Welcome to our League of Legends betting guide. In this article, you will learn about the game itself and how it’s played, how to bet on League of Legends, as well as the competitive scene with its top teams and tournaments.
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League of Legends, better known as LoL, is the most popular MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) and esport game in existence, boasting a passionate player and viewer base that numbers in the tens of millions.
The game puts you in a top-down perspective just like in RTS games, but instead of controlling all allied units, you only control one of the 135+ unique champions at your disposal. Each champion features a unique skill set: 4 active abilities (3 standard + 1 powerful ultimate ability) and one passive.
A standard League of Legends match (competitive or otherwise) is played in a 5 vs. 5 format, meaning two teams (Team Blue and Team Red) of 5 players each. The League of Legends map is mirrored for both teams, with 3 lanes that spawn minions in 30-second intervals and 3 progressively placed towers on each lane. Between the lanes, you will find a jungle on both sides of the map. The jungle is filled with various neutral creatures that can be killed by any team for gold and/or buffs.
As a League of Legends player, your champion is the focal point of your gameplay. Every time you kill a minion, champion, or claim an objective, you gain experience and gold. Experience goes towards increasing your champion level – allowing you to upgrade your spells to stronger versions of themselves, whereas gold lets you purchase items that can enhance your champion in a myriad of ways.
The objective in LoL is simple and much akin to any real-time strategy out there – demolish the enemy base to win. As we mentioned before, both teams’ lanes are protected by 3 towers which must be destroyed, thus leaving the base exposed. The base features 3 inhibitors – 1 to each corresponding lane. Destroying an inhibitor grants the destroying team stronger minions, automatically increasing their pushing power. The Nexus sits behind the inhibitors in the center of each base – it is the ultimate objective which grants victory to whichever team manages to destroy it.
By now, you may be wondering what makes this game so popular and why it has over 50 million active monthly users, especially after we consider the fact that it is constantly played on one fixed map.
The first reason is obvious: League of Legends is free to play. Moreover, players are obviously driven by the competitive factor, as League of Legends is a massive playing field that lets players exhibit their mechanical skills and intellect through their champions and various team strategies.
However, what makes LoL stand out is its extreme depth and complexity. As we mentioned before, the game boasts more than 135+ champions, each equipped with 5 different abilities that can be utilized in various ways. This adds immense variety to the game, meaning each game is a unique and unpredictable spectacle that leaves you wanting more.
When you combine the variety of champions with the various map objectives in place as well as the hundreds of items which can diversify your gameplay, then you have a true recipe for a highly entertaining game.
The League of Legends betting scene is the largest out of all esports. The game, alongside Dota 2 and CS:GO, dominates the bookmakers in terms of coverage and market diversity. As an esports bettor, you can’t pick a better game than LoL in terms of betting options. The most common LoL betting types and what they represent are listed below.
This bet is self-explanatory; you are betting on which team will win the entire match series.
As most competitive League of Legends matches are played in a best-of-3 format, you are able to bet on individual map winners, rather than the whole series.
With this bet, you are trying to predict the correct score in maps – e.g., 2:1 or 2:0.
This is betting on the winner of an entire tournament. It’s typically unavailable once a tournament is underway.
Similar to how you can bet Over/Under in terms of goals scored in soccer, you are able to bet Over/Under on the number of maps played within a series.
Handicap betting works on the same principle as in all other sports. Betting on a team of your choice with -1.5 map handicap is essentially betting that they will pull a 2:0 sweep of the series. This bet is useful for betting on surefire favorites in order to attain a greater return than you would on a regular match winner bet.
In contrast, betting +1.5 maps on an underdog is a good bet to make when you feel that the underdog team has it in them to take at least one map from the favorite or when the two evenly-matched teams meet.
Besides the usual line-up of bets that you can find in almost any other sport, League of Legends opens the door for some interesting betting opportunities that are tied to the game’s unique mechanics. This is where a LoL bettor’s game knowledge can be exploited even further.
SK1 Telecom is by far the most successful team in League of Legends’ professional history. This Korean team has raked in more than $6,000,000 in tournament winnings to date. Their success comes much in thanks to Faker, who many argue is the most mechanically gifted player to ever lay his hands on the game. Faker still reigns supreme as the number-one LoL player and has remained loyal to his team since 2013.
Throughout history, there has never been a team that’s been dominant for such a sustained period of time. SK1 Telecom is the only LoL team with three World Championship titles and the only team that has managed to defend their Worlds title.
KSV eSports, formerly known as Samsung Galaxy, is the only team to come close to SK1 Telecom in terms of prestige and tournament winnings – taking in over $4,000,000 since they formed in 2014. They were SK1 Telecom’s primary challengers during their most dominant years.
KSV eSports have two World Championship titles under their belt. Their first came in 2014 under the name of Samsung Galaxy with the help of imp, Mata, PawN, DanDy, and Looper. The season after, KSV failed to make the top 4, but in 2016, they reached the finals again and lost 3:2 to none other than SK1 Telecom. That best-of-5 still remains one of the most memorable LoL series of all time. SK1 Telecom took a 2-0 lead, which was then bravely equalized by KSV to make it 2-2, although they ultimately failed to win and lost 3-2. One year later, these two teams met again in the final, but this time around, KSV eSports sealed their second World Championship title by walking over SK1 Telecom in a 3:0 sweep of the series.
EDward Gaming has shifted through several rosters since their formation in late 2014, but the team holds great significance to the Chinese LoL scene. They were the first team to beat SK1 Telecom in a best-of-5, amidst a complete Korean dominance of the scene. They are also one of the most successful LoL teams never to win a World Championship.
EDward Gaming’s most significant accomplishments include 1st place at G-League 2014, 1st place at LPL Spring 2015, 1st place at Demacia Cup Spring, and 1st place at the LPL Summer 2015.
Royal Never Give Up started competing in the LoL esports scene in 2015. Although recent results haven’t gone in their favor, RNGU is still one of the most successful teams in LoL’s history – taking in more than $2,200,000 in tournament winnings alone. The team is one of the brightest stars in the Chinese LoL scene with their roster of Uzi, Ming, Mlxg, and Letme. Their roster possesses plenty of skill and potential to take the fight to the top teams, as they have proven to be consistently strong ever since their inception.
Royal Never Give Up can boast of 1st place finishes at LPL Spring 2016, Demacia Cup 2017, Rift Rivals 2017, LPL Spring 2018, League Mid-Season Invitational 2018, and Rift Rivals 2018.
The League of Legends tournament scene works in a league system that’s in some ways similar to traditional sports. Instead of having a myriad of independently-organized tournaments throughout the year, the bulk of professional LoL matches fall under Riot’s League of Legends Championship Series (LCS).
The LCS is primarily split into many regions, four of which are most prominent: Europe, North America, Korea, and China. The LCS is played all year round, and it culminates with the League World Championship – a LAN final played at different venues around the globe. Each LCS season is split into two halves – Summer and Spring – which constitute the entire season. In each split, ten teams play a round-robin tournament that lasts for just over 2 months. At the end of each split, the playoff phase commences.
During the playoffs, the top 6 standing teams at the end of the split play each other in best-of-5 series. The winner of the playoffs gets an automatic first seed invite to the World Championship, whereas the runner-up qualifies as second seed. The other 4 teams that placed best during the playoffs qualify to the regional finals.
The LoL World Championship is the culmination of the season, and it features a Play-In stage, a Group Stage, and an 8-team elimination playoff, after which the champion is crowned in the grand final.
Besides the LCS and World Championship, which can be seen as huge independent tournaments/leagues in their own right, the LoL Mid-Season Invitational is one of the most prominent League tournaments. This tournament is played after the conclusion of the Spring season with a Play-In segment that features teams from growing and weaker regions. Then follows a group stage and a play-off stage with a hefty prize pool of over $1,000,000.
League of Legends is the most popular and active esport currently on the planet, a fact which doesn’t look like it’ll be changing anytime soon. The game boasts one of the biggest player and viewer bases out of all games regardless of their stature in esports. This means that you can always find comprehensive LoL betting coverage at most sportsbooks.
When you’re looking to spice up your LoL spectating action with a few bets, we’d like to remind you that you should only bet through the safest and most established online sportsbooks, as they will guarantee you have a carefree customer experience.
