Rocket League eSports Betting Online

What is Rocket League?

As a mix of rocket-powered vehicles and soccer, Rocket League's concept is unique but simple. But before we cover the gameplay, here's a history of the popular game.

In 2008, developers Psyonix released Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars for the PlayStation 3. Seven years later, they launched Rocket League, a sequel to Battle-Cars which became available on all platforms, including PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and PC.

The Player vs Player (PvP) game was an instant hit, and in just three years had over 40 million global players. Fast forward to May 2019 and Epic Games, the renowned creators of Fortnite began their acquisition of Psyonix.

With the Rocket League Championship Series in its fourth season, all parties realized Epic Games would be able to propel Rocket League to the top of the emerging eSports scene. Then much like its most popular battle royale title, Epic Games made Rocket League free-to-play for all platforms in 2020, having competitive season releases every few months.

Guide to Rocket League Gameplay

Rocket League can be played in solo mode, or teams of two, three, or four. In competitive games, there are always 3 players per team. The objective of the game is to score more goals than your opponent in the five-minute time frame. If a game is tied at the end of the five minutes, sudden death settles the game. Goals are scored by driving your rocket-powered vehicle into the giant ball, into the other team's net.

When controlling the car, you can jump, flip and drive up walls; speed boosts are also available which allow you to tap into the rocket-power for a limited time. The use of these techniques is essential to win any game of Rocket League.

Games are incredibly fast-paced and require collaboration between all players, with each playing a particular role. In teams of three, one player will attack, one will defend and the other will try and dominate the middle of the pitch.

While not commonly used in competitive eSports, there are many other game types that casual players can enjoy:

Snow Day

As the second game mode to be added to Rocket League, Snow Day follows the same rules as Soccar (described above) but is played with a giant puck instead of a ball.

Hoops

As the name suggests, this mode sees the goals replaced by basketball hoops. This is only available on Dunk House.

Rumble

In Rumble, the rules are also very similar to Soccar but every 10 seconds each player will get a random power-up.

Dropshot

Dropshot is the game mode that is the furthest removed from the rules of Soccar. The object is to break through the floor of your opponent's 'colour' and hit the ball through the hole you make.

How Does Rocket League Betting Work?

While Rocket League hasn't quite reached the levels of League of Legends or CS:GO when it comes to eSports popularity, it has an active and loyal community.

Betting on Rocket League for beginners, casual players or avid fans is incredibly easy. Here's how to bet on Rocket League online:

1. Find the best rocket league betting site for you

2. Sign-up and claim any welcome bonuses

3. Log into your account and make your first deposit

4. Head to the Rocket League betting page

5. Browse the schedule and select the event you want to bet on

6. Research both of the teams, looking at previous form and H2H history

7. Decide on your betting market and enter your desired stake

8. Click bet now and wait for the match to start

Popular Rocket League Bets

Rocket League eSports only took off globally in 2017, so is still one of the newest games played professionally. Unlike other eSports games like Dota 2 or Call of Duty, the range of betting markets isn't too broad.

That said, there are still some really exciting betting markets available for any Rocket League match. Here are the most popular Rocket League bets:

Outright

Betting on the match winner is the most common bet placed on Rocket League. When betting outright, you're essentially picking one team to beat another. This is the market we recommend starting with if you're new to Rocket League betting.

Correct Score

This bet type is self-explanatory; you simply bet on what you believe the final score will be. Considering how fast-paced Rocket League games usually are, this is a tricky one to get right and doesn't offer all that much value.

Total Goals

Rather than guessing exactly how many goals will be scored, sportsbooks will set an over/under goal target. You can then bet whether the total goals scored will be under or over this. We recommend this as a safer betting market than the correct score. This market is also available for total saves and total maps.

Total Saves

Following the same principles as the above market, you can also bet on the total amount of saves made in a particular game. This would be a good market to choose if a team with a strong defence played an opponent who scores lots of goals.

Total Maps

In the Rocket League Championship Series, league matches are decided by the best of three games, while playoff and final games are the best of seven. Each game is played in a new stadium or map, so you can bet on the total maps played. For instance, if the over/under was four, you would go under if you think a team will win 3-0.

Goal Handicap

A goal handicap is a great market to use when one team is heavily 'favoured' against the other. If Team A is the 'favourite', you might see -2.5 next to their name. By placing this bet, it means they would need to win by more than two clear goals for your bet to win. The opposite will be displayed for the underdog by the use of +2.5, essentially adding two goals to their score for the bet.

Maps Handicap

A maps handicap works in the same way but focuses on the round score rather than the score in an individual match. The handicap will differ depending on if the match is a best of five games or best of seven.

Player vs Player

With a player from each team displayed, this market allows you to pick which one will perform better in different areas. The three most popular stats you can bet on are goals, assists, and saves.

Next Goal

In-Play betting is also available during Rocket League matches. This reactive market allows bettors to predict which player or team will score the next goal.

Rocket League Betting Tips

Professional Rocket League is such a volatile game with a constantly shifting strategy and meta. To give yourself the best chance of winning real money when betting, follow our top 5 tips.

1. Be selective with your bets

   Begin by betting small and on a simple market like the outright winner. Once you're more comfortable, try to avoid only betting on your favourite team; this can cloud your judgment on what is genuinely profitable or not.

2. Use the community

   The amount of content which is created around eSports and Rocket League is incredible. From a team's social account to fan-made forums, there is so much to learn from other Rocket League fans. Many avid spectators will happily share their view on which team will win or lose, and why.

3. Research before betting

   Whether you decide to tap into the community or not, it's essential to research the teams, players, and leagues before betting. If you don't understand why a team is successful or which players are likely to score, betting becomes a guessing game. To give yourself the best chance of being truly profitable when betting, make sure you look at the stats before laying your stake.

4. Bet on a range of events

   While the RLCS X is the premier tournament for everyone involved with Rocket League eSport, it pays to follow the smaller events as well. For example, qualifying events usually provide some great payouts as you can bet on unknown underdogs who have wide odds for victory. The standard is so high in the Championship Series that every match is much closer.

5. Understand tactics

   As you develop your understanding of Rocket League and become a more experienced bettor, you'll also benefit from diving into the tactics. Grasping a deeper understanding of team strategies and shifting metas will help you be decisive across all betting markets.

Rocket League Tournaments

With Rocket League eSports, both official and third-party professional tournaments feature on the calendar. For four years and eight seasons between April 2016 and April 2020, the main tournament was the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS).

The premier event would take place twice a year, splitting into four leagues across Europe, Oceania, North America, and South America. Each region featured a regular season and a post-season playoff structure. League matches were best of five games, which changes to best of seven games as teams reach the playoffs.

The playoffs are made up of four teams from Europe and North America and two each from Oceania and South America. The last full season was in late 2019, with the 2020 RLCS cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Following the cancellation, the RLCS was discontinued, along with the Rocket League Rival Series (RLRS), with a new tournament structure starting in late 2020.

Previous RLCS Winners

Rocket League Championship Series X

The Rocket League Championship Series X (RLCSX) is the new key tournament for Rocket League eSports fans and bettors. The format has been completely restructured in what is dubbed as a complete evolution of Rocket League eSports. The RLCSX will run for an entire year, meaning just one winner will be crowned per year.

Each season will be cut into three splits, with the league format scrapped. In Europe and North America, there will be three events per split and a major at the end of each split. In total each season will feature 18 regional events and three majors. Points will be awarded for all events, which will help teams qualify for the majors and end-of-season finals. Each split will feature different competitive formats, as well as a mix of team entries. The Fall Split will feature 32 teams, Winter Split 24 teams and then the Spring Split will have just 20 teams competing.

The World Championships will be comprised of 16 qualified teams, which is four more than in the RLCS playoffs. These will be made up of six teams from North America and Europe and two from Oceania and South America.

A bigger tournament means bigger prizes; each regional event will reward $100,000, each major $250,000 and $1,000,000 will be up for grabs at the World Championship. Across the season, over $4,500,000 will be handed out in prize money.

The Grid

The Grid was introduced as a way of keeping the teams who had previously qualified for the RLCS and RLRS in 2020. The online circuit will feature online weekly events during each split, providing $10,000 in prizes for each event. Ten teams will keep their place in The Grid at the end of each split, with the bottom six having to qualify again against other teams. The Grid circuit will contribute to regional event seeding, but not towards qualification for the World Championships. However, the top team in The Grid at the end of each split will be invited to that split's major.

Best Rocket League Players

1. Turbopolsa (Pierre Silfver) - Team Envy

   As the first player to ever move from Europe to North America, Turbopolsa is no stranger to making Rocket League headlines. With four World Championships to his name, most recently alongside jstn in 2019, Turbopolsa was pivotal to NRG's dominance. Now with Team Envy, we've no doubt the Swede will continue to shock the world and demand he's in the G.O.A.T conversation.

2. jstn (Justin Morales) - NRG eSports

   jstn is regarded as one of the best attackers in Rocket League history and you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone to disagree. His technical ability, especially when dribbling, is incredible to watch and he always turns up in the big games. In 2018, he scored that iconic zero-second goal in the RLSC final and then dominated everyone in his path as he led NRG to an undefeated World Championship victory in the last ever RLCS tournament against Renault Vitality.

3. Kaydop (Alexandre Courant) - Renault Vitality

   Kaydop excelled early in his career as a solo player, but as soon as he moved into the RLCS he became a superstar. The Frenchman has three World Championships to his name, winning back-to-back titles in seasons 4 and 5. Kaydop's team honours are also matched by personal accolades, picking up multiple MVP and Golden Striker awards in his six seasons in Rocket League eSports.

4. GarrettG (Garrett Gordon) - NRG eSports

   GarretG is the definition of a team player and he can do everything. As the highest scorer in RLCS history, his shooting has always been a strong point, as well as being able to sniff a goalscoring opportunity ahead of anyone else. After NRG's success in season 8, GarretG finally had a World Championship to his name, and rightly so.

5. M0nkey M00n (Evan Rogez) - Team BDS

   M0nkey M00n has burst onto the scene in the past 12 months. In 2019 he was barely mentioned in anyone's top 10 list, but he led Team BDS's charge over Europe in 2020 and is now undoubtedly one of the best in the world. With a highlight reel longer than your left arm, at just 18 years old, M0nkey M00n's ceiling is genuinely scary.