Riot Games will reportedly consider prediction market esports sponsors including Polymarket and Kalshi

Reports have emerged suggesting that Riot Games, creator of League of Legends, VALORANT, and Teamfight Tactics, will explore authorizing and endorsing sponsorship deals with prediction markets including Polymarket and Kalshi, in a radical U-turn from previous anti-gambling sponsor rules.

First reported by Bloomberg’s Cecilia D'Anastasio, Riot Games had internally explored and begun conversations with prediction market operators Kalshi and Polymarket. The move is a radical shift from previous rules within both VALORANT and League of Legends esports that prevented teams from utilizing gambling sponsors.

Riot Games exploring prediction market esports sponsorships

For years Riot had prevented teams and organizations from displaying gambling sponsors during its official LoL esports broadcasts. That changed in June 2025 when Riot Games made a 180 and allowed these kinds of partnerships for the first time.

Now, just a few months out from Worlds 2026, LoL esports’ biggest event, prediction markets, a platform analogous to betting, could take center stage as sponsors.

In an email published by Bloomberg, Riot Games spokesperson Joe Hixson explained the reasoning:

"Prediction markets are an emerging space that we’re evaluating with a focus on safeguarding competitive integrity, potential value for teams, impact on the fan experience, and alignment with our broader ecosystem goals."

In a further statement to rft.gg, Riot responded to concerns about integrity that would come from incorporating prediction market sponsors:

"The markets offered on Polymarket are created independently. Riot's primary focus remains upholding the competitive integrity of our esports by enforcing the established rules and policies governing the conduct of teams, players, and other participants in our ecosystem, regardless of activity on external platforms."

Prediction markets, like betting sponsors have drawn criticism from observers due to the potential for breaches in integrity within teams due to conflicts of interest, and the ethical concerns by encouraging their use by esports fans.

But the move likely comes out of necessity rather than greed. The riddle of esports monetization has long been unsolved as Riot Games publicly stated many times that it makes a loss on esports (a complicated half-truth).

In the case of esports teams, the truth is more complete: Esports has rarely ever been profitable, and League of Legends especially has instead survived on contributions from the publisher rather than sponsorships and merchandise revenue. Few teams break even and even less turn a profit.

Betting companies and prediction markets, who have a financial incentive to keep esports strong, the desire to get in front of the eyes of esports fans, and enough money to support the expensive and un-lucrative business of running an esports team, make ideal sponsors - albeit with justified ethical concerns.

For Riot Games, this move seems like just the latest in a long-term plan to make esports profitable, or at the very least, not a huge cash pit (at least in its operating costs). If teams can support themselves financially, Riot’s investment in the scene will be less of an essential lifeline, and the scene overall could become healthier.