FeatureHow Esports Betting Odds Get Approved and Set

Esports odds aren't calculated by some neutral formula — each licensed sportsbook sets its own numbers, then has to publish the house rules behind them. Nevada's regulation for race books and sports pools requires exactly that disclosure, and it applies to esports the same way it applies to a football game.

Who Actually Sets the Odds on an Esports Match?

The book does — not a regulator, and not the game's publisher. Nevada's Regulation 22 requires any licensed book to adopt written house rules covering the "amounts to be paid on winning wagers" and the "method of noticing odds or line changes to patrons," and to file those rules with the Gaming Control Board before using them. When the Board approved wagering on the DreamHack Masters Las Vegas 2017 — one of Nevada's earliest sanctioned esports events, held that February at the MGM Grand — its own approval letter put it directly: "The setting of odds is at the discretion of the book; rules governing this wager shall be available to the public."

That's the same principle as a traditional sportsbook line: the number is a business decision by the book, built to attract balanced action on both sides while keeping a built-in margin regardless of who wins. The regulation doesn't fix that margin or publish a standard figure for it — it only forces the book to disclose its process, not the exact math behind any single line.

Why Isn't Every Esports Match Available to Bet On?

Because regulators approve esports wagering game by game and event by event, not as a blanket category. Nevada's rules single out esports specifically: before a book can take esports wagers, it must submit details on the video game itself, the event's operator, how the competition is run, and what integrity safeguards are in place — separate from the general approval process used for other sports.

New Jersey took an even narrower path at first. A state-published approved-events list circulating in 2020 named exactly two eSports entries cleared for wagering — the 2019 League of Legends World Championship Finals and the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series — and stated plainly that wagering on "electronic sports, and competitive video games" was otherwise not permitted. Anything not on that list simply wasn't a legal bet in the state at that time.

Did New Jersey's Approach Stay That Narrow?

No — it broadened, but not into a blanket approval. On January 25, 2022, New Jersey's Division of Gaming Enforcement cleared Esports Entertainment Group to run its VIE.gg betting platform under an online partnership with Bally's Atlantic City casino license, letting customers bet on players competing in games including Call of Duty and League of Legends. CBS News reported this was the state's first approval covering an ongoing schedule of games, rather than the case-by-case event approvals that had come before it. Even so, the approval was tied to one licensed operator's platform under one casino's license — not a standing rule that any esports match anywhere becomes bettable.

Two States, Two Approval Models

What Happens Between Placing a Bet and Getting Paid?

In Nevada's approved terms for the 2017 DreamHack Masters, wagering closed five minutes before each scheduled match, and the book was required to pull the official result from the tournament's own website rather than its own broadcast or a third party. More broadly, Nevada's regulation requires books to hold reserves sufficient to cover both outstanding wagers and anticipated payouts — money that has to be set aside before a single bet on the event is even accepted.

None of that changes what a bet actually is once it's placed: a wager against a book that has already priced in its own margin. A published cutoff time and a named source for results are procedural safeguards, not an edge for the bettor.

Does Regulation Make the Odds Fair, or Just Disclosed?

Just disclosed. Nevada's rules require a book to publish how it prices and adjusts a line — they don't require the line to be generous, and they don't cap the book's margin on either side of a match. That margin, built into both sides of the line so the book profits regardless of the outcome, is standard to how any sportsbook operates; nothing in the esports-specific approval process removes it. Esports wagering carries the same built-in cost as any other sports bet — it is not a way to earn income, and no amount of research into a team's form changes the fact that the book has already priced its own margin into the line.

FAQ

Can the odds change after a book posts them, before I bet?

Yes. Nevada requires books to disclose their "method of noticing odds or line changes to patrons" in filed house rules — the process has to be public, but the book decides when and how far a line moves before your bet is placed.

Who decides the official result for a bet?

Under Nevada's approved terms for the 2017 DreamHack Masters, the book had to source the official result from the tournament's own website, not its own broadcast feed or a third-party score tracker.

Is esports betting legal everywhere?

No. Approval is granted jurisdiction by jurisdiction and often event by event, and rules change — both examples here show approval expanding over several years in just two states. Check your local regulator's current rules before assuming any match is a legal bet; this is information, not legal advice, and real-money wagering is for adults only where it's permitted.

Does a broader license mean every esports game is approved to bet on?

Not automatically. New Jersey's 2022 approval for an "ongoing schedule of games" was tied to one licensed operator's platform under one casino's license — it expanded what that platform could offer, not a blanket approval for all esports betting statewide.