Popular game developer company Riot Games, which created League of Legends and VALORANT, is incorporating sports betting sponsorships into their top games.
The company announced last Thursday that Tier 1 teams in League and VALORANT in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa can sign betting sponsors.
Key Takeaways
- A reported 70 percent of esports bets were made with unlicensed operators
- $10.7 billion was wagered globally on VALORANT and League of Legends esports
- Teams cannot display betting sponsors’ logos on their jerseys
Riot Games President of Publishing and Esports John Needham announced the change in procedure. He cited two primary motivations for the decision.
“70% of bets across all sports are placed in unregulated markets with bookmakers who aren’t licensed,” Needham alleged as one of the reasons.
“We believe it’s better to engage in allowing betting sponsorships - thoughtfully, carefully, and with the right protections - than to sit on the sidelines while risks to fans and integrity go unchecked.”
A report from GamesRadar+ and Gaming Amigos found that more than $10.7 billion was wagered globally on League of Legends and VALORANT esports, the competitive arms of the game. Gaming Amigos confirmed Needham’s assertion and said that 70 percent of the handle came from unlicensed platforms.
The second reason was the financial future of esports and the immediate benefit that would come from gambling sponsorships.
Esports Legal News said earlier this month that about 25 percent of total esports sponsorship revenue in certain markets comes from betting sponsors, and that the global esports market could reach $2.2 billion in 2025.
Rules for betting sponsors
With betting now coming to Riot’s popular titles, it has instituted rules for interested sponsors.
All sponsors will undergo a thorough vetting process and must use data provided by GRID, a third-party esports data provider. Riot also said it will institute several “guardrails.”
Teams must establish, uphold, and enforce integrity standards to protect against nefarious interference. This could be, for example, a player getting fewer in-game kills than they could have for the benefit of prop bettors.
Sports betting ads will not be shown during official league-sponsored broadcasts, and teams cannot display sportsbook logos on their match jerseys.
“We know sports betting isn’t for everyone, and that some fans have strong feelings about it, and we respect that,” Needham said. “However, the reality is that betting activity already exists around our sports and will continue whether we engage with it or not.”
Esports continue to grow
League of Legends and VALORANT have about or more than 150 million monthly players, with its Asian and American audiences representing large portions of the player base.
Betting sponsorships have become extremely popular for professional sports and athletes. The immediate economic stimulus that would result from sponsorships would provide a jolt to the esports scene, which has faced a variety of difficulties despite showing promising signs of long-term growth.
