How to Bet on Video Game Specials at Bovada
If you enjoy entertainment betting and you like video games, one category of bets you may want to wager on at Bovada is Video Game Specials.
Bovada does not offer video game specials constantly, but makes them available from time to time when gamers are anticipating news about a forthcoming game.
This post will offer you a quick guide to how you can bet on these specials. We will explain what they are, give some examples, and offer some strategies to help you research effectively for your bets.
The landing page over at Bovada. Don’t forget to grab your $250 Welcome Bonus while you’re there, and turn that into $750 if you use crypto!
What are Video Game Specials?
Video game specials are bets Bovada offers to give bettors a chance to make predictions about upcoming video games or video game seasons.
They are not the same thing as eSports betting; that is a different category altogether. They are more closely related to the other entertainment specials that Bovada offers for TV, celebrities, politics, etc.
What Video Game Specials Does Bovada Offer?
It is easiest to explain video game specials by giving an example. I am writing this post in October 2023, and this month, Bovada has been offering video game specials for Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6).
GTA 6 is the next installment in the popular Grand Theft Auto video game series. We know that GTA 6 is coming, but as of right now, there is a lot we still do not know about it. So, as we await official announcements, Bovada is offering bets like:
- Where will the Grand Theft Auto 6 map be based?
- What will the Grand Theft Auto 6 release date be?
- To be a character in Grand Theft Auto 6 (list of characters)
- Who will be the next celebrity character cast in Grand Theft Auto?
That should give you a pretty good understanding of what video game specials are like. Bovada offers specials for different games, depending on what is going on in the world of video games at the time (and sometimes, there are no video game specials, if nothing is going on that Bovada thinks people want to bet on).
The characters from Grand Theft Auto V.
All I want in part VI is for Trevor to come back!
Why Bet on Video Game Specials?
Here are a few reasons to think about betting on video game specials.
Use Your Video Game Knowledge.
Maybe you know a particular video game franchise inside and out, and you feel confident in your predictions. In some cases, you could even have insider knowledge of some sort. If so, it makes sense to make some money on it.
Have Fun Anticipating Upcoming Games.
If you are a gamer, you probably are dying to find out about forthcoming games in your favorite series or from your favorite developers. Since you are stuck waiting, you might as well have some fun with it. Putting your money on your predictions is a great way to engage more with news about your favorite games. And gamers love to argue about games, so this can also be fun from a social standpoint. If your friends disagree with your predictions, challenge them to put their money where their mouths are!
Something Different To Do.
Sometimes you might be bored of betting on the same old thing you usually do. Video game specials are temporary, and concern special events that will never come again, like news about a particular game. That makes betting on video game specials a great way to break out of your routine.
Win Money For Gaming.
New video games are expensive. If you want to buy a AAA game new at release, you will shell out about $70, and that is assuming you get a standard edition. If you want some kind of premium edition, the price goes up from there. Needless to say, it helps if you managed to win some money on a related bet! You can use that money to buy the game you were anticipating when it releases instead of forcing yourself to wait.
Don’t forget while you’re there to get your $750 Welcome Bonus if you use crypto and use the code BTCSWB750!
Video Game Specials Types of Bets
Video game specials are, for the most part, proposition bets (“props”). The idea of an “outcome” is not really applicable when we are talking about video game news-related bets. No one is going to “win” or “lose,” which is why these bets are props by default.
Sometimes, video game specials might also be futures, because they could concern things that are going to take place months from now. In fact, oftentimes, a sportsbook cannot know with certainty when video game developers or publishers will choose to make news about a game official.
You probably already know that you can “gamble” within many video games now, but if you follow my links you can gamble for real money!
Strategies for Betting on Video Game Specials
Now that we have talked a bit about the types of video game specials bets and what makes them compelling to bet on, we can discuss a bit about how you can approach these wagers strategically.
Check Video Game News Sites
A good place to start with your research is to look up articles published by video game news sites about the games you are going to bet on.
Many of these sites post articles with titles like “Everything We Know About [Game] at This Point.”
These sites usually write these articles far in advance of most or sometimes any official announcements for a game. They will then go and edit the piece whenever news comes out to keep it up-to-date. So, you can skim through one or several of these posts for a quick overview of what is and is not known about the game to that point. Often, the posts will mention various leaks and rumors as well.
Now you have a broad context for the bet. You can continue your research by checking for news posts specifically about the thing you are betting on (the release date, the title, the location, etc.).
A quick word of caution! A lot of “news” posts about video games really just contain rumors, but may have misleading titles that describe a rumor as fact. Read through these posts carefully to figure out whether they are really news or not!
To give you a simple example, if I search for “Plague Tale 3” right now, the top headline declares, “A Plague Tale 3 Is On the Way – The Acclaimed Franchise Continues!” That sounds pretty definitive, right? But A Plague Tale 3 has not been confirmed, and this is just an article about some job postings by the developer that suggest the game might be under development.
If you only glance at headlines to make your bets, you might make a lot of poor wagers.
Look For “Leaks” On Video Game Forums
Along with video game articles at online publications, video game forums can be another good source of “leaks” and rumors.
In case you are not all that familiar with the video game world, a “leak” is when some supposed insider spills “information” to the public about a game that is not supposed to be revealed at that time.
So, for example, some leaker might say that they learned the setting of an upcoming video game by talking to someone who works at the development studio.
It is important to be aware that leaking news like this is a big deal. A source who actually does leak information from the studio where they work stands a good chance of being fired if they are ever found out. Because leaking information is professionally risky, most people are not going to purposefully do it.
Something else you should know is that leakers in the video game community have varying reputations.
Some leakers have really good reputations. Even though they may sometimes make mistakes, they have a consistent track record of actually leaking correct information a reasonable percentage of the time.
Other leakers have terrible reputations; they regularly claim to have “insider” knowledge, but their predictions are notoriously inaccurate.
Still other leakers have mixed reputations. Sometimes they get it right, and other times they get it wrong. It may feel like a coin toss as to whether you can trust them.
So, as you are researching leaks, you should also research the leakers. If you find what looks like a juicy leak, check to see how often the leaker has been right in the past. You might also want to see if they have been right often about the particular franchise or studio they are leaking about (they could have established relationships with sources at some studios, but not others).
Be careful when you’re looking up leaks! Now we all know just how horribly wrong this was!
Follow Prominent Developers And Journalists On Social Media
Another step that can help you in your research is to follow what prominent people involved with the game are saying on social media, especially Twitter/X.
Sometimes someone might let something slip that they shouldn’t have, or they could say something vague that you can draw a meaningful inference from.
See If There Are Hints In Existing Games
Sometimes, a developer might sneak a reference to a future game into the previous installment, a related online game, or just some other game in their catalog from a different series.
If there is a huge time gap between one game and the next, this is not likely. Though it might happen if the developer regularly updates that game, or if they remake it.
Some of the rumors you run into about an upcoming game might be inspired by “clues” gamers believe they have spotted.
Check Past Trends
With many video game specials, it can be useful to research into past trends in an attempt to predict what is likely for the future.
A simple example concerns release dates. Let’s say that a video game publisher has shown a tendency to consistently release games in a franchise during a particular quarter, or even a particular month. They might also favor a certain day of the week.
So, for example, maybe past games in a series typically came out on the first Friday of November. That would give you a way to predict the release date for the next game.
But you should also be aware of other things going on in the industry. Maybe you look ahead on the video game release calendar, and you notice another major game is slated to come out that same week. Perhaps that game is even a direct competitor with the one you are trying to predict the release date for.
In a situation like that, it might make sense to assume that your game will come out on the second Friday, rather than the first, so you might pick that as your bet for the release date.
Look Up What Devs Have Said In The Past
Sometimes, you might be able to make some predictions about upcoming games by referencing what developers have said on the topic months or even years ago.
Say, for instance, that the game’s producer is the same person who has been producing the series for the past ten years. Five years ago, that person declared that some specific thing would never, even happen in the series under their watch.
While it is true that people can change their minds, if there is an option to bet on or against that particular thing happening, it probably makes more sense to bet against it!
Think Logically
Try to think logically through the possibilities when you make predictions about upcoming video games, rather than just letting emotion pull you around. Gamers are often wishful thinkers, and come up with a lot of fanciful notions that may not always be grounded in common sense.
Additionally, gamers sometimes panic. They worry about losing certain features or elements in their favorite game series based on industry-wide trends. Sometimes they are right, but often they are wrong.
Bet on Video Game Specials Now
If you are excited to take your chance to see if you can make some money from your video game predictions, head on over to Bovada to check out their video game specials. If you are signing up for a new account, don’t forget to claim your welcome offer. Good luck, and enjoy.
Make Sure Before You Leave That You Also Read These As Well