Playing CS:GO on its own is cool, but learning how to make money in CS:GO will take your gameplay experience to the next level. Because now you will be able to stack on them kills and bills, be it for buying your favorite skins or using the money offline. Your choice.
In this guide, we are going to show you how to make money with CS:GO by exploring the most profitable methods to bring home the bacon, so you can get started today.
1. Just Play the Game
If you love playing CS:GO, and your skills are on point, you can earn money by just playing the game and joining online CSGO leagues, which is the first step before getting into bigger events and competitions.
Sure, you’re not going to be the next s1mple just yet, but participating in the online leagues, be it in Competitive or free for all game modes such as Deathmatch, will allow you to obtain the necessary experience to move up on the ladder, while earning money by playing the game you love.
While other guides will tell you about the prize pool for Major tournaments, which go over the $1M mark, we have to be realistic and focus on what’s doable at the moment, and it’s joining the following types of online competitions and leagues:
- Local and small leagues and tournaments: Prize pools range from $100 to $2,000
- National CS:GO leagues and tournaments: Prize pools range from $1,000 to $10,000
- Intermediate CS:GO online leagues: Prize pools range from $1,000 to $10,000
If you are wondering what online CS2 leagues you can join to start making money, here you have a proper list:
- 500 Casino League
- Aorus League
- RedZone PRO League
- FACEIT Pro League
- Gamers Club Liga
- ESL Impact Cash Cup
It should be evident that you will need solid skills to be able to join these online leagues and win the cash prizes. The competition can be fierce, and hence we recommend you to venture into this money making method only if you trust your skills and experience.
And if it wasn’t clear, you also need to join a team. This is why this is a money making method with a medium to high entry barrier. However, if you join a good team and start stacking on wins, you can get a ticket to participating in more important leagues and competitions, with much bigger cash prizes.
2. Skins Trading and Arbitraging
If you want to make money in CS:GO without taking part in tournaments or competitions, you can still do it thanks to skins trading and arbitraging. You can already guess what we’re getting at, it’s buying skins for cheaper at a platform and reselling them for a higher price at another. Simple. Yet, there are some details you need to take into account, which we will disclose below.
You have to create an account on the best skins trading sites, and no you don’t have to look for them on your own, because we have already built a list with the best platforms for buying, selling and exchanging CS2 items:
They have an outstanding number of available listings and make it easy to buy and sell skins. Now you have to explore their marketplaces, and find your own arbitrage opportunities. It’s not easy, but you can find plenty of opportunities for buying skins cheap and selling them for a premium if you pay enough attention.
3. Taking Advantage of Skins Gambling Sites
CS2 gambling sites, also known as CS:GO casinos, offer you exclusive opportunities for making money, but you need to use them smartly. We are talking about the free bonuses and promotions, which you can use to win free CS:GO cases, skins and money – only by joining and being an active user.
The following sites offer plenty of free bonuses such as free CS:GO skins, free cases and even free money in the form of their respective in-platform currencies – diamonds, coins, gems, etc. – bringing you the opportunity to start making money:
- CSGOLuck
- CSGO500
- CSGOEmpire
- CSGORoll
- Hellcase
- Duelbits
Once you claim the free bonuses, we recommend you to do this: wager them in high-risk, high-reward bets. Here you have some examples:
- Letting it ride beyond the x10 mark in CS:GO Crash
- Selecting 4+ mines in CS:GO Mines and attempt to clean over 50% of the field
- Going with the highest difficulty mode in CS:GO Plinko
- Betting on green on CS:GO Roulette, especially when there have been only 1 or 2 greens during the last 100 rolls
- Betting it all in CS:GO Case Battles, or other types of PvP games such as CS:GO Coinflip and CS:GO Dice
- Going with a high roll on Dice
- Use the money to buy and open CS:GO cases from the gambling sites
We recommend this approach because the bonuses from these CS:GO casinos are usually worth $1 to $5 USD, and if you wager the money with a classic bankroll management strategy, it will take you forever and a bit more to start making money.
We consider this a good method for making money playing CS2 because there’s no risk for you – it’s free money you can wager without worrying about it.
Therefore, our recommendation is to bet the free money, and if you’re lucky, you will end up with enough cash for trying other methods such as skins arbitraging.
It’s also important to mention that, since you can claim free skins at CSGO gambling sites, you might get lucky and win a skin worth $100 to $1,000 right off the bat, and you can use this opportunity to start trading.
4. Designing and Creating Your Own Skins
This is one of the hardest ways to make money playing CS, but it’s also one of the most fruitful if you nail it, as you can easily win 6 figures doing this.
It’s all thanks to Valve, because they rely on independent creators and designers to add new skins to their new cases. And since Valve releases 2-3 new cases every year, skins creators stand a chance at making a killing, if they’re lucky and the company decides to include one of their skins to make part of a new CS2 case.
Valve rewards selected skins creators and designers with a % of the sales of the cases, and considering the company made over $1B from case opening in 2023, you can already see why you can easily win 6 figures if your skin(s) get selected.
If you want to participate, all you need to do is to create your own skins and publish them on Steam Workshop. When Valve decides to launch a new case, they will explore the Workshop and select their favorite skins, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get notified and you can expect the money to start rolling in soon.
However, if you want to make money with this method, you need to nail both the volume and the quality of your production. Because Valve will only launch 2-3 cases every new year, which means they will just select 35 to 50 skins yearly, and hence you need to put the odds in your favor by publishing incredible work on a frequent basis.
This is pretty hard work and there’s no guarantee that your skins will ever get selected by Valve, but if you like the idea of making a killing and you’re willing to put in the work, we encourage you to give it a shot.
5. Become a CS:GO Content Creator
We live in the “Attention Economy”, because our attention has become the most valuable and powerful currency in the world. This is why it’s a good idea to create content about CS:GO, as it’s a good way to make money while playing your favorite game.
You can grow your own community by creating content aimed at the CS:GO audience, and here you have some ideas on the type of content you can produce:
- YouTube videos covering different aspects of the games such as best HUD commands, best strategies for Competitive, an introduction to Deathmatch, etc. There are thousands of different questions and topics you can cover
- Just like you can create YouTube videos, you can also adapt them to other channels such as Instagram and TikTok, to reach an even bigger audience
- You can stream your CS:GO matches on Twitch to start growing a following
- You can create your own website to supplement all of your content creation efforts, where you can offer your own services, products or merchandise related to CS:GO and your own brand
The key here is to build a brand around CS:GO content – because this is how you will stand out from the rest. If you can become someone people can resonate with, you will have an easy time growing your audience and selling them whatever you want to.
Is Case Opening a Good Way to Make Money in CS:GO?
We have not included this method in our official list because it’s a mixed situation here, as you can either get lucky and win an exotic and highly valuable skin right off the bat, or go bankrupt with a miserable ROI. These are the true colors of case opening, and why it shouldn’t be your first go-to method for making money in CS:GO. It’s our duty to be honest with you.
Nonetheless, it’s still a good way to make money in CS:GO if you follow these rules:
- You have a proper bankroll that allows you to open the same cases at least 100 times, and preferably 391 times, to increase your chances of dropping a Rare Drop twice or more
- You’re comfortable with the idea of getting a negative return on your investment, because case opening can be highly risky
- You are comfortable setting up bankroll management rules such as a profit goals and loss limits
- You are only going to use money you can afford to lose to open CS:GO cases
- You are only going to target high ROI cases such as the Kilowatt Case, CS:GO Weapon Case 2 and CS:GO Weapon Case 3, which offer a ROI as high as 84.73%, allowing you to minimize the risk of case opening
In short, if you have the budget, and choose the right cases to open with a high registered ROI, you will stand a higher chance at getting highly valuable drops you can sell for a nice margin. It’s still a matter of luck, though. So make sure to follow our tips for risk management for a nice and happy CS:GO case opening experience.
Conclusion
Now you have all the methods available to make money playing CS2, all that’s left is taking action. Explore and compare them to find the best one for you, and don’t stop yourself from trying two or more at once. Because if you’re determined to make money playing CS:GO, all it will take for you to accomplish it is putting in the reps.
Let us know in the comments what’s your favorite method from our list for making money playing CS:GO, and what other method you’d add.