Spike Drop is a weekly (?) newsletter covering VALORANT and its competitive scene from respected (??) journalist and former Dot Esports staff writer, Scott Robertson.

Last week, mere hours after Spike Drop’s highly anticipated return, Riot Games announced that they are now officially opening the door to betting sponsorships, permitting teams competing in tier one VALORANT (and League of Legends) in both the Americas and EMEA regions, “with safeguards to protect competitive integrity and the fan experience.”

This news isn’t shocking, for a couple reasons. First, Riot leadership already confirmed back in December 2024 that this was going to happen. But secondly, and certainly most importantly, Riot was not going to let the astonishing amount of money being bet on their games continue to circulate without their cut. I do believe that Riot does want to see an unchecked, manipulative ecosystem become more regulated, but let’s not kid ourselves: there’s also money to be made that might as well support the competitive scene that it’s based on.

For today’s episode of Spike Drop, we’re diving into the major points that Riot makes in their statement last week, and then try to answer whether or not the good outweighs the bad. Because let’s make one thing very clear from the start: embracing gambling offers an undeniable financial opportunity, but it also brings out the absolute worst in people.

A Necessary Evil?

Early on his post, John Needham, President of Publishing & Esports, gets into a major reason for opening the door to betting: sustainability. In just the second paragraph, Needham pinpoints where a major source of pressure on the matter has come from:

Even with Riot partnership and its stipends, the in-game VCT bundles, and now large financial opportunities from the Esports World Cup (24 of the 40 organizations in the Esports World Cup Foundation Club Partner Program compete in tier one VALORANT), teams are struggling to make money. Sentinels, despite all its competitive success and large fanbase, are still trying to forge a path to sustainability, and they are not alone.

The esports winter is thawing a bit; layoffs and closures are not as rampant as they were last year or the year before, but it’s not like there’s a big boom ahead. Figures like an astonishing $10.7 BILLION bet on just LoL and VALORANT esports in 2024 are impossible to ignore. But to invite betting into competitive VALORANT and League of Legends means danger, and the most exposed will be the two groups that Riot has vowed to protect the most: the players and the audience.

Who’s At Risk? The Players and the Players

By bringing on betting sponsors, the general esports audience will become more exposed to betting, even if it’s not featured anywhere on the broadcast. Ads will appear on team YouTube videos, on the overlays when players are streaming, and I personally don’t believe that the “no betting ads on the broadcast” rule is one that’s going to be etched in stone for eternity.

In doing so, fans will naturally be more exposed to a rapidly growing, highly addicting and typically costly form of entertainment. Sports betting is a massive monster on its own, one that has attracted a much younger audience over the past decade, and now fans of VALORANT will have to look that beast in the eye and face that temptation. Esports fans in general are already susceptible to gambling content: as I write this on Monday evening, Nadeshot is sitting on top of the CS2 category on Twitch, with over 50,000 viewers, by spending thousands of dollars on opening in-game cases. He even continued to stream case openings rather than watch his own LA Thieves compete at CDL Champs.

Those that get sucked in to betting risk more than just financial woes, it can also lead them down a very toxic path. Betting brings a wave of toxicity that will be wrongfully directed at pro players. Pro players are already susceptible to hostile DMs and toxic comments online when they play poorly, and when bettors have lost money because of it, that abuse gets worse.

I’ve seen some of the stuff sent to professional athletes and it is stomach-turning, but when you play a sport professionally it’s a bit easier to swallow or ignore. Pro athletes in mainstream sports are usually travelling and playing more and spend less time on their phones, while also playing for more money and on more guaranteed deals. Esports pros don’t make the same money pro athletes make on average (which also increases the risk of match-fixing), they typically aren’t on guaranteed deals, and they spend more time on their phones and social media.

Because betting does already exist in an unregulated state, many pro players have seen some form of salty bettor hiding behind an anonymous persona flooding their DMs with toxic waste because their bet lost. By opening the doors to betting, it potentially invites more of this abuse. Needham’s post mentions that teams will need to “create and assess their own Internal Integrity Program” with the expectation to safeguard players and the young audience. If Riot and the teams both want welcome in betting sponsors, that means taking on the responsibility of protecting both groups together.

Can This Really Work?

At the core of Riot’s ultimate goal is a sound argument: betting on esports exists already in an incredibly unregulated state. In theory, regulation from Riot would make the market safer and more secure for those playing, while offering teams the opportunity to reach a large, previously untouchable stream of revenue.

But how does Riot get their cut of revenue from teams that acquire betting sponsorships? Sports leagues like the NFL make money from gambling via official sportsbook partnerships with sites like FanDuel or DraftKings, but in the short-term it doesn’t look like Riot will do the same. The NFL also makes more from gambling advertising and increased viewer engagement , but again there won’t (for now) be any ads on the broadcast, and viewership is likely not getting a meaningful boost just because teams have betting sponsors.

The answer? GRID, the esports data platform that Riot is partnered with to track and deliver real-time data for both VALORANT and League of Legends. Any betting platform must use GRID as their data sources, and betting/fantasy sites have to pay for access to GRID’s data.

Potentially, Riot could (this is purely speculative) also get a cut of the deals made between betting sponsors and teams, which is an advantage afforded to Riot by way of controlling the ecosystem, and since the teams don’t actually own their slots in VCT, they’re not in a position to argue.

I think in the long-term, I don’t have faith that broadcast and socials will remain “betting-free.” Do I think the desk will be building parlays sponsored by PrizePicks during the pre-show? No, especially not in 2025, but I think rules like “no sponsors on jerseys” will be toned down or even removed, and a Riot partnership with a specific company isn’t impossible to imagine. Remember, Riot restricted long-time NA org TSM from using FTX branding on jerseys or broadcast after the organization signed a massive $210 million, 10-year partnership with the crypto exchange, only to turn around and sign their own 7-year sponsorship deal with FTX, JUST TWO MONTHS LATER.

Riot’s decision is a gamble in itself. But they’re not wagering money; by licensing GRID out to betting sites in order for them to do business, they’ve already guaranteed themselves income. No, Riot are gambling the health and wellbeing of the wider ecosystem and two of the groups crucial to its success: its players and its fans.

But for this to work the right way, Riot needs to stick to these three rules:

1. Make it clear that anyone involves in match-fixing is getting the maximum punishment: Permanent lifetime bans on top of legal action. Set the tone early before someone decides to test it, and deliver a clear message: fix matches and you’re done.

2. Use every resource available to go after bettors that harass pro players.

3. Transparency for every aspect of this program: how they make revenue, how it supports tier two, the vetting standards sponsors need to meet, alignment between Riot standards and team integrity programs.

Ultimately, betting became a wave to big to ignore. It’s now up to Riot and the teams to determine whether it’s a a rising tide that lifts all boats, or the maelstrom that sucks everyone down.