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Betting on your favorite Esports matches can be a great way to spice up your viewing experience. However, there are so many betting sites available today so you have to make sure you’re picking one that will meet your betting needs. Today, we’re taking a look at Stake.com, a Curacao-licensed “crypto-gambling” online casino that offers both conventional and Esports betting. Is Stake.com good for betting, and how good is it as an esports betting site?
Stake.com Review – The Rundown
Based on a variety of factors, we give Stake.com the following ratings:
Variety of Esports titles covered = 3.5/5
Coverage of Esports matches = 4/5
Bonuses and special offers = 4.5/5
Deposit and withdrawal options = 3/5
Account and payment security = 5/5
Overall, we give Stake.com a rating of 4 out of 5
How did we come up with these scores? Stay with us as we take a closer look at each aspect of the website and how we scored them.
Important! – Although Stakes.com offers betting for both Esports and traditional sports, we will be focusing solely on the Esports aspect of the website.
Variety of Esports Titles Covered
A good Esports betting site must allow betting on some of the biggest Esports titles available today. Games like League of Legends, Hearthstone, Dota, Counter-strike, and perhaps the upcoming FPS Valorant attract millions of viewers on a regular basis just like with any other traditional sport. The more titles a betting site can cover, the more options the average user can bet on!
Note: According to Stake.com, they are already working on getting other Esports titles prominently featured along side the three they currently have.
We have a bit of good and bad news with regards to Stake.com’s coverage. The good news is that the site covers three Esports powerhouses: CS:GO, DotA 2, and League of Legends. All three games are popular enough that many players will be more than happy to bet on these highly-competitive titles. The bad news is that the only Esports titles you’ll see from the main page are those three. Stakes.com also covers other popular titles like Overwatch, Hearthstone, and R6 Seige, among others, but you’ll have to sift through the menu to get access to those.
Our rating – 3.5/5
Match Coverage per Title
Knowing what titles you can bet on is good, but so is knowing how often you can bet on them. A betting site that covers only the major matches will offer users a limited amount of betting markets. On the other hand, a site that keeps track of as many tourneys as possible will enable users to bet and enjoy more matches.
Stakes.com provides betting markets for multiple DotA2 competitions at any given time, including tier 1 and tier 2 leagues. The same can be said for their Counter-strike and LoL betting schedules so even limiting your bets to one title will keep you busy every day. The only thing that would top Stakes.com’s current coverage is if it also offered betting for amateur leagues and community-held tourneys.
Our rating – 4/5
Bonuses and Special Offers
If you check out a typical betting site, you will most likely be greeted by a bonus offer that will encourage you to sign up. The most common examples include big signup bonuses or a fixed added value on your initial deposit. Some websites offer promos for those who sign up through their affiliate websites. Welcome bonuses are so common that it’s actually difficult to find one that doesn’t offer them…
which is why were caught off-guard upon learning that Stakes.com doesn’t offer one! Now don’t worry, the reason why you are not greeted with a welcoming bonus is that they have a VIP Program instead to show appreciation to their users.
Many other websites offer VIP membership, but Stake.com’s VIP program is quite something. For starters, the multi-tiered program gives you a dedicated host to personalize your betting experience. You also get tier-specific bonuses aside from weekly and monthly boosts based on the amount you wagered over a set time period. Last but not least, Stake.com’s VIP program also offers rakebacks (lowered house edge over casino games), and reloads (based on wagered amount over the 7 days).
Our rating – 4.5/5
Deposit and Withdrawal Options
One thing that can ruin the fun of betting on Esports matches is a delay in processing the payment. Whether you want to put in more money for betting or cashing in your winnings, having to wait a long time is never a good thing. Good Esports betting sites provide payment methods that are fast and easy to use; no need to go through hoops just to keep the fun going.
Stakes.com is great when it comes to this aspect. Payment and withdrawal times take very little time so you can bet almost ASAP. However, it’s not perfect; the betting site only accepts cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, Etherium, Litecoin, among other options. Other than that, you’re pretty much out of luck.
Our rating – 3/5*
*For those of you that are looking to bet with crypto this site is a 5/5 on crypto options.
Account and Payment Security
The thing about Esports betting is that there will always be a significant amount of money involved whether you win or you lose. That being said, you’d want to make sure that your account is safe. Data breaches and information leaks can cause problems ranging from people using your account (and funds) or even your email/fb/google account associated with the site compromised. A good Esports website has excellent track record when it comes to protecting their users’ accounts, usually via multi-step verification processes and well-secured databases.
Stake.com has all the essentials of a betting website with good security. You got your basic password protection. You also have 2-factor authentication that can be done either via manually entering a code or by scanning a QR code using an authenticator app. We also checked the forums and based on user feedback, most people never had security issues with both depositing and withdrawing funds with their accounts.
Our rating – 5/5
As an Esports betting site, we think Stake.com has what it takes to be a great website. You’ll mainly pick this site for its fast payment and deep coverage of each title. Security is good, which is important when it comes to dealing with cryptocurrency as your main form of payment. The VIP program also provides some of the most interesting membership bonuses you can find in a betting site such as multi-tiered, weekly, and monthly bonuses along with rakebacks and reloads.
Of course, the site has its share of flaws. Being a crypto-gambling casino may make it one of the best choices around, but it automatically makes it a poor choice for those who don’t have access to cryptocurrency. It could also stand to improve the visibility of their Esports titles. While the site covers pretty much every popular title right now, only three are prominently featured. Fortunately, they are already working on having that flaw addressed. Last and probably the least of your worries is the lack of a welcome bonus; we think it’s not a big deal because the VIP program more than makes up for it.