As it is currently the rewards for winning a tournament aren't worth it. Especially with the betting!

I entered a tournament, around level 12-ish, and bet the maximum 100 credit amount on myself in every round. Upon winning the tournament my reward was a base 200 credit reward and and extra 600 credits due to my betting.

I can understand wanting to keep the winnings low, but thats just too low to be practical.

Worse, my betting won me 600 credits, but I bet every round. Which was around 8 times at 100 credits each time. My total winnings from the tournament, with betting was only 800 credits. If the bets aren't returned to you on a win then you're literally just breaking even by betting.

Doing a melee fight would be more worthwhile and profitable and it wouldn't cost you a single credit to boot.