Riot Games confirms sports betting sponsorships for its League of Legends and Valorant esports tourn

Chris Neal 2025-06-29 00:00:00

The sponsorship banners for the next major League of Legends and Valorant esports tournaments are going to look a bit different this year, as Riot Games has officially announced that it will open up to sponsorships from official sports betting services, where previously such sponsors were not allowed.

According to Riot president of publishing and esports John Needham, this change of heart is being done as a result of feedback from teams and – unsurprisingly – the mass of money being left on the table; he cites $10.7B in global betting turnover from LoL and Valorant esports last year, while also pointing out that fans were already engaging in betting on the company’s esports but 70% were doing so with unregulated and unlicensed bookies.

“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,” Needham argues. “We know sports betting isn’t for everyone, and that some fans have strong feelings about it, and we respect that. However, the reality is that betting activity already exists around our sports and will continue whether we engage with it or not.”

Needham does promise that implementation of this new set of sponsors is being done with a “guardrails first” approach in order to protect Riot’s esports competitive integrity, including a vetting process for all such sponsors, requiring sponsored services tie into data provided by GRID, and mandated establishment of internal integrity programs for teams. There will also be promised restrictions that stop sports book ads during official broadcasts and disallow teams from putting sports book logos on their jerseys, though how individual teams let such sponsors show up on their official channels will be up to them, so long as they fall within established guidelines.

“We believe that showing up in this space — responsibly — is better than letting others define it for us,” Needham closes in his announcement. “Please know our overall commitment is to do right by our players, teams, and fans as well as the world-class esports experience that we’ve built together and want to see thrive for years to come.”

Reaction to this announcement hasn’t been met with a lot of optimism from fans. While a few replies on Twitter and on Reddit appear resigned to the decision as part of the cost of esports business, many more are expressing concern about the actual integrity of internal regulation, worrying over the pervasiveness that sports betting will become within the esports scene, pointing to health issues found by the World Health Organization, or blaming either Riot or its esports team runners of greed, depending on whom you ask.

sources: official site, Twitter, and Reddit (1, 2) via PC Gamer
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