Here at ESI, we decided to have a check at what we could find in-play across the bookies – in a second part to our previous “who’s doing what in esports?” series.
Yesterday Alliance faced Team Liquid in the ASUS ROG Dreamleague in Dota 2. Whilst the game was not the biggest of fixtures in the esports world, it was a game featuring two of the most well-renowned teams in Dota 2 in a very respectable tournament.
We only found two bookmakers offering in-play on this particular fixture. Unikrn’s in-play was looking sweet as ever. Although you could only bet on the match outcome, the integration of the Twitch stream just made the overall experience thoroughly enjoyable.
Similarly, SkyBet had odds on the match outcome in-play. Again, there was no other availability market-wise but they had an offering nonetheless.
Initially, when we perused the slick looking Pinnacle website, we thought they were offering in-play on the match (see below). However, we then realised that they were still offering first blood (after ten total kills) and offering odds of 2.010 on Alliance in ‘race to 10 kills’ despite, at that point, Alliance being 7-3 ahead. Sure enough, at thirty minutes into the game the odds all remained the same. We’re unsure as to what exactly was going on, but it was slightly bizarre to say the least.
It was disappointing to see no in-play odds from BetWay or Bet365, whilst Dafabet, William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral and Paddy Power were always unlikely candidates to be showcasing in-play at this stage.
Esports Insider: This goes to show that there’s still such a long way to go in terms of esports in-play offerings. Although this wasn’t the biggest fixture, it was significantly closer to the top tier than grass roots. Esports scheduling can be hectic and games can start earlier or later than initially scheduled unlike most traditional sports and that may be what caught Pinnacle out. Still, it was slightly odd to say the least. Having a look at the in-play offerings for the League of Legends Worlds may well provide us with a better indication of where in-play is at. The Grand Final is likely to be the most watched esports event in the world so it’ll be intriguing to see what’s available.