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Riot Games has announced that it will venture into the realm of betting sponsorships from 2025 onwards.
In a Twitter post, Whalen Rozelle, the esports division COO of the company behind esports video game titles VALORANT and League of Legends (LoL), informed that LoL-partnered esports and VCT teams across the EMA and the Americas will be able to “explore partnerships with Riot-approved betting platforms”.
According to Esports Insider, this is a major shift from Riot Games’ previous policy on such collaborations, which stood against the involvement of betting brands in its esports competitions.
However, Rozelle’s statement seems to overturn this completely, confirming that after “careful study and planning to settle on a move that will unlock new revenue opportunities for teams”, such deals will most likely take place sometime next year, albeit only under two strict conditions.
The first one is that Riot-owned channels will remain ‘betting-free’, meaning that “no betting brands will appear on broadcasts, socials, or jerseys” commissioned by the video game company.
Secondly, Rozelle reassured that Riot will vet all potential betting partners to determine whether they meet every integrity, transparency, compliance, and advertising standard in the specific locality where such sponsorships will take place.
Esports Insider reminded that in the 2024 League of Legends EMEA Championship season, Riot Games updated the minimum player age for its professional team rosters from 17 to 18 to “explore additional revenue opportunities” in the future.
Rozelle concluded: “This is a new sponsorship category for our esports, and we’ll approach it thoughtfully. We’ll learn a lot along the way, and we’ll make changes if at any point this compromises the integrity of the sport or impacts the high-quality experience our fans have today.
“Depending on how this initial implementation goes, we’ll evaluate opportunities to expand – or refine – our approach in the future.”
