Why we’re Opening Betting Sponsorships in Esports & how we’re Doing It Responsibly

We’re opening up betting sponsorship chances for Tier 1 LoL and VALORANT teams in the Americas and EMEA with safeguards to secure competitive stability and the fan experience.

At Riot, we have actually constantly believed that constructing the future of esports suggests buying a sustainable environment, not just for today, but for the long term. That’s why we’re concentrated on the gamers, groups, and the fans who fuel everything. In 2023, I shared our vision for building a sustainable future for our esports ecosystem and later followed up with specific changes, like a brand-new collaboration model and deeper work to unlock more foreseeable earnings streams and sponsorship chances for partner teams.

One location that’s been on our radar and that groups have been asking us to consider for years is sports betting as a sponsor classification. Today, I want to share why we’re opening up the betting sponsorship category for Tier 1 LoL and VALORANT groups in the Americas and EMEA – and what we’re doing to make certain it’s done the ideal way.

Why Sports Betting & Why Now

We understand sports wagering isn’t for everyone, which some fans have strong feelings about it, and we respect that. However, the truth is that wagering activity currently exists around our sports and will continue whether we engage with it or not. Historically, this has actually been a limited sponsorship classification, and Riot has not engaged with wagering business. Teams have actually asked us to reconsider our position, and after years of analysis to guarantee we got it right, we concurred it was time to open this classification to create more income opportunities for teams.

Sports betting – and more specifically, esports betting – is an area that more fans pick to engage with every year. According to Sportradar, the total betting turnover worldwide involving simply LoL Esports and VCT reached $10.7 billion in 2024. But here’s the issue: 70% of bets across all sports are put in uncontrolled markets with bookmakers who aren’t certified.

Our company believe it’s much better to engage in allowing wagering sponsorships – thoughtfully, carefully, and with the best protections – than to sit on the sidelines while risks to fans and integrity go unchecked.

Our Approach: Guardrails First

As the publisher of the world’s 2 biggest esports, we take seriously our duty to groups, gamers, and fans to protect the community we’ve constructed and position it for long-lasting success.

This indicates completely owning our choice to unlock this classification by establishing a well-researched sports betting partnership program that:

Answers the call from our partner groups to open sponsorship chances with betting brands to generate additional revenue for their monetary health.

Guides and supports the development of guidelines, keeping track of finest practices, and curricula that safeguard the stability of esports groups, pros, fans, and occasions.

Strengthens and enhances the competitive integrity standards of our esports competitors by improving our capability to keep an eye on betting activity for offenses of our policies.

Our ability to fulfill these objectives suggests we have to equip teams with the right tools and assistance to effectively browse the sports betting sponsorship space in a manner that protects the fan and esports occasion experience.

Here are the highlights of how we are appealing sports wagering partners:

Vet and Approve all Potential Sports Betting Partners

Before any prospective sports wagering partner can pursue a partnership with a partnered team, they should be vetted and approved by Riot. It is necessary to us to bring the same razor of analysis to all wagering brand names thinking about our groups.

Build on our Established Official Partnership with GRID

For a digital-first sport like esports, utilizing tidy, official data is vital to deteriorating black markets and stopping shady operators from making the most of fans and pros. That’s why, in 2023, we established a global collaboration and investment in GRID to produce a single, relied on source of esports information for teams and business partners, consisting of wagering operators. Any potential betting partner must use GRID to power their offerings, ensuring consistency, integrity, and accountability throughout the board.

Mandate Team Integrity Program Checks

As part of our more comprehensive sponsorship guidelines, we’ve established a requirement for teams to produce and examine their own Internal Integrity Program – one that aligns with our expectations to:

Ensure competitive integrity

Safeguard gamers and young audiences

Uphold accountable wagering practices

Integrity isn’t something Riot can support alone; it’s a shared obligation across the whole community. Teams pursuing wagering partnerships must have developed a stability program inclusive of policy development, monitoring, and education. They must also examine if this, like all other collaborations, makes good sense for their brand name and fans.

Support and Foster our Tier 2 Esports Ecosystem

While sponsorships are only available to Tier 1 LoL Esports and VCT teams in Americas and EMEA, the overall program will support the growth and development of our Tier 2 esports groups.

A portion of Riot’s revenues earned from the sports wagering program will be invested back into Tier 2 across a variety of locations consisting of:

Increasing reward pools and creating new competitions to support ambitious pros

Additional integrity system developments

Expanded training and education programs for our partner competition operators and striving pros

We’re Protecting the Viewing Experience

The last thing we desire to do is disrupt LoL Esports and VCT broadcasts with an increase of sports wagering advertisements. So we’ve developed at the start that Riot-owned broadcast and social channels will remain betting-free, which suggests no ads, no sponsored segments from wagering partners, and no betting partner logos on team jerseys. It will be up to each group to craft how sports wagering associated content appears on their channels within the standards of the sponsorship program, content platform ToS, and local regulations.

Looking Ahead

Our company believe that appearing in this area – responsibly – is better than letting others define it for us.

We have actually said before that Riot is all in for the long term on our esports, and that means stepping into arenas like sports wagering with an unbiased to both guide and protect our brands from bad actors by establishing what great looks like, while also offering an avenue for teams to benefit financially.

With any new endeavor, there will be obstacles, and if we require to make modifications, we will. Please know our general dedication is to do right by our gamers, teams, and fans along with the first-rate esports experience that we’ve built together and want to see flourish for several years to come.