Abios, one of the leading esports data providers in the industry, share their insights on the recent Counter-Strike 2 Tournament held in Copenhagen.
The Copenhagen Major has ended, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not on replay in esports fans’ minds. The Counter-Strike 2 tournament was one of the most exciting events of the year so far, with all of the most iconic teams and talented players clashing for a chance at glory.
In the end, Natus Vincere fought through the stacked Playoffs bracket to take down FaZe Clan in the Grand Finals 2-1. NAVI’s Justinas “jL” Lekavicius was the MVP with incredible stats and heart-stopping, game-changing moments.
With so much action, it’s no surprise that the Copenhagen Major had a lot of bettors on the edge of their seats. Using our insights and analytics, let’s take a closer look at how viewers spent time on betting sites throughout the tournament to give you a better idea of what to include in your sportsbook for the next tier-1 tournaments in Counter-Strike.
Most Active Regions
When it comes to CS2, there’s one region that’s extra dedicated to the esports scene — and that’s Europe, far and away. Counter-Strike has always had a massive following in the Nordic and CIS-regions in particular, so this is probably no surprise. But it’s definitely something to keep in mind when creating content on your site.
| Europe | 91.40% | |
| Oceania | 4.20% | |
| Latin America | 3.70% | |
| North America | 0.50% | |
| Other | 0.30% |
Live vs. Pre-Match Betting
You can either bet on a match pre-match or live. Pre-match are bets made before the match begins, usually predicting which team will come out on top. Bettors will consider how the teams performed against one another in past tournaments as well as how each team does on that particular map.
Live betting involves placing bets based on what you see during the match, giving you more insight into how the match is going. It wasn’t as popular as pre-match betting, but it was pretty even.
- Live 47%
- Pre-match 53%
Most Bet On Teams
Copenhagen had all of the teams you know and love, all fighting on the big stage on stream for a shot at the top spot. Still, some teams stood out for bettors more than others. This is usually due to their popularity and past performances, whether fans are rooting for a sure thing or are taking a risk with an underdog team that’s had a good season.
FaZe Clan and Natus Vincere were both dominant at Copenhagen, so it’s no surprise that bettors paid them the most attention throughout the stages.
“It’s ironic that NAVI, who had a lower tournament rating than its direct competitors and didn’t have the most outstanding CS during the tournament, was able to take the prize home,” Abios’ Esports Trading Supervisor, Pavel Malinousky, said. “It was particularly disappointing to see Karrigan conclude the final map at his home arena with a score of 1-15.”
| FaZe Clan | 5.01% | |
| Natus Vincere | 4.68% | |
| G2 Esports | 3.38% | |
| Eternal Fire | 2.55% | |
| Team Vitality | 2.50% |
Most Bet On Players
Similar to teams, there were stand-out players at Copenhagen that bettors felt confident about. These are players with consistently incredible performances at recent tournaments, giving bettors a chance to bet on their KDA and other exciting stats and moments.
| XANTARES (Eternal Fire) | 0.32% |
| Aleksib (NAVI) | 0.31% |
| w0nderful (NAVI) | 0.30% |
| KSCERATO (FURIA Esports) | 0.29% |
| huNter- (G2 Esports) | 0.29% |
Most Bet On Matches
Remember earlier when FaZe Clan was revealed as the most bet-on team? This explains why a bit further. Most of the matches on this list include FaZe Clan, a crowd-favourite team with top players and a hype following. Fans wanted FaZe to win throughout the Playoffs and most definitely spent time watching the match with shifting eyes and teeth on their nails.
As expected, the Grand Final match had the most betting activity. Unfortunately for FaZe fans, the outcome didn’t go as desired.
| FaZe Clan – Natus Vincere | 6.94% | Grand Final |
| Spirit – FaZe Clan | 5.02% | Quarterfinals |
| Natus Vincere – G2 Esports | 4.91% | Semifinals |
| MOUZ – G2 Esports | 4.77% | Quarterfinals |
| Team Vitality – FaZe Clan | 4.01% | Semifinals |
Most Popular Bet Offers
Alright, so you’ve seen the most active regions and the most bet on teams and players. What do you do with that information? Well, here are the most popular bet offers that viewers took advantage of while visiting sportsbooks throughout the Copenhagen Major.
The most common bet was choosing a match winner, meaning picking the team they believed would beat the other. But another popular bet was total kills, with fans betting if a certain team or player would reach a specific kill count. This explains why many fans were keeping an eye on players like Aleksib and huNter-, who are known for clutch plays and racking up the headshots.
Malinousky comments: “As expected, there was a lot of interest from the fans, and it grew stronger as the event went on. I should also mention that viewers paid attention to and liked player prop markets in particular. A considerable number of bets were made on them. I would say that trading has not changed significantly because we, like esports experts, did not notice any major changes in the game that could have influenced the outcome of an event. So, at this stage, the major tendencies were spotted well before the PGL Major began.”
| Match Winner | 63.50% |
| Total Kills | 15.12% |
| Round Handicap | 5.43% |
| Map Handicap | 3.67% |
| Round Winner | 1.92% |
