Riot Games is a successful company, with 5 active games ranging from fairly popular to some of the biggest in the industry. They also have their sub-labels with their own developments. League of Legends and Valorant are both massive franchises both in the casual and professional markets. They're owned wholly by Tencent, which generated over $40B in income in 2023.

Despite this, they've announced they're opening up League of Legends to sponsorships from sports betting sponsorships. Given they are not independent it's not shocking, but it is extremely disappointing. They lay out specific ways that they're limiting their ability to promote themselves, including a ban on "ads on official broadcasts or jerseys". That's not how this works though.

This intertwines the financial incentives of both groups even more now. Previously, Riot enjoyed a level of detachment from the sports betting organizations, being tolerated but not embraced. It allows a level of plausible deniability, where they aren't fully aware of the actions of the sites and they continue to embrace problem behaviors in users.

Now, any action against the sports betting sites will have direct financial implications for the teams supporting their pro circuits, thus making fans of the team mad as well. The effect on legalized sports betting is known to be a corrosive factor leading to abuse of players (and others). The larger recognition and pushing of these betting sites also further promotes problem gambling, which has skyrocketed as source of financial and mental strain.

Riot Games gets to savor the fruits of both exploitative microtransactions and sports betting. It's a major game label's dream. This will exacerbate professional League's slow death, soon to follow the way of Overwatch League. The shareholder profit model of publicly traded companies is simply incompatible with creating and growing a long term, sustainable professional league a la the major traditional sports leagues they try to ape. After the initial investment and growth, the money will be diverted to new fronts and the leagues are left to languish and die off. It's a shame, but it is a predictable pattern at this point. They have refused to learn, so they repeat the past.