The Best Esports Tournaments to Bet on in 2025

Esports continue to grow into a multi-billion dollar industry, and people betting on tournaments is a big part of that success. The 2025 esports calendar has already seen the ALGS World Championship take place at the end of January with $2 million in prize money, and the PGL Bucharest just wrapped up in Romania with 16 teams competing for $1.25 million in a big month for Counter-Strike 2 tournaments.

But with most of 2025 still ahead of us, there are plenty of big tournaments to bet on the rest of the year. Remember, you can find esports tournaments and their betting markets at Bovada, a popular Esports sportsbook.

Here are some of the best esports tournaments to bet on the rest of the year.

The International (Dota 2)

Since its inception in 2011, The International has been one of the biggest esports tournaments on an annual basis for the 5-on-5 game Dota 2. It features up to 20 teams of seasoned competitors, and that’s another reason bettors like it as there’s more history to go on with the teams from around the world.

The International is also a big draw as it has had some of the biggest prize pools in the land, including over $40M in 2021. But even though crowdfunding only led to a prize pool of $2.6M last year when Team Liquid won the 2024 event, you can count on the best Dota 2 players to show up again when the 2025 event goes down in September in Hamburg, Germany.

League of Legends World Championship (Worlds)

Another favorite tournament for esports fans and bettors is the League of Legends World Championship, which is scheduled to take place in China this October. It gets extensive media coverage as it drew nearly 7 million viewers in 2024 and could boast a prize pool up to $5 million.

You can expect betting markets for match winners, first blood, and futures bets on tournament MVP. Regional leagues could have an advantage, and favorites usually deliver well in Worlds, but upsets are still possible too even in best-of-5 formats.

Valorant Champions Tour 2025

The Valorant Champions Tour is set for September 12-October 5, 2025 in Paris, France. It’s the final event of the Valorant Champions Tour, so rather than being one big tournament, it’s the culmination of months of events to qualify for the finale. Last year’s Valorant finale had over 1 million viewers and the prize pool should be at least $1M this year.

With teams competing all year to qualify, that helps bettors with more matchup data to gain an edge. The fast-paced gameplan in Valorant also could make for some valuable live betting, and a region like China is emerging as a force in this game, so teams from China could be good for upsets.

Esports World Cup 2025

Starting in July, the world’s biggest esports tournament returns to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for a second year after the success in 2024’s inaugural event that saw a record prize pool of over $60M.

The 2025 event plans on inviting over 2,000 players from 200+ clubs to battle it out in many of the most popular games in the esports world (Counter-Strike 2, Overwatch Champions Series, Dota 2, Rocket League, Valorant, League of Legends, StarCraft, etc.).

With so many pros participating and a wide variety of betting markets to offer, there could be great value on the smaller games offered during this month-long summer spectacle. With that much non-stop action, live betting should be lots of fun.