When it comes to eSports, you don't get much bigger than League of Legends. And where there's popular sports you can be pretty sure betting on them is popular too. In fact, eSports wagering surpassed the billion-dollar mark last year. So, how can you get your slice of this exciting market?
Luckily for you, we've found the best real money League of Legends betting sites for UK players and listed them below. All our recommended online bookmakers offer:
League of Legends, or LoL as it is known to its passionate fanbase, is a multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA), developed by Riot Games.
In League of Legends, two teams of five player-controlled characters with unique abilities (called champions) compete to be the first to destroy each others' base (known as a nexus). The arena, called Summoner's Rift, is split into three paths between the two nexuses, called lanes, and each one is lined with turrets that shoot the opposing teams' players, as well as computer-controlled 'minions' that spawn from the nexus and walk down the lanes attacking anything in their path.
To win the game players must fight the enemy minions, neutral monsters in between the lanes and each other, in order to be the first to kill all the turrets, and eventually the opponent's nexus. Each time a player kills a minion, neutral monster or an enemy champion, they gain a varying amount of gold that allows them to upgrade their champion with powerful items.
All in all, quite complex for new players. And that's without considering the varied interactions between the 130+ champions available to play!
Some popular player choices from this diverse champion list include:
That's just three champions out of a huge roster, so you can see this game has a lot to learn. But that certainly hasn't put off the tens of millions of people who play League of Legends every day, nor the hundreds of thousands of people who bet on the professional scene.
And that professional scene is certainly impressive, with the League of Legends World Championships in 2016 getting more concurrent viewers in North America than the Football World Cup finals!
36 million people tuned in to watch two South Korean teams, SK Telecom and Samsung Galaxy, duke it out on Summoner's Rift in front of 20,000 screaming fans at the Staple's Centre in Los Angeles. SKT eventually triumphed, with their million-dollar salary iconic player, Faker, taking centre stage to lift the coveted trophy for the third time.
So, if you want to bet on this premier eSports event, or the weekly regional leagues that are held in Europe, North America, Korea and China, as well as others, how do you do it from Britain?
Like in any sport, there is no magic formula when it comes to online betting. LoL is a game with many hugely complex variables that can affect the outcome in a variety of ways, meaning that predicting results with 100% accuracy is almost impossible.
However, this does not mean there aren't smart ways to make LoL bet predictions and improve your chances of big real money wins.In all honesty, there isn't much substitute for game knowledge when it comes down to it.
You can have an encyclopaedic knowledge of betting odds, but that still won't help you pick a winning bet if you don't know the teams or the sport. The real money is in finding winning teams that the bookies and the market don't rate.
One tip here - and we can't stress this enough - is never bet against the Koreans.
South Korean teams have an impeccable international record. They have won four out of the five World Championships they have competed in, since Season 2 in 2012.
In the 2016 tournament, Korean teams won a crushing 84% of their games against international opposition on the way to SK Telecom T1's nail-biting victory against fellow Koreans Samsung Galaxy in the final.
So, if you see a Korean team against a popular Western team, they might be worth a bet if the odds are right. Most eSports bookies will tell you who they are with a little flag next to their name.
Other than that, Reddit and the eSports encyclopaedia Leaguepediaare good places to look at past stats and current form of the teams coming into any international event.
Of course, if you know League of Legends well you can conduct your own analysis based on other factors. We'll look at some of these factors next.
Of course, as a technologically-centred scene, you can definitely bet on League of Legends on your mobile devices. Whether you have the latest Apple iPhone, an older Android device or a tablet, you can participate in online League of Legends betting (on Koreans to win, obviously) on the go, from almost anywhere in the UK.
Since LoL tournaments are played all over the world, it may not be possible for you to be at your desktop PC in time to place that last minute bet on Cloud 9 to beat Counter Logic Gaming in the North American LCS playoffs. Online bookies that offer League of Legends know this, and have put a lot of effort into creating top quality mobile experiences for traditional and eSports bettors.
Whether you want to download a betting app or just look at all eSports odds in your mobile browser, we've collected a list of the best sites for mobile League of Legends betting in the UK. Just search our toplist and find great mobile online bookies that offer:
Whether you're betting on Everton to beat West Ham in the Premier League, or h2K to beat Splyce in the EU LCS playoff semi-finals, bets are always better when they're free!
That's why we've searched far and wide for the bookies offering the best and most generous free bet offers. From £50 free bets on sign-up, to recurring free bets or insurance offers on accumulators,there's no shortage of ways to improve your eSports betting bankroll when you visit one of our top recommended British sites.
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One of the unique things about eSports is the adaptable nature of online video games. eSports developers, including Riot Games with League of Legends, are constantly looking to adjust the design of the map, champions and objectives to keep the game fair for all players (known as balancing).
This has the side effect of creating an optimal way to play the game at any one time, known as the metagame, or more simply: the meta. As this changes, different teams and players can be heavily affected.
For example, imagine if in football the rules changed so that scoring a goal with your head or on the volley from a cross was worth two goals instead of one. Suddenly, teams would start to play with more width, good wingers or full backs would rocket up in value and teams already used to this style would win more games.
It is these kind of changes that League of Legends players and teams must deal with every month, come patch day. For example, some teams, such as Counter Logic Gaming in North America, have a player in the top lane position who is excellent at playing high damage, solo playmaking 'carry' champions. When the meta shifts to favour more 'tank' champions in the top lane that offer a more team utility-based role, this can leave players like Darshan (and therefore his team) in the dust as they struggle to adapt.
A winning online LoL betting punter would look at these monthly tweaks and changes, understand which players or teams stand to benefit, and adjust their bets accordingly.
Easily! Just sign up to a betting site that offers eSports (hopefully from our recommended list of top sites), choose your match and place your bet! However, if you want to win your bet, we recommend you do some research and read the above page for some quick guidelines on improving your chances of a payout.
Odds for LoL betting generally work in the same way as other sports. Either fractional, line or decimal odds will be used - usually fractional in the UK! For some in-depth help understanding all three kinds of odds and how they work, just check out our odds guide page and you will be confused no more.
All the usual free betsandbonuses an online bookie offers can usually be used to bet on League of Legends. Because it is an emerging and fast-growing market, there are also many eSports-only bonuses and free bet offers to be found online - the best of which we have collected in our list of top recommended sites!
All the usual sports bets you can makecan also be made on LoL. This means you can put your money on match or tournament outrights, accumulators, in-play bets and specials. The specials market is where League of Legends experts can really shine.
Right here! If you want a secure and reputable site with a reasonable range of LoL bets and an easy withdrawal process, then look no further than our recommended toplist. Our expert reviewers and eSports analysts have rigorously checked out some of the best online bookies for UK players and come up with a truly excellent shortlist for your consideration.