Call of Duty
Immerse yourself in the action-packed world of COD esports with our expert how-to-bet guide. Stay ahead of the game with the latest tournament updates, analyze top teams, and experience the thrill of betting on intense gunfights and strategic battles.
- What Is Call of Duty?
- Top Call of Duty Betting Sites
- How Does Call of Duty Work?
- How To Bet On Call of Duty
- Key Call of Duty Tournaments & Leagues
Call of Duty Betting Sites & Tips
What Is Call of Duty?
Call of Duty is one of the world’s most popular first-person shooter games, developed and published by Activision. The first game of the Call of Duty series was released in 2003, with a new title released annually ever since.
The only exception to the annual releases happened following the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II in 2022, when Activision decided it wouldn’t release another game in 2023.
Call of Duty is one of the oldest games in its genre and undeniably one of the most played FPS games in the world. And due to its competitive nature, CoD didn’t need long to form a competitive environment.
In 2007, following the release of Call of Duty 4, the game’s competitive industry reached new heights, thanks to Major League Gaming, who led the shaping and organisation of competitive Call of Duty.
Ever since, the CoD competitive scene has been blossoming, creating one of the most extensive esports ecosystems in the industry.
Another huge stepping stone in CoD occurred in 2020 when Activision founded the Call of Duty League, which replaced the CoD World League and CoD Pro League as the new official competitive circuit, which followed the model Activision previously implemented for the Overwatch League.
And even though it was possible to bet on Call of Duty before the CDL, the introduction of a new professional league helped CoD cement its spot in the online betting world as one of the most accessible and popular esports titles.
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How Does Call of Duty Work?
Call of Duty is an FPS game, meaning it falls into the same genre as Counter-Strike, Valorant, or Overwatch, but it is different. Compared to Counter-Strike, which is a tactical game, Call of Duty has more “arcade” gameplay, focusing on reflexes and fast movement rather than realism or careful strategy.
Still, that doesn’t make it a simple game, but it helps keep CoD entertaining to play and watch. Another major difference between CoD and most other FPS esports games is that Call of Duty has three game modes – Search & Destroy, Control, and Hardpoint – each with its own rules and goals.
Every game starts with two teams of four players who control a soldier. The players can choose one of many available weapons and tactical equipment (such as grenades or flash grenades) to help them in the battle. There are some rules on which weapons can be used in a professional match, but the limitations compared to a casual game aren’t significant enough to affect the overall gameplay.
Each professional CoD match consists of three separate game modes, Search & Destroy, Control, and Hardpoint, and each is played at least once throughout the series.
In Search & Destroy one of the teams takes on the role of attacker and the other of defenders. The attacking team has to plant a bomb on the bomb site and let the timer run out, whereas the defending team has to prevent the bomb from being planted or defuse the bomb once it’s enabled. Both teams also win by eliminating all opponents.
Unlike Search & Destroy, a Hardpoint game has infinite respawns, meaning if a player dies in a game, he will respawn and re-enter the battle after a short time. The goal of Hardpoint is for a team to secure an ever-changing position on the map. For every passing second, the team controls the position; they gain points, up to 250.
In Control, each team has its own objective, with the attackers having to secure specific sites within the time limit, while the defenders have to exhaust the attacking team’s respawn tickets. Even though Control is a respawn game mode, the attacking team will have a limited number of respawns and a limited time to secure the objectives.
How To Bet On Call of Duty
Betting on Call of Duty is very straightforward, and even though a CoD match is played across three game modes, the approach to betting doesn’t change regardless of which game mode we’re wagering on. There are also no special bet types a CoD punter will have to get familiar with, and most of the markets are very similar to those found when betting on other esports.
Moneyline
Moneyline is a straight bet on which team will win the game. This bet type is used to predict the overall winner of the series (typically best-of-three); however, all bookmakers will also have map betting available, used to predict which team will win a specific map (game mode).
Handicaps
Handicap bets in Call of Duty work very similarly to how handicaps are used to bet on other esports. Even though kills are an essential element in a game, betting on kills isn’t as accessible as it may seem since it would be difficult for bookmakers to set the lines.
Instead, most Call of Duty handicap betting is done on maps won, which is an easily accessible bet type mainly because most Call of Duty games are played as best-of-five.
Totals
Totals are wagers on whether a specific statistic in a game will exceed the predetermined value set by the bookmakers. In Call of Duty, totals (or over/under) betting is done primarily on the number of maps won, so in a best-of-five, esports betting sites will typically set a line at 4.5, allowing punters to predict whether the series will end with four or fewer maps.
Outrights
Outrights (or futures) are one of the most popular bet types used to wager on Call of Duty, and due to how the CoD competitive ecosystem is set up, outrights are easily accessible throughout the season. With outrights, we can predict a future event, which is most commonly on which team will win the next tournament.
Besides the outright winner, Call of Duty futures include wagers on which team will reach the finals, and stage of elimination. In contrast, the bigger events also allow punters to bet on which player will be the MVP or who will win the Rookie of the Year award.
Key Call of Duty Tournaments & Leagues
In 2020, the Call of Duty esports scene transitioned to Call of Duty League, a professional esports league that follows traditional North American professional sporting leagues. It features city-based teams, owned by separate ownership groups, who compete in league play with a tournament point system.
Below the CDL is CDL Challengers, which is a second division of the professional Call of Duty League, featuring lesser clubs and academy rosters of the franchised teams. And while it’s possible to bet on the CDL Challengers, the CDL has significantly better coverage by bookmakers and is the more popular CoD esports competition among bettors.
The CDL season is divided into five stages or regular seasons, each culminating with a CDL Major. The top-performing teams who have collected the most points across the five CDL Majors then qualify for the CDL Championship, which serves as the season-culminating event and is equivalent to a World Championship.
Key Call of Duty Tournaments:
CDL Majors
