On Wednesday, Esporkolik, a Turkish news outlet, reported that the game developer was easing its rules that prohibit Valorant organizations from partnering with gambling operators. Riot previously categorized such partnerships as off-limits despite the potential financial aid it would provide for teams.

This is different with esports titles like Dota 2, FIFA, and CS:GO, where many tournaments are sponsored by gambling companies. Organizations in these esports have also partnered with sports betting brands.

Despite Esporkolik claiming that the information came from Riot directly, a spokesperson for the company has refuted the report.

“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,” the Riot representative told Dot Esports.

“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.”

According to a number of esports team owners, even if Riot Games eased its policies concerning betting sponsorships, the strict gambling regulations in Europe would be an even bigger hurdle.

Securing sponsorships from betting companies is one way teams can ease up on their financial burdens. Many traditional sports organizations have collaborated with gambling firms in lucrative multi-year deals.

If the earlier reports had proved true, it would be Riot Games’ third involvement in a controversy about its sponsorship rules in the past few years. One such instance was when Riot accepted funds from Saudi Arabia three years ago, but the deal was dissolved after considerable community backlash.

The game developer also partnered with the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX in 2022. Riot allowed one of its League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) teams, TSM, to do so despite its policies prohibiting the organizations from collaborating with unregulated financial companies or markets.

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??Rivalry is aimed at making esports more fun and exciting by providing top-notch content and a competitive platform. The company also aims to provide customers with a unique betting experience, which is why it created a betting academy for new customers and publishes esports-related news.

Rivalry’s Co-Founder and CEO, Steven Salz, expressed his excitement about the company being able to serve the Australian esports betting market.

?“We are very excited to bring Rivalry to our customers in Australia,” Salz said.

“We take a very different approach than other traditional betting operators, and have been particularly successful among Gen Z and young Millennials across the globe.

?“We are very eager to start building our brand equity in Australia through a series of innovative activations and campaigns as we ramp up services throughout the remainder of 2022. As we do everywhere, servicing and helping to grow the esports and gaming community will be a priority for us.”

Rivalry received a sports bookmaker license from the Northern Territory Racing Commission in February this year and carried out its first betting services in Australia last week. The sports bookmaker license grants Rivalry the right to offer major esports and traditional sports betting throughout Australia.

?In addition to the traditional sports services, customers are also permitted to place bets on esports games such as Call of Duty, Dota 2, League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Overwatch, and much more.

?The move in Australia followed after Rivalry launched its online sportsbook services in Ontario, Canada, which officially opened its regulated online gambling market on April 4.

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Byun “ByuN” Hyun Woo and Kim “sOs” Yoo Jin will clash on Wednesday in the first round of 2021 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 1. It will mark their first meeting since late December when Byun bested his compatriot 2-0.

ByuN enters this match as a heavy favourite, which seems reasonable considering he is 6-2 up in the head-to-head. Having said that he has met with sOs only once since 2016, so we shouldn’t put too much weight on that record.
What is important, however, is that sOs is very efficient when facing Terran (63.77% win rate). He is also in excellent form, having bested Juan Carlos “SpeCial” Tena Lopez and Lee “Rogue” Byeong Yeol last week.

One thing going for ByuN is that he has played 24 games in 2021, although he has lost three out of his last four, which includes his last two against Riccardo “Reynor” Romiti and Cho “Trap” Sung Ho. We are siding with sOs to keep this match close.

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Hanwha Life Esports enter this match straight off a huge 2-1 victory against Gen.G on Sunday. We wouldn’t put too much weight on that result as it was a complete fluke, fuelled by catastrophic performances from Gen.G’s ADC Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk and support Kim “Life” Jeong-min.

Talking about fluke wins, Fredit BRION achieved the unthinkable last week when they swept DWG KIA (2-0) in what is arguably one of the biggest upsets in the history of LoL esports. Although they were not as successful against Nongshim RedForce on Sunday, BRION played relatively well considering how far down they could have been on both maps.
We are not particularly impressed with HLE this split and while they are holding a 3-1 record, that hardly shows the full picture. BRION are showing some signs of quality and at the offered odds, they’re worth a shot with a map handicap.

Gen.G have a lot to prove after their loss against HLE, whereas DWG KIA are still licking their wounds after dropping the ball against Fredit BRION, which is why we expect both sides to be highly motivated to win and justify their tag as an LCK top tog.

DWG KIA enter this match off a very sloppy performance against Afreeca Freecs on Saturday. Although DWG KIA ended up winning 2-0, we expected a lot more from the reigning LoL world champions, who need to improve if they wish to do well against elite teams such as Gen.G.

Gen.G have the tools to win the game, but we are satisfied with the odds offered on +1.5 map handicap. There is also some value on Gen.G to win 2-0 at $5.40, which might appeal to some.

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The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) confirmed on Tuesday that licensed betting operators can now take wagers on the Overwatch League, League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) and League of Legends European Championship (LEC). This marks another massive step forward for the esports betting industry and also serves as a lifeline for bookmakers, who have suffered a severe shortage of markets since the coronavirus crisis resulted in most of the world’s sporting competitions closing down.

The betting menus have been reduced to only a handful of live sporting events that are still taking place around the globe. While many punters are making do with obscure fare such as Belarusian football and Ukrainian table tennis, others have begun exploring the ever-expanding world of professional gaming.

Nevada legalised wagering on Dota2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive last month, so the addition of Overwatch and LoL betting only highlights the growing demand for esports markets at Las Vegas bookmakers. NASCAR’s iRacing series has also been on the books in West Virginia, New Jersey and Nevada. That trend suggests more esports titles could be on the way to US betting sites, such as Call of Duty, Rocket League, and top Asian competitions such as the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) and League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK).

Nevada is but one of several US states where esports betting is now gaining traction. New Jersey made a huge step forward in November when the Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) allowed all licensed gambling operators to accept bets on the League of Legends World Championship finals between G2 Esports and FunPlus Phoenix.

Earlier this week, Colorado became the 18th state in the US to launch regulated sports betting. Considering there are not many betting options outside of darts, table tennis and schoolyard-quality soccer, esports might be coming to the Centennial State as well.

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The company now holds a five-year licence with the Swedish Gambling Authority that covers both online sports wagering and real money casino gaming.

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“With this licence we gain the opportunity to offer our product and passion for esports betting to the Swedish market,” said Eirik Kristiansen, Pixel Bet CEO.

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“This springboard in Sweden will also position us for continued expansion internationally.”

Pixel Digital Ltd is owned by the LeoVegas Group, which runs sports betting and online casino operations all over the world.

“During a year of focus on strong growth but also on cost efficiency, it is inspiring to see pixel.bet is developing well and that we can benefit from our economies of scale with the sharing of resources and knowledge between our companies,” said Gustaf Hagman, LeoVegas CEO.

Pixel.bet is now live in Sweden, offering a wide array of esports gambling markets for CS:GO, Dota 2, Fortnite, League of Legends, Overwatch and more.

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Announced this week, the two-year sponsorship agreement will see Betway given priority branding on BIG shirts along with access to players, social media and a variety of marketing content.

The bookie also has deals in place with Invictus Gaming, Made in Brazil and Ninjas in Pyjamas.

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“This partnership strengthens what is an already formidable esports offering here at Betway and is a statement of our intent for 2019,” said Anthony Werkman, Betway CEO.

“We’re looking forward to working closely with BIG to bring the most entertaining content in the business to the esports community who are some of the most loyal and passionate fans in sport today.”

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BIG is a major player on the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports scene, where franchise stars Owen ‘smooya’ Butterfield and Johannes ‘tabseN’ Wodarz rank among the best in Europe.

The German firm also runs teams for FIFA, Fortnite, League of Legends, Quake and Trackmania.

“Having spent plenty of time carefully putting this deal together, I am thrilled to announce that Betway, one of the world’s leading betting providers, is now BIG’s new main sponsor,” said Daniel Finkler, BIG CEO.

“Betway has gained an excellent reputation within the last decade and we are proud to represent such a famous brand within the esports scene.

“Our fans can look forward to many exciting and entertaining projects together with our professional athletes.”

Betway-BIG partnership will debut on January 26 at the ELEAGUE Invitational CS:GO event in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Some see it as a virus, others as a bit of harmless fun.

Many looking in from the outside have only the vaguest idea of what it is and how it works.

For those in the latter camp, skins are virtual goods that allow players to customise their character’s appearance within a game.

The trading of these non-essential items came to prominence in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which began offering weapon skins in 2013.

Players started using the Steam Marketplace to buy and sell skins in exchange for virtual currency that could then be used to wager on esports matches and games of chance.

This led to serious concerns about the spread of underage gambling, especially in the United States gaming scene before the PASPA laws were repealed earlier this year.

Skin betting companies have sought to eliminate this underground trade with specialised cryptocurrencies such as Skincoin and SkinPay.

As EbetFinder’s Mattias Fr?brant explained to Gambling Insider, regulation and licensing have an important role to play in the legitimisation of skins gambling.

“It’s important to know that there are two types of skin betting sites available,” he said.

“On one hand, you have a certified and legal site that operates under a strict gambling legislation, and then you also have the rogue sites that are operating without any license.

“The first ones make betting with skins possible, through trading skins for money through a deposit method called SkinPay.

“This means you don’t really bet with the skins, but you have sold them for real money that can be wagered.

“These sites have a gambling license and have strict rules they need to follow, which includes not letting underage people gamble.

“If they did, they could receive a heavy fine or even lose their gambling license.

“To prevent underage people from gambling, they have verification processes that every player has to go through at some point, which includes sending in a copy of your ID.”

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Despite the growth of legitimate avenues for skins trading in games such as CS:GO and Dota 2, there remains a thriving black market where unlicensed operators do business with underage players and people from regions with strict online gambling laws.

“With the illegal sites, it’s a whole different story, as no gambling license exists whatsoever,” Fr?brant continued.

“The difference here is you don’t have to create an account with your personal details; all you have to do is sign in using the Steam platform and then you’re all set.

“There is no verification process or anything keeping underage people from gambling.

“In other words, anyone can visit these sites and deposit their skins (which sometimes are traded for points) to gamble with, and then just as easily withdraw skins back to their Steam account.”

Fr?brant expressed sympathy for Valve, the company behind the Steam Marketplace, but others believe the software developer could be doing a lot more to stamp out the illegal skins racket.

“Valve continues to battle the third party unofficial trading and gambling sites that use skins as currency,” said Jack Symons, founder and CEO of Gamban.

“They continue to fail. On the one hand, they condemn these platforms, on the other they provide API functionality to connect to Steam.

“From our point of view – and we’re in talks with Valve about this – if they cared enough about blocking these harmful platforms, then they would work with us to prevent them from being accessible to children and vulnerable adults.

“Time will tell.”

Gamban specialises in software that prevents illicit gambling activity within online video games.

Symons, like Fr?brant, believes proper regulatory framework is the obvious long-term solution.

“My advice to everyone but games developers/operators is this: learn from online gaming,” he said.

“Those operating in the skin-betting space may want to see their traditional counterparts’ failings as cautionary tales, but let’s be honest, the downsides have been minimal.

“Paltry slaps on the wrist with little impact on the bottom line or share value have been handed out, and let’s not expect too much out of self-regulation.”

However, Symons urged the gaming community not to expect any drastic changes to esport regulation in the immediate future.

“Effective regulation is needed – but that’s easier said than done and I don’t have enough experience to comment on policy and enforcement,” he continued.

“I like the way the Gambling Commission has responded to loot boxes, but equally I’ve not seen much on the topic of skin-betting sites that exist outside gaming platforms.

“Cynically – and I hope to be proven wrong – my advice is this; don’t expect much and there will be at least five years before anything gets done.”

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Global Market Advisors representative John English and Bahar Alaeddini from Harris Hagan spoke to interested onlookers at G2E in Las Vegas last week, painting a promising picture for the exciting industry.

While many bookmakers around the world already offer markets on popular eSports events, recent murmurings around potential integrity and corruption issues could put the sport’s growth in jeopardy.

And what incredible growth it has experienced to date.

Rough estimations have eSports reaching over $900 million in global earnings in 2018. In 2020 that figure is forecast to reach $1.65 billion.

Alaeddini said the potential was obvious for all to see.

“It would be an enormous missed opportunity if betting on esports is not allowed,” he said.

“The question that needs to be asked is not whether you like it or not, but how you can become part of it.”

The industry has not sat on its hands when it comes to integrity and regulation.

The eSports Integrity Coalition was established in 2016 and attempts to develop strong ties with governing bodies, gaming regulators, bookmakers and even game developers is ongoing.

“The betting operators have a very strong vested interest because they’re the ones who lose out financially,” Alaeddini said.

Interestingly, John English compared eSports to the early years of the MMA and the UFC — an industry that was able to clean up its integrity and is now widely renowned as one of the biggest gambling sports in the world.

“It reminds me of those days,” said English. “We didn’t have regulations. It was whether we would take that risk and whether the integrity was there. Where they (UFC) started and where they’ve come is similar to [where esports is now]. It won’t take long for all that to happen [for esports].”

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