Riot Games have released a statement on their official X account (formerly Twitter) explaining the company's decision to open betting sponsorships in esports — including Valorant and League of Legends in the EMEA and Americas regions.
At Riot, we’ve always believed that building the future of esports means investing in a sustainable ecosystem, not just for today, but for the long run. That’s why we’re focused on supporting the players, teams, and the fans who fuel it all. In 2023, I shared our vision for building a sustainable future for our esports ecosystem and later followed up with specific changes, like a new partnership model and deeper work to unlock more predictable revenue streams and sponsorship opportunities for partner teams.
One area that’s been on our radar and that teams have been asking us to consider for years is sports betting as a sponsor category. Today, I want to share why we’re opening up the betting sponsorship category for Tier 1 LoL and VALORANT teams in the Americas and EMEA — and what we’re doing to make sure it’s done the right way. - John Needham, Riot Games’ President of Publishing and Esports.
While some fans will have mixed feelins and even strong opinions about esports betting sponsorships, as Riot Games stated today, “the reality is that betting activity already exists around our sports and will continue whether we engage with it or not.”
Additionally, Riot revealed that, for years, teams “asked us to reconsider our stance” and after years of “analysis to ensure we got it right” Riot have finally agreed, opening up this category to “create more revenue opportunities for teams.”
Undeniably, esports betting produces a lot of money. It's also a big part of the traditional sport industry. Nevertheless, video games are mostly followed by teenagers and early adults, so allowing betting sponsorships will surely clash with some people's believes.
However, Riot Games are promising to take this “seriously” and to “unlock this category by establishing a well-researched sports betting partnership program” that will work as follows:
- Answers the call from our partner teams to open up sponsorship opportunities with betting brands to generate additional revenue for their financial health.
- Guides and supports the development of regulations, monitoring best practices, and educational programs that protect the integrity of esports teams, pros, fans, and events.
- Strengthens and reinforces the competitive integrity standards of our esports competitions by improving our ability to monitor betting activity for violations of our policies.
To make sure betting partners join the industry correctly, Riot will vet and approve potential sports betting partners, build on their established official partnership with GRID, mandate team integrity program checks, and both support and foster their Tier 2 esports ecosystem.
Finally, Riot have made it clear that they will not allow any sports betting ads or betting partner logos on the teams' shirts. In other words, Riot's streams will remain betting-free, and it will be up to each team to build on how betting content will reach their public.
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