Dota 2 Betting Sites 2023

If you ask a random person to start listing eSports, pretty early on in their lists, they likely are going to say “Dota 2.”

Not familiar with Dota 2, and wondering what all the fuss is about? In this in-depth guide, we are going to help you get started betting on this popular game.

Below, you can find a list of the top recommended sportsbooks for wagering on Dota 2 online. You can scroll past the list to learn what Dota 2 is, how it is played, types of Dota 2 bets and more.

Taken from a Steam screen, the players are here getting ready to go for the other team!

The Best Places to Bet on League of Legends in 2023

Here are the top reputable betting sites for Dota 2 in 2023.

1. Bovada

There is a reason we are always listing Bovada as our top recommendation for betting on just about anything, it is the best! This is the biggest US-facing sportsbook around, and it has built its success on offering a huge range of sports and eSports to bet on along with reliable payouts and excellent service.

At the time of this writing, here is some of what you can wager on at Bovada:

• BTS Pro Series – Americas S14
• Dota Pro Circuit Division II – DPC SA Division II
• Dota Pro Circuit Division II – DPC WEU Division II
• Dota Pro Circuit Division II – DPC EEU Division II

On signing up at Bovada, you can claim a $250 Sports Welcome Bonus or a $750 Bitcoin Sports Welcome Bonus. There is also a generous Bovada Rewards Program.

2. BetOnline

Another mainstay in the world of eSports betting among US and Canadian bettors is BetOnline. This online sportsbook has been in business for more than 25 years, and has consistently knocked our socks off.

Some of what you can wager on at BetOnline at the time of this writing includes

• DPC CN: DIV.1
• DPC EEU: DIV.2
• DPC SEA: DIV.2
• DPC SA: DIV.2
• BTS: SEA
• BTS: Americas and BB Universe

BetOnline offers a 50% Sports Welcome Bonus up to $1,000 and a 100% First Time Crypto Deposit Bonus. You should also claim your Reload Bonuses of 25% and 35% when you top off your account.

3. Bookmaker.eu

One sportsbook that we appreciate for quick and reliable payouts is Bookmaker. We are not seeing a ton of action on Dota 2 at the time of this writing, just Pro Circuit China. Still, it is another place where you can place some wagers, and it is worth it to take advantage of this sportsbook’s great promotions.

Right now, you can claim a 25% Cash Welcome Bonus up to $500 when you make your first deposit in USD. If you deposit crypto, you can get a 20% Cash Bonus up to $500. When you reload your account, you can claim Cash Bonuses of between 10-20% depending on your account tier. You also can get additional value through the Bookmaker Rewards Program which lets you earn BetPoints as you wager.

4. MyBookie

When it comes to customer service, few sites can compete with MyBookie. Like Bookmaker, MyBookie does not have a huge selection of Dota 2 betting right now, just BTS and Perfect World, but it is another place to shop the odds and claim bonuses.

Those include a 50% Welcome Bonus up to $1,000 or a 10% Cash Bonus up to $200. You can also claim a 25% Reload Bonus when you top off your bankroll, and take advantage of the Cash-Back VIP Program.

5. SportsBetting.ag

SportsBetting is a site that the owners of BetOnline bought out years ago, transforming it in the process from what used to be a mess into the top-notch sportsbook it is today.

So, unsurprisingly, we see a similar large selection for Dota 2 betting at the time of this writing at SportsBetting.ag as we do at BetOnline. That includes wagering on:

• DPC WEU: DIV.1
• DPC EEU: DIV.1
• DPC SEA: DIV.1
• DPC NA: DIV.1
• DPC SA: DIV.1
• BTS: Americas and EPL World Series

When you join this site, you can claim a 50% Welcome Bonus up to $1,000 or a 100% First Time Crypto Bonus. There are Reload Bonuses of 25-35% as well, depending on whether you deposit USD or crypto in the future. This site also offers competitive referral bonuses and exciting competitions.

6. Xbet

The same folks who operate MyBookie also run a nice sportsbook called Xbet. At the time of this writing, we see betting offered for Perfect World.

When you sign up at Xbet, claim your First Deposit Sports Bonus up to $500. When you top off later, grab your Sports Reload Bonus up to $250. Make sure you also claim the casino bonuses and horse rebates if you are going to be active on those parts of the site.

What is Dota 2?

If you are not familiar at all with Dota 2, you might scratch your head every time you hear the name. “Dota?” What does that even mean? And why do you always hear about Dota 2, and never about Dota 1?

“Dota” is an abbreviation for “Defense of the Ancients.” Sometimes it is written as “DotA.”

Defense of the Ancients is a mod for the classic Blizzard Entertainment game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, which released in 2002. The Defense of the Ancients mod came out a year later. It in turn drew inspiration from a custom StarCraft map called “Aeon of Strife.”

Dota 2 is a full video game rather than just a mod, and it was developed and published by Valve. It serves as the sequel to the original Defense of the Ancients mod. Dota 2 came out in 2013, a full decade after the original Dota.

Obviously, Defense of the Ancients was extremely popular, and it was foundational to the growth of multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games. But it is Dota 2 that went on to become a major eSport.

Don’t know what a MOBA is? It is an outgrowth of games in the real-time strategy (RTS) genre (like the old Warcraft games). The main difference is that players participate on teams rather than playing individually. NPCs also may spawn that are allied with MOBA teams, but MOBA games usually do not task players with building units. An isometric point of view is most common for MOBA games.

One more thing that is useful to note is that Dota 2 is a free-to-play game. That can be helpful for you as a bettor. We will talk more about that later!

Some of the DotA heroes that will be available to choose from. As you can see, there’s a butt-load of them, keeping all kinds of excitement going on!

How is Dota 2 Played?

Now you know what Dota 2 is, but you still have no idea what Dota 2 gameplay is like. Let’s go over the basics.

• Two teams compete, each with five players.
• The five positions on each team include offlaner, mid, carry and two supports.
• Each team has a home base. In that home base is a building called an Ancient. You can recognize it because it glows.
• Every player chooses a hero, which is their character in the game. That hero has a set of unique abilities.
• The goal of each team is to attack and destroy the Ancient of the opposing team. In the process, they must also protect their own Ancient.
• The map for Dota 2 is extremely similar to the map used in League of Legends. It features two bases at opposite corners and three lanes that run between them. One side of the map is called Dire, and the other side is called Radiant. Once again, areas outside the lanes are referred to as jungle. Automated defenses called towers are located along the lanes. There is a river in the middle of the map.
• Towers are categorized as tier 1, tier 2, tier 3 and tier 4, depending on how close they are to the river (tier 1) or the Ancients (tier 4).
• The bases feature fountains. As you might expect, players can travel to these to raise health and mana. There is also a Base Shop at each fountain along with automated defenses.
• Items can be purchased in or out of the shop. If a player buys an item elsewhere on the map, a courier transports it from the Base Shop to the player.
• Teleportation is possible with the use of TP scrolls.
• Players have limited vision as they traverse the map. The use of observer wards can help to increase vision in specific areas. Visibility is impacted by a cycle of day and night as well.
• Bounty Runes, Power-up Runes and Water Runes spawn during the game, providing benefits. Once a Rune is picked up, it is used up, and is not available to the other team.
• Invisibility sometimes applies to units. There is an ability called True Sight that can reveal invisible units.
• There are NPCs in Dota 2 that are referred to as creeps. Players may attempt to kill enemy creeps for experience and gold. There are lane creeps that are allied to one opponent or the other, as well as neutral creeps. While neutral, they are not pacifistic; they simply attack everybody equally.
• Killing the neutral creep Roshan in the river results in being able to loot the Aegis of the Immortal. The player who grabs this is able to resurrect where they fell if they die one time.
• The focus during the early part of a game of Dota 2 is on killing creeps to get experience and gold. It is referred to as the laning phase since the lanes are where the action is concentrated.
• The action tends to disperse across the map as each game of Dota 2 continues. During the late part of the game, players focus on killing Roshan and attempting to destroy the enemies’ Ancient.

If you happen to watch and bet on League of Legends, you already have a pretty good grasp on how Dota 2 matches work.

While there are a lot of similarities, however, there are still plenty of differences. So, you will need to familiarize yourself as much as possible with those differences before you start wagering on Dota 2.

Don’t know much about League of Legends, but curious? See League of Legends Betting Sites 2023 for a full betting guide.

What are the Dota 2 Game Modes?

This is Husker, one of the heroes from Dota 2.
If I ran into him, I sure wouldn’t want to fight him!

There are a number of different game modes in Dota 2. What defines most of them is the method used to pick heroes.

Here are all the regular Dota 2 game modes:

• 1 – All Pick
• 1.1 – Randoming
• 2 – Turbo Mode
• 3 – Ranked All Pick
• 4 – New Player Mode
• 5 – Play vs Bots
• 6 – Single Draft
• 7 – Random Draft
• 8 – All Random
• 9 – Captains Mode
• 10 – Captains Draft
• 11 – Least Played
• 12 – Ability Draft
• 13 – 1v1 Solo Mid
• 14 – All Random Deathmatch
• 15 – Private Lobbies
• 15.1 – Reverse Draft
• 15.2 – Mid Only

In addition to these game modes, there are some that are temporary or seasonal.

Why Bet on Dota 2?

Now you should have a pretty good idea of how Dota 2 is played. Now to answer your next question: “Why should I bet on Dota 2?”

• Dota 2 is an exciting game with a lot of complexity and nuance.

Even though the overall concept is simple, there is a lot going on at any given time on the map, and so many approaches teams and players can take to offense and defense. You will have a blast watching the action and betting on it!

• There are more than 120 heroes available for Dota 2.

Every hero has different abilities which require different tactics in order to succeed. That means that the action from match to match can range quite a lot depending on the heroes that players are using. So, despite again the simple nature of the game, it is anything but repetitious.

• It is easy to learn how Dota 2 works.

It is set on the same map repeatedly, so once you know that map along with the rules of the game, you can focus on studying tactics. Some eSports not only have numerous maps and new ones every year, but that is not something you need to worry about with Dota 2.

• There is plenty to bet on.

Dota 2 is one of the most popular eSports in the world, so there are a ton of tournaments every year. If you join a few sportsbooks, you should have no issues finding action.

• Learn by doing.

If you wager on NFL, you may or may not have a chance to go out in the field and actually play football. If you bet on rugby, unless you live in the UK, you might never find people to play rugby with. But with Dota 2, you can get online right now and play the game for free. That means you can learn about it by doing it, which is one of the best ways to really understand what players experience as they are competing. The more you grasp their challenges and opportunities, the easier it will be to make accurate predictions.

• Lots of prop bets are offered for Dota 2.

If you are into novelty bets, you will have a blast wagering on this eSport.

What Dota 2 Events Can You Wager On?

While betting on Dota 2, you are going to want to follow the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC). Valve organizes this as the official tournament series combining Regional Leagues and Majors.

Each year, the DPC culminates in the world championship, which is known as The International (TI). The prize pools for TI are absolutely massive. In 2021, for example, it was $40 million.

Dota 2 Bet Types

You need to learn about all of the different bet types if you want to go out and make some cash!

The next thing you need to know is what types of wagers you can place on Dota 2 events.

• To-win:
  If you think you know which team will win a Dota 2 match, you can place a wager on it.
• Outright:
  If you think you know which team will win an entire Dota 2 tournament, then you can place an outright bet. When the outright bet is for an event scheduled far in the future, it can pay quite well if you win. But it will be risky to enter.
• Totals:
  Totals bets are also called over/under bets. You are betting on whether something will be over/under a certain number for a game. This might be the total score, experience, gold, kills, etc.
• Handicap:
  When a heavy favourite is competing with an underdog, you can place a handicap bet where points are added or subtracted to even the chances of either wager winning.
• Correct score:
  If you think you know what the exact score of a Dota 2 match will be, you can make a bet on the number. It can be hard to win a correct score bet, but the payout can be great when you do.
• Live:
  There are sportsbooks that offer live betting, also called in-play betting, when a Dota 2 match is in progress. Based on what is happening in real-time in the game, you can place wagers. Live betting on Dota 2 can be a lot of fun since if you are watching the games closely, you can sometimes find some lucrative opportunities.
• Accumulator:
  When you think you know what is going to unfold in multiple Dota 2 games, you can combine wagers on all of them into an accumulator bet like a parlay. If all of your selections win, then you win the wager and the payout (which can be very high). If any of the selections lose though, so does the whole bet.
• Props:
  Finally, there are proposition bets, also known as props, side bets or novelty bets. Prop bets are just wagers you make on anything that is not related directly to the outcomes of Dota 2 games. As you will discover below, there are a lot of different Dota 2 props you can place.

Dota 2 Prop Bets

Here are some popular types of Dota 2 prop bets:

• First Team to Destroy a Tower:

As the name indicates, this is simply a wager on which team will be the first to destroy one of the towers. This typically happens quite early in a match during the laning phase.

• First Team to Destroy a Barracks:

This is a bet on which team will be the first to destroy one of the barracks.

• First Team to Slay Roshan:

The creep Roshan respawns, so both teams can slay Roshan. This prop bet is a wager on which team will be able to kill Roshan first.

• First Blood:

This is simply a prop bet on which team or player will achieve the first kill in a game of Dota 2.

• First Team/Player to Achieve X Kills:

With this type of prop, you are betting on which team or player will win the race to a certain number of kills. Some teams and players may be known for racking up kills early on in a game. If you are familiar with these patterns, you may find this type of wager lucrative.

• Team to Get the Most Kills:

Which team will get the highest kill count during a Dota 2 match? If you think you know the answer, make this type of prop bet. You can also find this type of prop for individual players.

Those are just some of the more common Dota 2 prop bets. You may find other types of Dota 2 props as well. The more sports betting sites you join, the more props and other types of wagers will be available to you for Dota 2.

Tips and Strategies for Betting on Dota 2

Now that you know the different types of Dota 2 props, let’s go over some basic recommendations for how you can plan your wagers effectively.

• Check statistics.

Just as you would were you wagering on anything else, a good starting point when you are betting on Dota 2 is to take a look at stats for both teams as well as individual players. Focus most on the recent stats, but look at head-to-head data too. Keep in mind that eSports players’ careers are short. So, a team’s composition today vs. five years ago may look very different.

• Look up news.

There are plenty of news outlets that focus on Dota 2 and other eSports that can provide you with ongoing updates on teams and players competing in upcoming events. Keep a close eye on the headlines.

• Check social media.

Start following Dota 2 players on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. Their posts will give you further qualitative data to work with when you are doing your analysis.

• Look into team tactics.

Dota 2 teams may have specific strategies that they like to lean into. When you know the approaches that they are likely to take given certain opponents and scenarios, you can make more accurate predictions about upcoming matches.

• Learn what individual players excel at.

Be familiar with each player’s role on the team and their strengths and weaknesses.

• Stream.

There are countless opportunities every day to stream Dota 2 games. This is your chance to get a close look at how professional Dota 2 players strategize and how they react both tactically and emotionally to what happens in the game. Watch streams for the players in upcoming tournaments to really get to know them. Think what an edge that will give you over anyone who has not taken the time to watch these players live in action.

• Play Dota 2.

This game is 100% free-to-play, so give it a try! After playing even a couple of games, your understanding of it will increase exponentially, and you will know the map intimately. Try experimenting with the different heroes, and play a variety of team roles. The more situations you encounter, the easier it will be for you to make your predictions for your bets.

• Shop the odds.

Dota 2 odds are different on each sportsbook, so it is in your interest to join more than one so you can shop for the best odds any time you want to wager. This is one of the keys to being a profitable eSports bettor.

Here you can see a match that’s underway.
Right there in the center you can see someone just absolutely getting their lunch handed to them!

What Skills Do Dota 2 Players Need?

Before we wrap up this post, one more thing we want to delve into briefly are the skills that are important for Dota 2 players. You need to know what players have to excel at in order to assess their abilities while you are planning your bets.

• Tactics.

Dota 2 is a highly tactical game, so the ability to create and execute effective strategies is paramount for players. That includes tactics on both the individual and team levels.

• Executive function.

Dota 2 players need to juggle a lot while they are playing. At any given time, they need to be aware of what is going on around them, what is on the mini-map, their cooldowns, where their teammates are and what they are doing, and so much more. They also need to be able to rapidly manage their items, select abilities, and execute attacks. So, great executive function is a must.

• Speed, coordination and motor skills.

All of these are necessary in order to be able to physically execute attacks and move around the map with the right timing to beat one’s opponents.

• Adaptability.

A team might go into a game with a particular strategy in mind, only to find that they didn’t correctly guess how their opponents were going to strategize. As a result, they may have to adapt on the fly and put a new plan into action. In some cases, they might not even have an appropriate plan B and have to full-on improvise. The more adaptable players are, the better. This also applies on an individual level.

• Teamwork.

Dota 2 is a game that teams can only win if they work well together. The more effective they are at coordinating and the better their relationships are with each other, the more likely they are to beat their opponents.

• Focus.

A player needs to be able to keep their head fully in the game for the entirety of a Dota 2 game. They also need to avoid getting distracted by their emotions or self-interests (i.e. they should not be running around trying to rack up their kill score at the expense of their team).

• Endurance.

Playing eSports can be draining, both in the moment and over the course of a tournament circuit. The best Dota 2 players will be able to continue performing at a high level even when they are exhausted from a grueling schedule.

• Skills specific to Dota 2.

Finally, there are a lot of skills that are specific to Dota 2 that players need to have to do well:

• Support players need to be aware of the map at all times and be good at placing wards, coordinating with other team members, dewarding, denying, and more.
• Carry players need to also be great with map awareness, managing multiple responsibilities (i.e. farming and other team roles), blocking creeps, and getting in last hits. They also need to be good at selecting items.
• Midlaners should excel at denying, map awareness, selecting items, creep blocking, etc. A lot of the skills are similar to what carry players need.
• Offlaners need map awareness, denying skills, excellent skills with managing health, and more.

The more you watch and bet on Dota 2, the better grasp you will have on what makes an effective Dota 2 player or team.

Bet on Dota 2 Now

Are you ready to jump into the action of betting on Dota 2? Click on any of the links in this post to sign up at our recommended Dota 2 sportsbooks. Remember to shop the odds each time you place a wager, and don’t forget to claim your welcome and reload bonuses. Have fun, and good luck!