CS2 (CS:GO) Betting in the USA: Esports Betting in the US in 2024

Esports betting in the US is a complicated question. On the one side, there are millions of CS2 fans and dozens of top-tier teams that take part in numerous worldwide events. On the other side, sports betting is illegal in most U.S. states in a familiar way. In this article, we will tell you about some ways of betting on CS legally and offer you a list of legal and reliable sportsbooks.

Counter Strike 2 Esports in the US

The esports competitive scene in the US contains many games like League of Legends, Fortnite, Call of Duty, Overwatch, etc. Among the first-person shooter games - Counter Strike 2 is the ultimate winner. The most popular FPS game contains numerous strong professional teams and millions of US esports fans.

Even though CS2 has such great popularity and interest from bettors and esports fans, CS sports betting in the US is an unexplored field due to local restrictions and legislation. However, there are still some legal and attractive options for American punters that they can use. We will overlook all of them in the sections below.

Best US CS2 Players

The US esports scene has generated a lot of world-class players who take part in diverse top-tier CS2 tournaments. They are playing both for the American and non-American-based teams on the highest level. We have united the best of them into one list that you can find below:

Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip

Jacky Yip, more likely known as Stewie2k is one of the most awarded Counter Strike players that has ever touched the US esports scene. He has played for such great and glorious teams as Evil Genius, Cloud9, SK Gaming (MIBR), etc. His total winnings exceed the mark of $1,000,000. In the list of his best wins, you may find Intel Extreme Masters Intel Extreme Masters XIV - Chicago (1st place), Intel Grand Slam Season 2 ($1,000,000 for the first place), and ESL One: Cologne 2019 (1st place). He is undoubtedly one of the best CS players of all time.

Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski

ELIGE is also a world-class player whose CS games are hugely presented on esports betting sites. Starting in 2015 he is playing the main role in Team Liquid - the most successful Counter-Strike organization in the NA region (it is also the biggest esports organization in the world considering other esports disciplines). Most ELIGE and Team Liquid games can be found on US betting sites. His approximate winnings in prizes exceed $1,000,000 too. 4 MVP medals in the best CS tournaments are talking for themselves.

Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbert

Jordan Gilbert can also be included in the "Golden Six" of the North American Counter Strike. He was playing for 2 of the most successful US teams - Cloud9 and Complexity. Approximate winnings are $270,000. It is not as much as Stewie2k and ELIGE have, but also a very significant number.

Josh 'oSee' Ohm

Joshua Ohm is a young 23 years old CS player that recently joined a Team Liquid active roster. He has got his chance to play in the top-tier CS tournaments only in 2021 but has already succeeded a lot. Even though his total winnings are only $127,000 - oSee is the biggest hope of the NA CS!

Michael 'shroud' Grzesiek

Shroud is not an active CS2 player right now. But we can definitely say that he is the most famous one. Some of you may know him as a streamer, but he gained his first popularity playing for the Cloud9 team on the highest possible level. He decided to retire when he was at his peak, but USA esports fans will always remember him.

Tarik 'tarik' Celik

Tarik has been playing for many prominent organizations like EG, MIBR, Cloud9, CLG, etc. His total winnings are more than $700,000 in tournament prizes. CS2 match betting sites in the US always have Tarik's team matches in the list of their upcoming events.

BetUS is one of the best bookmakers in the US.

IS CS2 Betting Legal in the US?

As we have already said, there can't be a direct answer to this question. The US legislation considering esports betting is very complicated, and very few betting sites are ready to figure everything out and enter the US betting market. Online sports betting laws are defined by local state institutions. This means that there are some states where sports betting is 100% allowed, some states where it is allowed under certain conditions, and some states where esports betting is fully prohibited.

Even though esports betting sites can hardly be accessed in certain corners of the US, there is always a solution called Fantasy Sports, which is fully allowed in the US. It is not considered betting, which is why it is legal. Someone can find Fantasy Sports even more exciting to play.

However, there are some states where CS2 betting is completely legal. Living in these states, players can freely make Counter-Strike bets. See what are these states in the next section!

In Which States It's Possible To Legally Make Bets

There are 3 groups of states that we can highlight: those states where betting sites and CS2 gambling sites are 100% allowed, those sites where you can access esports betting sites under some conditions, and everything else where you can't bet on CS2 matches at all.

100% Legal

Only 2 US states allowed esports betting sites:

• Nevada;
• New Jersey.

Using any of the CS2 betting sites on the list that we provided at the beginning of the review is totally safe and legal. These are the best CS betting sites presented in the US.

A punter can be sure that he won't be scammed or deceived because he is protected by strict state law. These states have only started the wave of esports betting legalization in the US very recently (New Jersey, for example, has only allowed sports betting on League of Legends in 2018). Very likely that the list of these states will be replenished soon.

Not 100% Legal (But You Can Still Make Bets)

Those states where CS betting on teams is not 100% allowed:

• Arizona;
• Colorado;
• Connecticut;
• Illinois;
• Indiana;
• Iowa;
• Kansas;
• Louisiana;
• Michigan;
• New Hampshire;
• New York;
• Oregon;
• Pennsylvania;
• Tennessee;
• Virginia;
• West Virginia;
• Wyoming;
• Rhode Island;
• Washington D.C.
• Montana;
• New Mexico;
• Arkansas.

What does “not fully legal” mean? It means that you won't be able to access all the features (for example, not all esports markets will be available on the online sportsbook) on the betting sites, and you won't be fully protected from fraud cases. There will also be very few CS2 betting sites to choose from. So, we recommend to check if a particular CS2 gambling site is operating in your state yourself.

Illegal

All other states completely prohibit CS betting sites. Below you can see the exact states:

• Washington;
• Idaho;
• Montana;
• North Dakota;
• Minnesota;
• Wisconsin;
• Vermont;
• Maine;
• South Dakota;
• Nebraska;
• Ohio;
• Maryland;
• Delaware;
• Massachusetts;
• North Carolina;
• Kentucky;
• California;
• Utah;
• Missouri;
• South Carolina;
• Texas;
• Oklahoma;
• Mississippi;
• Alabama;
• Georgia;
• Florida;
• Alaska;
• Hawaii.

Why yet? Because most of these states have considered the legislature, but it has not passed sports betting legislation yet. If you want to make this process quicker - you can join Draft Kings (the most popular Counter-Strike 2 betting site in the US that provides the best CS2 odds) campaign for the law adoption in your state. Check more detailed information on their official website that provides the best-quality CS2 betting and CSGO gambling opportunities.

Bettors from these states may not be as disappointed. There is always an opportunity to play Fantasy Counter-Strike 2 or other popular esports. And we think that most of these states will legalize esports betting very soon!

How to Deposit Money on CS2 in the USA?

Of course, different states and CS GO betting websites have different payment methods. Below, you will see the most common methods that can be used. We have divided them into 3 groups: Familiar, Cryptocurrencies, and CS skins.

Familiar

This group includes Credit Card, digital wallets, Cash, Prepaid Cards, etc. Below is a list of these methods that you can use on CS2 gambling sites that are allowed in the state where you live:

• PayPal;
• Visa/MasterCard ;
• Online banking transfer;
• Play+ Prepaid Cards;
• PayNearMe;
• Bank wire transfer;
• Skrill;
• Neteller;
• Venmo.

Ways of familiar deposits may differ from one site to another. Check the actual information on the CS2 betting site yourself.

Crypto

Some of the states (like Wyoming) provide crypto betting options. It means crypto CS2 betting is also presented in the US betting market. But Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency a bettor may use. Such cryptocurrencies as Ethereum, Tron, EOS, USDT, etc., are widely represented on betting sites where crypto betting options are not prohibited by the law.

CS2 Skins

Deposit the Steam account skins to try real money CS2 betting. However, not many skin gambling sites provide such a benefit for customers. Check if your betting provider has this option. Among the websites where you can bet with your skins, you can find a lot of CS2 sites no deposit that offers a nice welcome bonus without any payments.