League of Legends Betting Guide
Welcome to our League of Legends betting guide, where you’ll get all the information you need to bet on League of Legends at many of the major online sportsbooks. This League of Legends betting guide will cover current odds, the game itself, and the best places to bet on it online.
League of Legends is perhaps the single biggest esport in the world, with competitions in many countries, and options for betting on it available at many sportsbooks all over the world. The League of Legends scene is composed of many regional leagues, with different organizational structures, but similar overall composition. For example, the North American league, the NA LCS, is franchised similar to the NBA.
When it finding League of Legend sportsbooks that take US players, the first step is understanding the game before betting. Then, the second step is understanding how to bet on LoL. This guide is set up to help you with both of those things, whether you are a League aficionado who wants to learn about betting, or a betting aficionado who wants to learn about League. This all-encompassing guide should be able to help any kind of interested party, so let’s get started.
League Of Legends Betting Events
- LCK Spring
- LEC Spring
- LPL Spring
- CBLOL
- Premier League Spring
Real Money Betting On League Of Legends In The USA
So, let’s say you want to place a wager on League of Legends - how can you do that? Well, some states have regulated online sports betting such that it includes esports, but most have not. This means that some of the state-sanctioned sportsbooks will not have esports betting, but never fear! There are always the online sportsbooks that are located outside of the United States that accept Americans.
These sportsbooks have become the premier destination for online esports betting, as they are always up on the odds and lines, and have available bets on all kinds of esports, not just League of Legends. There are a ton of bets available for League, though, covering an astonishing amount of the esport’s sphere of influence. No matter what kind of bet you want to place, the online sportsbooks are great for League of Legends betting.
USA Online Sportsbooks
U.S.A. Sportsbook Reviews
Daily Fantasy Sports
How Does League Of Legends Work?
League of Legends is what is known as a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game, or MOBA. Basically, players are split into teams of five, and each player controls a character. This character has abilities and levels up over the course of the game. The player is able to build items, choose abilities, and control the movements and actions taken by the character. The teams work together in order to take down enemy structures, claim objectives on the map, and, eventually, destroy the enemy Nexus.
Players gain gold during the game by killing minions, jungle camps, or opposing players. When a player is killed, they remain dead for a set period of time that increases over the course of the game. This allows the team that claimed the kill to have a period of time similar to a power play in hockey - they have five members on the map, while the other team has four. During this time, teams make pushes to take enemy structures such as Towers, or claim neutral objectives like the Dragon.
The game ends when the Nexus of either team is destroyed. The Nexus is located in the middle of the base, meaning that to win the game, a team must manage to reach the enemy base long enough to destroy it.
How To Read Betting Odds For League Of Legends
League of Legends betting odds can be alternately complex and simple. Let’s start with the most basic type of odds, moneyline odds.
LoL Moneyline Odds:
- Team Solo Mid -150
- Counter Logic Gaming +120
In this match, Team Solo Mid is favored. Odds of -150 mean that you need to bet $150 on TSM in order to win $100. Meanwhile, CLG’s odds of +120 mean that a bet of $100 on this line will provide you with $120 should they win. Of course, you also get back the money you wagered if you win the bet.
Spread odds are fairly interesting in League of Legends, and tend to refer to the number of games required to win a match. A lot of League of Legends competition happens in best of three or best of five formats, and that means that spreads are applied to the amount of games needed to win such a match. Let’s take a look at an example.
Best Of Three Match:
- Cloud9 -1.5
- Team Liquid +1.5
In order for a bet on Cloud9 -1.5 to cash, C9 would have to win this best of three by more than 1.5 matches. In this environment, what that means is that they would have to win 2-0. That is the only way that they can win the best of three and also cover this spread. Effectively, the spread of +/-1.5 turns the bet into an alternate line.
Basically, a bet on Cloud 9 -1.5 in a best of three environment is a bet that they will win 2-0. A bet on Team Liquid +1.5 is a bet that any other result will occur. Team Liquid could lose 1-2 and still cover the +1.5 spread.
Totals betting is also common in League of Legends, and it tends to follow similar rules to spread betting - the total is the total number of games per match. Occasionally, sportsbooks offer spreads and totals on kills, instead of on games per match, but these bets are rarer, and clearly marked.
Generally, since matches tend to be best of three, totals betting involves an Over/Under line of 2.5. This effectively turns totals betting into betting on whether or not the match will take three games, or two games. A match taking two games reflects some level of dominance by the winning team - they didn’t drop a game, winning 2-0. A match taking three games reflects a more even competition, with the match ending 2-1.
These are the major types of betting on League of Legends, but there are more esoteric bets as well, such as prop bets like how many kills a specific player will get, among others. League of Legends betting is a wide open space, and there’s plenty of available bets out there to fill that space.
Biggest League Of Legends Tournaments
League of Legends is organized into several different leagues, all of which collide at various international events. Generally, the leagues in China and Korea are perceived as dominant, with the EU league recently approaching that level as well. The North American league is not nearly so decorated, but is one of the most popular leagues regardless, due to the compelling narratives and interesting players involved in it. Below you can find a quick rundown of the biggest tournaments and competitions in the world of League of Legends.
World Championship - Worlds is the biggest event on the calendar and the culmination of the year’s competition in League of Legends. The World Champion is the undisputed best team in the world. Almost invariably, the champion comes from either Korea or China, and this dominance does not seem likely to let up.
NA/EU LCS- North America and Europe operate under what is known as the LCS, the League Championship Series. Run by Riot Games, the makers of League of Legends, the LCS regions are similar, but have some key differences. Each of these leagues is organized into a spring and summer split, and the winners of each, along with some other qualifications, tend to go to Worlds.
Champions Korea - The LCK is one of the best leagues in the world, and home to the player who is widely regarded as the best of all time, Faker. The LCK was dominant in the middle years of League’s prominence, with Faker’s team winning three separate world championships in four years. As of late, the LCK has ceded some international prominence to the LPL out of China, which has produced the last two world champions.
LPL - The LPL was, for a long time, a league that looked to copy the LCK, and import as many of their players as possible. In 2018, this strategy paid off, as they finally broke through on the international stage, with Invictus Gaming claiming the first world championship for the Chinese league. This was followed up by FunPlus Phoenix’s victory in 2019, cementing the LPL as one of the best leagues in the world.
Can I Bet On League Of Legends From My Mobile Device?
It should come as no surprise to anyone reading this page that bettors on League of Legends tend to be a bit younger than normal - after all, interest in esports trends young. A common question we get is about the availability of mobile betting, so we created this section in order to make sure that everyone knew that mobile betting on League of Legends is very available. All you have to do is use one of the major online sportsbooks from your mobile internet browser, and that will provide all of the mobile betting on League of Legends that you could ask for.
Is Live Betting For League of Legends Available?
Games of League of Legends take anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour, so live betting can be a useful tool in the arsenal of the experienced League of Legends bettor. Many of the major online sportsbooks offer live betting on League of Legends, complete with up to the minute lines, and currently updated odds. You can bet as the games are going, and the odds will shift minute to minute as the games themselves do. Experienced bettors can use this to ride the waves of momentum within a match, and find themselves a tidy profit while doing so.