How to bet on Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 is Valve's game, released as a free upgrade to CS:GO. Competitive play runs on maps, and Valve's Premier mode is its Active Duty Pick-Ban competitive mode. Maps named by Valve include Overpass, Nuke and Dust II.

Bookmakers settle bets on three units. The series is the whole match, for example a best-of-three. The map is one game inside the series. The round is one round inside a map. Midnite calls the whole match a series, while Betway and Unibet call it the match.

The result comes from the official result supplied by the tournament officials, and in-game counts such as kills are graded on the in-game scoreboard. At Midnite, a map that is never played because the series is already decided is refunded, for example a third map after a 2-0 win in a best-of-three. Rounds have their own markets, covered in the sections on markets and rules.

At Betway, the Majors, IEM and PGL tournaments draw the widest range of markets, while smaller online qualifiers carry a tighter set.

Counter-Strike Majors

Majors are the Valve-sponsored Counter-Strike championships. Valve treats the players on a team, not the organisation, as holding the Major spot. Since 2017 the group stage has used a Swiss system: a team that wins three matches advances, and a team that loses three is eliminated. The playoffs have eight teams, and the playoff matches are best-of-three single-elimination series. StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 added a best-of-five grand final, and at IEM Cologne Major 2026 the third Swiss stage uses only best-of-three matches. The next Major is the PGL CS2 Major Singapore, from 24 November to 13 December 2026.

Intel Extreme Masters

IEM is a series of international tournaments sanctioned by ESL and sponsored by Intel. It had run 17 seasons as of 2023, and it currently hosts Counter-Strike 2 events. The highest tier, the Masters Championships, is held in summer in Cologne, Germany and in the new year in Poland. Other Masters events have been held in cities such as Dallas, Shanghai and Sydney. The league is owned by Savvy Games Group.

PGL events

PGL Esports lists CS2 events running into 2028. PGL Masters Bucharest 2026 is in Bucharest, Romania, from 22 to 31 October. PGL Bucharest 2027 opens the 2027 CS2 season from 15 to 24 January 2027 with $1,400,000 in total rewards, and its remaining places are decided through the European Open and Closed Qualifiers. Betway lists PGL Masters Bucharest and a PGL Bucharest Qualifier, Unibet lists PGL Bucharest Qualifiers, and William Hill lists PGL Bucharest.

BLAST

BLAST is an esports tournament organiser, and Betway has renewed its sponsorship of it. BLAST Austin Major 2025 expanded the Major to 32 teams across four stages, with 16 teams invited straight into the later stages through Valve's regional rankings and the rest entering through qualifiers.

Online circuits and qualifiers

Betway, Unibet and William Hill all list DraculaN, the CCT series and the NODWIN Clutch Series. The TP World Championship appears at Betway and Unibet.

Every bookmaker on this site holds a Gambling Commission licence. For a comparison across all four games, see the CS2 betting sites page. The bookmakers below are ordered by rating.

Betway

Betway Limited holds Gambling Commission account number 39372, listed as active on the register. Betway lists CS2 competitions, has in-play betting on esports and marks some upcoming matches with a Watch label. Cash Out covers single, multiple and system bets, before a match and in play, and appears only on eligible bets. The maximum payout of £100,000 applies to esports, and £500,000 is the most a customer can win across all sports in a day. Its welcome offer: £40 in free bets for a £10 bet. Rated 4.2 out of 5 in the Betway review for UK players.

Unibet

Platinum Gaming Limited, which operates Unibet, holds licence number 45322, listed as active on the register. The esports lobby has featured, next-to-go, competitions and outrights views. Its CS2 competitions include ST Ranked, DraculaN, Private Club and PGL Bucharest Qualifiers, and it has Match Winner and Map Handicap views. Matches carry a Live marker once they start. Cash Out, in-play betting and live streaming are offered on the sportsbook. Unibet's headline offer is £40 in free bets when you bet £20. Rated 3.9 out of 5 in the Unibet review for UK players.

William Hill

WHG (International) Limited, which operates William Hill, holds account number 39225, listed as active on the register. Its esports section lists CS2 - PGL Bucharest, DraculaN, CCT Europe Challengers, CCT European Series, CCT South America Series, Stake Ranked and NODWIN Clutch, with Live markers on matches in progress. In-play bets pass through an automated time delay before acceptance. The maximum payout for esports is £25,000 on tournament outrights and match winner markets and £10,000 on all other markets. William Hill pays £30 in free bets on a £10 deposit plus a £10 bet. Rated 3.8 out of 5 in the William Hill review for UK players.

Midnite

Midnite Limited holds licence number 101839, listed as active on the register. Midnite settles team kills, pistol rounds, handicaps, forfeits and race-to bets under terms specific to Counter-Strike, and data for bets placed in play is subject to a delay. The maximum payout for esports is £25,000, and the limit on any bet or combination of bets by one person is £250,000 per calendar day. At Midnite, a £10 bet earns £30 in free bets. Rated 3.1 out of 5 in the Midnite review for UK players.

Betway lists match winner, map winner, map handicaps, correct map score, total rounds over/under and pistol-round markets for CS2. Unibet and William Hill offer match betting, and Unibet adds map handicaps. Each group below uses the settlement the bookmakers set.

Match and map winners

Match winner is a bet on who wins the overall match. At Midnite, match winner bets stand even if the match was offered with the wrong series format or the announced number of maps changes. Map winner is a bet on who takes a specific map. At Midnite it has action as long as that map is played, and at Betway map winner bets are void if the match is not completed.

Handicaps, scores and totals

At Unibet, a +2.5 map handicap gives a team a virtual 2.5-map lead before the match starts, so the opponent must win by three maps or more for the bet to lose. Correct score is the exact map scoreline, such as 2-0 or 2-1 in a best-of-three. At Midnite, handicap and correct score bets depend on the number of maps played, so they have no action if the format changes. At Unibet, an over 22.5 rounds bet wins if a 23rd round is played. At Betway, correct score bets are void if the match is not completed, and totals bets are void if the map is not completed.

Round and in-round bets

In live betting, Betway offers map winner, next map and round winner, and in shooters first blood or next kill. Midnite grades kills on the in-game scoreboard and settles first blood on the in-game First Blood announcement.

Outright markets

Tournament winner bets are outrights. At Betway, a team that plays at least one map counts as an entrant, a team that later fails to complete the tournament is settled as a loser, and all outright bets are void if the tournament is not completed. At Midnite, outright bets are refunded if a team withdraws before the tournament begins, and void if the schedule is postponed by more than 30 days. For how these bet types work across all four games, see esports betting markets explained.

The same market can settle differently from one bookmaker to the next, so check the rule for the exact bet.

Pistol rounds. At Midnite, a pistol round is the first round of either half.

Overtime. At Midnite, map rounds handicap includes overtime unless stated otherwise. Betway settles Counter-Strike bets on regulation time plus overtime unless otherwise specified. Where a Midnite market has no draw option, extra time counts toward the result, and where a draw is offered, only regulation time counts.

Round handicaps. At Midnite, if a team surrenders or forfeits, a round handicap bet is graded on the round score at that moment, with a round in progress awarded to the team that did not surrender. The bet is settled if that score already fixes the result under normal play, and void if it does not.

Team kills. At Midnite, for Team to Score a Knife Kill, Team to Score Next Kill, and kills with a high explosive grenade or a Molotov/Incendiary grenade, only kills against the enemy team count, so a team kill does not. Betway applies the same opposing-team rule to knife, Molotov and HE grenade kills, and counts those kills, bomb plants and player kill totals only during the round.

Rosters. At Midnite, a team that changes more than two players is treated as a different team and all bets are void, unless the change was public before the match was priced.

Race-to bets. Midnite offers race to 3, 6, 9 and 12 rounds, and settlement can take up to 2 hours. Where no Neither selection is offered and neither team reaches the target, the bet is a push and stakes are refunded.

1. Check the licence. The licence number is shown on the bookmaker's site; match it to the Gambling Commission register.
2. Set a deposit limit in your account settings before you deposit. Betway, Midnite, Unibet and William Hill all offer deposit limits.
3. Find the esports section. At Betway it sits in the A-Z sports list with an In-Play tag, and Unibet and William Hill list Esports in their sports menus.
4. Pick the match and the market. Unibet's esports lobby has Match Winner and Map Handicap views, and Betway shows More Bets beside each match.
5. Check the stake and the terms. Look at the settlement rule for the market, the maximum payout and, if you are using a welcome offer, whether the bet qualifies.
6. Place the bet. At William Hill, a marginal price change after you confirm is accepted at the larger price, and a bigger change re-offers the bet at the new price.

Before the start. At Midnite, a match cancelled before it starts makes all bets void. A match postponed for more than 48 hours does the same, while a postponement within 48 hours leaves bets standing. Betway voids a match not played within 3 hours of its original start time, or within 48 hours at LAN events.

After the start. At Midnite, if a match is abandoned, markets that reached their natural conclusion are settled and the rest are void. At Betway, a match that starts but is not completed voids match bets unless a team is disqualified, in which case the team progressing is deemed the winner.

Forfeits. At Midnite, a walkover or default win before a map starts means bets on that map are refunded. A map counts as started once the game clock runs or either team picks, bans or buys in the game. If a started Counter-Strike map is won through a surrender, forfeit or admin decision, all bets on the match are void at Midnite, whereas in other esports the bets that can be determined stand. At Betway, a team that taps out, for example by calling "GG" before the final objective, is settled as a loss.

Replays. At Midnite, the replayed result stands. In-play bets already decided before the incident stand, and undecided ones are refunded.

A map that goes to overtime is not cut short: overtime rounds count toward settlement.

Each offer sets its own stake, odds and expiry, so check them before using one on a CS2 bet. Esports betting offers compares them.

• Betway: a qualifying stake of £10 on a pre-event bet at minimum odds of 2.0, with the £40 paid as four £10 free bets after settlement. The free bet expiry is 7 days.
• William Hill: a £10 single from main balance at odds of 1/2 or longer on any sports market except Virtuals. The £30 comes as three £10 free bets that expire in 7 days, cannot be withdrawn and must be used in full. Deposits via PayPal, Neosurf, Paysafe, Apple Pay, NETELLER, Skrill, ecoPayz, Kalibra/Postpay and WH PLUS Card do not qualify. The offer ends on 31 December 2026.
• Midnite: a bet at minimum odds of 1/1 (2.0) within 14 days of sign-up. The £30 is split across a single, pre-match Bet Builders and a pre-match accumulator, each with its own minimum odds. Free bets expire 7 days after crediting and the stake is not returned. Voided, cashed out and Each Way bets do not qualify, and only eligible Sportsbook markets count.
• Unibet: a qualifying bet of £20 or more, with free bets expiring within 7 days of issue. Its separate racing welcome offer works on horse racing only, so it does not apply to CS2.

Before the qualifying bet, check that the CS2 market is eligible and that the price meets the minimum odds.

Set a deposit, loss and time limit before a series starts, and keep to them. Esports matches run at every hour and in-play prices move quickly, so decide the budget for a match before it begins. Midnite lets you limit what you deposit and lose over a set period. Betway and William Hill offer session reminders, and Unibet offers net deposit limits and product blocks. A free bet, a price boost or a big final is never a reason to raise a limit or chase a loss. Gamstop blocks every site licensed in Great Britain at once. For help, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 (England and Scotland) or the NHS Wales Helpline on 0808 2819 265 (Wales). GambleAware also offers support.

When a bookmaker changes a term, a market or a figure, our team reads the bookmaker's page again and corrects this page. How we check facts is on how we rate. Corrections can be sent to info@esportsbookies.co.uk.

• Our team tests the bookmakers and checks every fact on this page
• counter-strike.net One page read.
• pglesports.com One page read.
• wikipedia.org 2 pages read.
• betway.com Used for terms, offers, payments and safer gambling tools. 11 pages read.
• unibet.co.uk Used for terms, offers and safer gambling tools. 9 pages read.
• williamhill.com Used for support. 6 pages read.
• midnite.com Used for support and ownership. 7 pages read.
• gamblingcommission.gov.uk Used for the licence register. 4 pages read.
• UK Esports Betting team: our tests and checks of each fact on this page, 20 October 2026