Following a social media post from esports personality and content creator Christopher Kjell Mykles (better known to the world as MonteCristo) pointing out that Riot Games would be opening up sponsorship/categories for professional teams in both League of Legends and Valorant esports in 2025, Riot Games COO of Esports Whalen Rozelle confirmed that there has been some private conversations with partnered LoL Esports and VCT teams in Americas and EMEA on the topic.
The Esports Advocate reported on Riot’s stance on the gambling category earlier this year and the challenges related to them (including the splintered of gambling as a legal activity in a number of jurisdictions). Gambling is particularly complicated in the United States as each state has its own set of rules, regulations, and limitations on gambling, and that each jurisdiction requires separate licensing requirements.
In his post, Rozelle noted that Riot broadcast channels will remain gambling free for the time being, that it will strongly vet all potential betting partners, and that any sportsbooks that want to be involved in its esports will have to meet local regulatory and licensing requirements—in addition to any Riot-related rules and regulations. As this is a new category with its own set of challenges, Riot said that it will take a thoughtful, measured and cautious approach to it.
What Riot did not say is whether this new category will only be open to franchised/partnered Tier-1 teams or if it will also apply to Tier-2 teams as well. Leaders within the community have suggested that, following a trial period within Tier-1, Riot is highly likely to open things up across its various ecosystems. TEA reached out to Riot prior to the publication of this story to ask about gambling and Tier-2 teams.
We suspect there will be more on this subject in the months ahead as new seasons of VCT and LoL Esports get underway in the first few months of 2025.
Gambling is an incredibly challenging category in some regions because it is an outright illegal activity (for example gambling is not allowed at all in China and Saudi Arabia) and is viewed rather dimly by other regions such as India, where the government which has struggled to even understand the difference between “gaming” as a definition for gambling and the other associated with actual video games (that does not involve betting).
For companies where the intersection between esports and gambling is their bread and butter this is a huge deal, but how will Riot make sure that they don’t allow any gray market companies from getting in on the action and avoid advertising in countries where it is simply not allowed?
You can read MonteCristo’s original post here, and Riot’s response in this post.
Gambling has been an ongoing, hot topic related to Riot esports; in 2023 the company told TEA that, while it is constantly evaluating new opportunities for its teams and ecosystems, its stance on gambling remained unchanged:
“Riot remains committed to investing in opportunities that ensure the integrity of all our esports, enable great experiences for fans, and unlock revenue streams for our teams. While there has been no change in the current policy regarding approved team sponsor categories, we will continue to evaluate all opportunities that deliver safe, secure, and meaningful experiences that best support the growth of our esports ecosystem globally.”
In March, TEA reported that Riot was opening up some sponsorship categories to LoL esports teams in League of Legends Championship Series (LCS – North America) League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC – Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and League of Legends Championship Korea (LCK – South Korea). Sources close to the situation speaking on background told TEA at the time that the new categories being considered would be subject to regional acceptance and legal restrictions, but could include beer and wine products, Cannabidiol (CBD) products, and government-related entities—in fact, some of these categories were already open in regions where are they considered acceptable by the local population and legally accepted.