Riot Video games has introduced that it’ll start formally sanctioning sports-betting sponsorships for esports groups in its Tier 1 League of Legends and Valorant leagues. Whereas the corporate states that it nonetheless will not enable ads in its official broadcasts, groups themselves will be capable of take cash from sports-betting firms for promoting by means of their very own channels.
In a blog post, President of Publishing and Esports John Needham writes that the transfer is designed to benefit from the quickly rising sports-betting trade and to make esports-related betting extra regulated. Seemingly to handle considerations and head off potential criticism, Needham explains that the corporate is authorizing sports-betting sponsorships beneath a “guardrails first” technique.
These “guardrails,” Needham states, are primarily the principles by which any sponsorship have to be executed. First, sports-betting firms have to be vetted and authorised by Riot itself, though the corporate has not shared the standards on which this vetting is finished. Second, to make sure that sports-betting firms are on a stage enjoying area, Riot is mandating that official companions all use GRID, the formally sanctioned knowledge platform for League of Legends and Valorant. Third, esports groups should launch and keep inner integrity packages to guard in opposition to violations of league guidelines as a result of affect of sports activities betting. Fourth and final, Riot will use a number of the income from these sponsorships to assist its Tier 2 (decrease division) esports leagues.
One of many largest sources of tension and frustration across the explosion of sports activities betting in the USA has been the more and more excessive frequency of sports-betting promoting, and Riot addresses this concern by promising to not have adverts from these firms in “Riot-owned broadcast and social channels.” This additionally signifies that groups won’t be allowed to have sports-betting adverts on crew member jerseys. The one place these adverts will be capable of run are on team-owned channels. As Needham explains, “It is going to be as much as every crew to craft how sports-betting-related content material reveals up on their channels throughout the tips of the sponsorship program, content material platform ToS [terms of service], and native rules.”
The corporate’s justification for authorizing sports-betting sponsorships seems to heart on a need to handle underground, unofficial, or in any other case unauthorized betting networks and organizations. “Sports activities betting–and extra particularly, esports betting–is an area that extra followers select to interact with yearly,” Needham writes. “In response to Sportradar, the entire betting turnover globally involving simply LoL Esports and VCT reached $10.7 billion in 2024. However here is the issue: 70% of bets throughout all sports activities are positioned in unregulated markets with bookmakers who aren’t licensed.”
As such, the corporate hopes that it might probably convey extra of this exercise beneath the auspices of the corporate, the place it hopes to exert some regulatory affect (and, one would suspect, be capable of gather extra of the income that flows by means of sports-betting apps).
Regardless of the weblog put up’s efforts to emphasise defending esports integrity, although, Needham and Riot haven’t addressed any of the social points which have been brought on by the expansion of sports activities betting all through the nation. An NCAA-sponsored research, for instance, discovered that growing harassment of school athletes in the USA might be primarily attributed to anger and disappointment related to sports betting. This dynamic could also be even worse alongside gendered traces; some proof means that betting-related harassment disproportionately targets women. Riot has but to state if it’s going to take any explicit precautions to mitigate potential harms brought on by sports activities betting; most of its emphasis thus far seems to be assuaging fears about match fixing or different threats to esports integrity.