In a record first, Riot Games has set the League of Legends 2025 World Championship as the first official esports event to allow esports betting. Not only that, but it will take a central role when it comes to financing teams.
Riot Games has confirmed that LoL betting sponsorships are now allowed for Tier 1 League of Legends and VALORANT teams in the Americas and EMEA. This change potentially means a spike in funding and responds to years of organizations and teams requesting it.
This decision comes at a time when LoL esports betting is a global industry at its peak, but also, when it’s become a contentious issue in gaming. Many of Riot’s biggest markets have completely banned the industry, including China and South Korea.
Reputable, legitimate bookmakers will benefit from users flocking to their site over less reputable vendors. Users will benefit from having official sites verified by Riot Games where they can bet safely. Riot Games and the esports teams benefit from taking a cut of the profits. In paper, this solution benefits everybody but scammers.
So, what does this mean for LoL Worlds, aside from the fact that fans can now officially bet on matches?
What This Means For Worlds
Esports betting isn’t a new industry, nor a small one either. Global betting turnover on League of Legends and Valorant competitions reached $10.7 billion USD in 2024. However, 70% of bets are placed in unregulated markets with unlicensed bookmakers and no consumer protections.
Riot decided to tap onto this unsecured stream by opening sponsorships in the LoL betting category, allowing consumers to know how and where to bet safely, and allowing Riot Games control of the market.
Guardrails and Safeguards
Opening up LoL betting sponsorships does not mean opening up an unregulated market flooded with ads. There are several stages of quality control that any company and organization must go through.
Every potential betting sponsor must go through Riot’s approval process. Only licensed and reputable esports betting sites will be allowed to sponsor teams. On top of that, Riot has built a partnership with GRID, the biggest esports data provider, and required all betting sponsors to utilize GRID. This puts everybody on the same page on when results came in, and what they look like.
Finally, all teams engaging in these sponsorships must adopt their own internal programs to guarantee integrity. Teams will be judged on who they partner with, and that sponsor’s practices.
Sponsors must safeguard players, protect young audiences and enforce responsible betting practices. Teams who partner with irresponsible sponsors could face consequences, or even be disqualified. The idea is to incentivize teams to internally and independently veto who they’re sponsored by.
Impact on Viewers
Betting will exist in the background, so it won’t affect the average viewer’s experience. Riot Games official streams and channels will remain free of betting sponsorship logos, ads, or segments tied to betting.
Teams will decide on how to integrate sponsors on their own platforms. Fans looking for how to bet on LoL or which esports betting apps are safe will need to engage directly with team sites.
Criticism
Arguments For Official Esports Betting
Reactions from the community show a clear divide on how to feel about the new addition.
Many NA organizations are losing money, and see LoL betting sponsorships as one of the few viable ways to stay afloat. Specifically, it addresses the problem in modern esports surrounding semi-pro leagues, or tier 2 esports, and their lack of support and funding.
Funding from betting sponsors will not only go to the team, but to the competitive scene as a whole. This funding directly addresses the tier 2 gap, expanding prize pools for semi-pro tournaments and creating more opportunities for smaller teams to eventually rise to the top. It may very well be the nudge that teams in the Americas need to rival the immensely large LCK and LPL leagues.
Regulated esports betting puts a lid on an issue Riot Games has had for a long while. Instead of making it entirely illegal, it is safer long-term to try and regulate it. If consumers will gamble regardless, then it is preferable that they do it safely.
Esports teams obviously have their reasons to nudge Riot towards allowing it—that $10.7 billion USD per year figure. Of all the ways LoL esports betting could be officially introduced, this is a pretty safe format that personally holds teams responsible for their sponsors’ practices.
Teams get more funding. Consumers are less likely to bet on unsafe sites. Reputable sites get more business after they’re verified. It’s an arrangement that seems to try and make the best out of the current situation.
Arguments Against Official Esports Betting
Others are far more critical, fearing that betting on LoL games risks pushing esports into the same problems traditional sports face with gambling scandals. Some argue that, if the industry cannot sustain itself, it should downsize rather than lean on gambling.
Esports betting also presents a relatively small reach, since huge markets in the EU have started to make esports betting illegal entirely. It also falls under the definition of “gambling” and is illegal under the Constitution of China.
Users are worried about how strict Riot Games will be on advertisement, and how committed they are to safeguarding younger consumers from gambling. Normalizing betting could harm vulnerable fans, and could harm competitive integrity for teams.
Conclusion - Looking Ahead
LoL Worlds 2025 will be remembered as the year Riot formally opened the door to esports betting. The move answers years of requests from organizations in the Americas struggling to stay profitable, and while it may very well be what they need, designing responsible betting practices and robust systems for it can be difficult.
Riot’s official position is that the industry is too large to ignore, that it won’t disappear any time soon, and that it is better to regulate it officially than to leave the space as a black market.
For teams, this will mean more funding and more chances for smaller teams to rise to the top. For fans uninterested in betting, Riot has promised that advertising betting sponsors won’t be allowed. Worlds 2025 will be the testing ground for the new practice, so we’ll just have to wait and see what it looks like.
