Heroes of the Storm (HotS) certainly ranks high in the Blizzard Entertainment real-time strategy galore. It is a free-to-play multiplier online battle arena (MOBA) game that has amassed a huge following of millions of players within months of launching.
All Blizzard games tend to have that effect on players!
The player base for pretty much every title Blizzard has developed since the company was founded some 30 years ago numbers in the (tens of) millions – and Heroes of the Storm is no exception.
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HotS’ appeal is owed mostly to bringing a unique combination of heroes, styles, and elements from several of Blizzard’s universes including Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, and Overwatch.
The game has expanded far beyond the video gaming landscape and become a hit not only with gamers who enjoy clobbering their opponents in the arenas, but also with HotS eSports betting enthusiasts. Today, Heroes of the Storm eSports betting is a big part of every online betting site where you can find an eSports section.
Read on to learn more about the brief, but turbulent history of the game, as well as what makes it so popular with both sports and eSports punters.
What is MOBA?
A multiplayer online battle arena is a virtual setting where two players or teams compete against one another.
They can either be professional or amateur games played either privately or in a HotS tournament.
A multiplayer online battle arena exclusively involves only real-time strategies such as HotS, Heroes of Newerth, League of Legends, World of Warcraft, or Dota 2, to name just some of the most popular.
In 2018, multiplayer online battle arenas accounted for over a third of all prize pools for eSports that year. In 2018 alone, there was a $60 million prize pool money, so you can imagine the scope of the game.
When Heroes of the Storm first appeared on the eSports scene, MobAs were already in full swing. But the game has easily acclimatized to the MobA format and became a favorite arena game for hosts of lovers of WoW, Dota, and StarCraft.
What are eSports Betting Sites?
eSports betting websites are your typical betting sites that allow betting on eSports. Today, there are dozens of online companies that offer eSports diverse gaming portfolios. Any site with an eSports category is bound to have at least the top three eSports games in terms of a fan base, including LoL, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Dota 2. Heroes of the Storm is also a frequent title found in almost every eSportsbook, though, it’s true, HotS tournaments and events have been in short supply lately on many eSports websites.
A Brief Introduction to Heroes of the Storm eSports
There was a lot of buzz about a new game dubbed Blizzard DOTA that was announced at the 2010 BlizzCon. The name of the upcoming game later changed to Blizzard All-Stars, before getting its permanent moniker, Heroes of the Storm in 2013.
Launch
Launched in June 2015, Heroes of the Storm became an immediate hit within the eSports gaming community.
The game attracted wide publicity and a massive following within months, and Blizzard boosted the game’s popularity by striking deals with ESPN and launching the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC) and other top competitions.
Getting to the Top
In the first few years since Heroes of the Storm launched in 2015, Blizzard really put their back into making it one of their most innovative games and for a brief time came awfully close to achieving this (Overwatch remains the company’s most sold game with over 50 million units). Regardless, Blizzard’s multi-million investment paid off, and by early 2018, HoTS became one of the top eSports, and certainly among the best online battle arenas.
However, when Blizzard announced in 2018 that it was shifting its resources and top Heroes of the Storm developers to other projects, for many this spelled disaster for the future of both the game itself and HotS eSports betting markets. In another blow to HotS fans, in 2019, Blizzard announced plans to end the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC) and Heroes of the Dorm, as well as tournaments in Asia, North America, and other regions.
Downsizing
Due to this downsizing and cancelation of professional leagues and tournaments, hosts of fans were left with extremely limited options to bet on HotS. But fans of Blizzard’s games are not ones to let one of their favorite titles fade into obscurity. Passionate developers and gamers joined forces and managed to keep the game and its competitions afloat, at least for the time being.
Not only did the dire outlook didn’t come to pass and had absolutely no effect on the game itself, but the developers also kept enhancing and supplementing Heroes of the Storm with a plethora of unique new features and characters. Meanwhile, groups like Heroes Lounge helped organize both amateur and professional HotS league tournaments in North America and Europe, and suddenly the future of HotS did not seem so bleak.
Today, both professional and amateur HotS leagues are still holding their own, even though the game itself still cannot compare to the likes of League of Legends or Dota 2 in terms of scale.
eSports betting sites have also earned big from the eSports craze, and while not as lucrative as back in 2018, HotS betting remains very much alive in 2021.
What Does a Heroes of the Storm Match Look Like?
A typical HotS match involves two teams who play against one another with five players per team, so 5v5.
Each player on either team chooses a hero belonging to a specific class. The type of hero can be different and include a bruiser, ranged assassin, healer, and so on. Overall there are around 90 heroes, and each hero has unique set of abilities and spells. Every player has their preferred hero, or hero class, and knowing how deftly a gamer controls their avatar can give you an advantage when predicting the outcome of a match.
The teams compete on specific online maps (battlegrounds) with the goal of each team being to defend themselves and destroy the base of the opposing team. When played on a professional level, any given HotS tournament can have a prize pool of as little as several thousand dollars, to as much as tens of millions of dollars for the top tournaments.
What Does Heroes of the Storm Betting Involve?
The principle of betting on Heroes of the Storm matches is almost the same as betting on regular sports. Almost! There are specific odds for every match and, like with sports, the value of the odds can vary depending on the skill of the team or player. The weaker the team the higher the odds, and the lower the odds the stronger the team – which means it has higher chances of winning. Though it seems pretty strightforward, to bet on Heroes of the Storm requires a certain level of knowledge not just of the game itself, but of the standing of the teams and their current forms. Otherwise, you are just shooting in the dark.
Heroes of the Storm is an extremely dynamic and unpredictable game and the odds can sometimes be misleading. There have been countless games where the underdogs have gained the upper hand and made stunning upsets against better teams.
That is part of the excitement and it goes on to show you that placing bets on Heroes of the Storm, even if the most basic of bets, such as a match or map winner, is not so much based on luck as it is on knowledge.
The types of bets available for Heroes of the Storm players on an average site can be quite extensive.
Heroes of the Storm Betting Markets
The variety of options to bet on HotS ranges from site to site, and the volume of available bets depends on the size of the match.
There are at least 5 main types of bets you can find for on average HotS matches regardless of which site you visit.
- Match winner – a match winner is a pre-match betting type where players predict the end-result of a HotS match. It is one of the most comment and popular betting markets.
- Outright winner – similar to a match winner, here players place bets on the ‘outright’ tournament winner, that is, which team/player will win a given tournament.
- Map winner – players on Heroes of the Storm compete on different maps, or in the case of HotS, ‘battlegrounds.’ The matches are usually played in best-of-3 formats or best-of-5 series. This bet makes for ideal live betting as you get to see how each team performs between maps. Given that there are several games played on different map, you can predict which team will win the first, second, third map, and so on.
- Totals – this bet type involves predicting whether the total number of maps, rounds, kills will be over or under a specific number set by the bookmaker.
- Odd/even betting – if you are a football fan this bet type will be familiar. Players here bet whether the total number of goals in a match scored by both teams will be even (divided by two) or odd (not divided by two). With HotS, betting odd/or even number is similar, in that you bet whether the confirmed number of wins / kills by either team is odd or even.
- First blood – punter bets which team/player draws first blood i.e. makes the first kill on a map.
What Makes Betting on Heroes of the Storm so Enticing
If you don’t know yet, we urge you to start placing bets and find out first-hand.
Heroes of the Storm is a dazzling video game and only those who have played are familiar with the tons of excitement it can bring. Betting on Heroes of the Storm can be an extremely engaging experience if you know what you are doing, and, of course, extremely rewarding.
The best eSports sites will have tons of live and scheduled fixtures every day, week, and month, and annual tournaments are still organized, despite the fact that Blizzard’s team provides basic support and the maintenance of the game is mainly left to individual developers.
Naturally, the more exciting the HotS matches are, the more thrilling the betting experience. Established sites with extensive eSportsbooks will always offer multiple bet types per selection, with the number of individual bets ranging anywhere from 3 or 4, to well over a 100 for top fixtures.
Heroes of the Storm, as a game, continues to stand strong to this day and electrifying HotS matches still attract a steady number of punters each year, despite many turbulences and setbacks the game has undergone.
What do HotS Betting Sites Offer
eSports betting platforms come with a variety of features, though in most cases those features do not directly concern Heroes of the Storm. As far as we can tell, there is not a single site that is exclusively focused on Heroes of the Storm betting. The eSports sections of most betting websites usually come as supplements to their sportsbook or online casinos and have limited offers in terms of game and market selection. However, established companies that have a specific focus on eSports have an excellent market variety for each of their games, including Heroes of the Storm.
eSports-specific websites can also have distinctive eSports bonus offers to encourage players to get more engaged in betting, as well as higher odds than sites that center around the casino and conventional sports betting.
Payment Methods
If you are looking for a new eSports bookie, payment methods can play an important part in your final decision. While the vast majority of eSports operators accept only fiat currencies, more advanced companies have diversified to include both real money payment options, and cryptocurrency. Be advised, as betting with crypto is usually (but not always) the domain of high-rollers and experienced users and requires possessing elaborate knowledge of how to buy, convert, and bet with a specific cryptocurrency.
Rewards, promos, and betting bonuses, and the ability to place bets on live matches – both on desktop and mobile – are just a few of the inviting components of pretty much all Heroes of the Storm betting sites.
Heroes of the Storm Betting Tips
This section only applies to inexperienced or players still learning the ins and outs of eSports wagering but doesn’t mean that experienced punters won’t learn a thing or two.
We won’t smother you with useless tips, but rather offer a few basic guides we believe ever newcomer should consider before start placing bets.
The odds
Betting on higher odds always increases your chances of maximizing a profit. However, there is a reason why odds are high for certain teams and players. Simply put, the higher the odds, the more unlikely the given outcome of the bet.
Of course, you should always pick operators that have high odds, but it might take you a while to find the right one. If you want the site with the best odds, we advise you to create accounts on several websites and regularly monitor and compare the odds to see where the odds are most favorable.
Market Coverage
Always check whether there are available Heroes of the Storm events before you create an account. Given the still shaky status of the Heroes of the Storm eSports scene, matches and daily events can be quite limited, if not non-existent. Remember, there are many Heroes of the Storm betting sites, but not all have active selection
Read Stats
As we mentioned earlier, Heroes of the Storm betting relies not so much on chance as on skill, and even the most skillful of players need to stay up to date with the stats on the latest events to predict a correct outcome. Before you place a bet, quickly read about the teams competing and compare the results from their latest matches to get a better idea of the current form of each team.
How Do We Select the Best HotS Betting Sites?
There are several factors we take into account before we make our final list of the best eSports websites for Heroes of the Storm.
Safety comes at number one. Each of the sites listed below are properly licensed and hold credentials from the U.K. Gambling Commission, the Malta Gaming Authority, the Curacao Government, or other top regulators.
At least five different payment methods is always a must. At most eSports gambling websites, users can typically choose from multiple payment options such as a debit or credit card, e-wallets, bank transfers, or cryptocurrencies. We also make sure that the site has deposit and withdrawal options that are fast and highly secure.
A proper game selection and allowing users the ability to play and bet using a mobile device also features you will find on every site on our list.
Of course, the customer support must be impeccable and the support team always responsive and able to be reached easily either via a live chat, email, or phone.
Lastly, we looked for sites that have at least one bonus offer for new players. Depending on which eSports operator you use, they can offer several different bonus types. These include a no deposit bonus, a matched deposit bonus, free bet offers, and more.
The Best HotS Betting Sites In 2021
Here’s which eSports websites we deem to be the most suitable for HotS betting.
- arcanebet – €200 casino bonus, and €30 eSports bonus; T&Cs apply; +18
- Betway – £30 free bet: T&Cs apply; +18
- GG.BET – 100% deposit bonus on up to $150, plus a 10% cashback on losses; T&Cs apply; +18
- Bet365 – $25 bonus with min. deposit of $10; T&Cs apply; +18
- Pinnacle – $25 live casino offer, no sports bonus; T&Cs apply; +18
FAQ
Where Can I Bet on eSports?
The majority of online sports bookies are likely to provide betting on eSports, though there are some operators who are strictly dedicated on eSports.
Is eSports Gambling Restricted In My Country?
It depends were you live and what site you use for betting. Some sites intentionally prohibit access to their platforms in countries rife with corruption or unrest, while some developed nations have strict laws against online or, more specifically, eSports gambling.
What Is the Maximum I Can Win From Betting on eSports?
All eSports bookies have their own limits set on the maximum payout for betting on eSports which can reach into the tens (if not hundreds) of thousands at the top bookmakers.
What are the Best Heroes of the Storm Betting Websites?
Any website that has HotS as an option is worth checking out considering the scarcity of HotS tournaments nowadays, which has forced many bookies to nix HotS betting altogether.