said this encourages some customers to wait until team compositions become clear before placing wagers.

Player Props Were Most Popular in CS2

Player Props represented 11.8% of CS2 turnover, the highest share among the four largest disciplines.

The equivalent figure was 10.2% for VALORANT, 4.9% for League of Legends and 3.9% for Dota 2.

Ahead of the tournament, DATA.BET added two CS2 Player Props markets covering the player with the most kills and the player with the most deaths, including overtime.

Round and map total markets showed a narrower spread. Their share reached 4.3% in Dota 2, 4% in League of Legends, 3.5% in CS2 and 3.4% in VALORANT.

Match Winner and Map Winner markets accounted for 67.4% of Dota 2 turnover and 65.4% in League of Legends. The shares were 59% for VALORANT and 53.3% for CS2.

DATA.BET said the lower concentration in CS2 and VALORANT reflected the wider range of available betting markets rather than weaker demand for match and map winners.

Team Spirit Featured in Two of the Three Biggest Matches

The three matches generating the most betting turnover were FUT Esports against Team Spirit, Team Vitality against Team Spirit and FURIA Esports against FUT Esports. All three were CS2 fixtures.

Team Spirit, FURIA and FUT Esports also led the club rankings by both turnover and number of bets.

Team Spirit ultimately won the EWC 2026 CS2 title, defeating Team Vitality in the quarter-final before beating FUT Esports in the Grand Final. Two of the three largest matches by betting volume therefore featured the eventual champion.

Bogdan Holovnov, Head of Esports at DATA.BET, described EWC as the most ambitious multi-title esports event to date in terms of the number of games represented. He also acknowledged that some disciplines remain substantially less popular with bettors than the leading titles.

The data shows that even within a 24-title tournament, betting demand remained highly concentrated around a small group of established esports, while live markets represented the dominant way customers engaged with those competitions.