Credit: Valve
- Dota Plus subscribers can now wager earned soft currency on the outcome of Dota Pro Circuit matches.
- Valve recently rolled out the feature with the release of the Dota Pro Circuit mobile app for iOS and Android devices.
- Players cannot spend real money to purchase additional in-app currency.
Subscribers to Valve’s 
premium Dota Plus membership plan can now wager “earned currency” to predict the outcome of Dota Pro Circuit matches in Dota 2 .
Valve recently released a Dota Pro Circuit mobile app for iOS and Android, which allows paying Dota Plus members to build a fantasy team of pro-Dota 2 players and earn in-app “Plus Shards” based on their performance. Members can then wager those Shards to predict the winner of each upcoming Dota Pro Circuit match and potentially earn more Shards as a result.
However, there is no real-life gambling component to the activity: members cannot purchase additional Shards with real money, so the wagering is purely meant for entertainment.
Related Article: Dota 2 Changes: 12 Direct Invites to The International, Betting Concerns, and AI Practice Sessions
Interestingly, Valve has reportedly had an adverse reaction to real-world betting around Dota 2. Last August, VPEsports reported that Valve advised organizations to stop signing sponsorship deals with gambling websites. This reported advice followed a trio of such deals from Dota 2 teams last summer, between OpTic Gaming and VKGame , Virtus.pro and Pari-Match , and Invictus Gaming and Betway.
Meanwhile, betting remains a significant part of the professional scene around Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Just last week, Betway signed on as a global sponsor for this year’s BLAST Pro Series tournaments, and the company also sponsors ESL along with teams such as Ninjas in Pyjamas and Berlin International Gaming (BIG).
