As part of a new official post, Riot Games announced a new opportunity for sponsors for their top teams in Valorant and League of Legends. Teams can in the future be sponsored by sports betting sites.
What did Riot announce? In a new blog post on the official Riot website, John Needham, the President of Publishing and Esports at Riot Games, announced that they will allow top teams a new kind of sponsorship.
In the future, Tier 1 teams from America and Europe can also be sponsored by sports betting sites. These are the top leagues in their respective regions in LoL and Valorant. They aim to establish more predictable revenue sources and sponsorship opportunities
for the teams.
According to the post, Riot has been approached by various teams on this matter several times. They also argue that betting exists regardless of whether something is done about it or not. They decided to take this step now, but emphasize that they want to do it right
.
Needham explains that the majority of betting occurs on unregulated platforms. Riot aims to strengthen the safety and integrity of fans with this new decision.
Federal Institute for Public Health
Telephone advice for gambling addiction
Tel.: 0800 1 37 27 00
On the website of the gambling authority, you can find more resources and support services for players and relatives.
Riot introduces its own policies
How does Riot plan to implement this? In the post, Needham also discusses the implementation of these sponsorships. He mentions several points. He talks about a partnership program that allows for additional revenue but is also supported by regulations and educational programs to ensure the integrity of esports.
Riot will vet potential partners before teams enter into partnerships. At the same time, they have a partnership with GRID, a platform that collects esports data cleanly and officially. This, according to Riot, is intended to weaken the black market and protect fans and professionals.
Another point is an integrity program that each team must create and evaluate themselves to ensure integrity. Riot emphasizes that they cannot regulate everything alone; the teams must also do their part through regulations, monitoring, and training.
While the sponsorships are only approved for Tier 1 teams, teams in lower leagues will benefit from a share of the revenue from the sports betting program. Higher prize pools, new tournaments, and also training for the integrity system are expected there.
Finally, they explain that there will be no advertising for sports betting during official Riot broadcasts. This also includes that there will be no logos from betting partners on the jerseys. However, teams can decide how to promote their partners on their own channels, as long as Riot’s guidelines are followed.
How is the community reacting? Under a Reddit post with over 1,000 comments, the community is responding quite negatively to the announcement.
- ToBeeContinued (via Reddit) is not pleased:
Gambling is terrible, and it is deeply disappointing that the gaming and professional scene will rely on it.
- Knowka (via Reddit) sees it pragmatically:
I am not thrilled to see how quickly online sports betting has become endemic among young men, but it was inevitable at this point, as the ecosystem really needs higher revenues.
- mateuslimao (via Reddit) thinks:
There is no ‘responsible’ way to do such a thing. The responsible thing is to not do it.
How exactly the teams will handle such sponsorships and how viewers will perceive it remains to be seen. For some time now, esports has been in a weaker phase. In 2023, we already reported about it: LoL: Expert says that tough times are ahead for the pros as teams are currently exploding
