Whether you are new to League of Legends (LoL) because you watched Arcane on Netflix, or if you’re a veteran of the game that’s been around since 2009, you should know that it is the biggest global game in esports betting.
This multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game has garnered legions of fans, making it a favorite to bet on at a top-ranked sportsbook like Bovada where there are always matches to bet on with regional leagues (LCK, LEC, LCS), and each year there is an annual World Championship (the Super Bowl for LoL) that gets millions of unique viewers.
It’s a tempting game to dive right into betting, but you’ll want to know some tips on how to bet on LoL first.
Soak in How the Game Works
For any esports betting, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with how the game works in every way and playing it yourself can also help. With LoL, it’s a matchup of two teams consisting of five players as they try to destroy the other team’s Nexus in their base.
Depending on the tournament, matches are played in best-of-1, best-of-3, or best-of-5 formats and take 20-to-40 minutes each. Strategies vary as some teams will prioritize kills while others are more objective driven, capturing dragons, Barons, or towers.
Familiarize yourself with the best teams and players like T1 (led by Faker), G2 Sports, and JD Gaming. Roster changes are common and these team dynamics be monitored. Also, regional teams from South Korea (LCK) and China (LPL) tend to dominate LoL matches.
Follow the meta, meaning the latest strategies and playstyles that are dominating play in LoL as it can change when the game is patched by the developers.
Types of Bets in League of Legends
Get very familiar with the types of bets available on LoL markets, which should include the following:
- Match Winner – Bet on which team wins (moneyline).
- Map Winner – In series play, you can bet on the winner of individual games (maps)
- First Blood – Bet which team makes the first kill.
- Total Kills – Prop bet for the over/under on a team’s total kills
- Handicap – Spread betting like +1.5 maps in a series
Don’t Be Afraid to Bet on Big Underdogs
A common mistake for esports bettors is to trust favorites to win all the time. Upsets are more common in esports (LoL included) than traditional sports because of how skilled the players are and how volatile the always-evolving games can be.
If you research and find an underdog that’s been performing well recently, you should consider taking a chance on them to win against a heavy favorite.
Let’s use some real odds as an example. If the DRX Challengers are -700 to defeat the Oksavingsbank Brion Challengers (+425), then a $10 bet on DRX Challengers would only net $1.43 in winnings. Meanwhile, a $10 bet on the underdog would yield $42.50 in winnings.
You would have to win about 30 times in a row at -700 odds to win as much as you’d get from a single underdog win at +425. So, even if the heavy favorite has an implied winning chance of 87.5% each time, that’s still very unlikely you’ll go 30-0 in a game like this.
That doesn’t mean you should bet the underdogs all the time, but you have to work them into your moneyline bets.
Other Betting Tips
Not unlike traditional sports betting, there are methods to follow to maximize your success at betting LoL:
- Follow a strict bankroll with unit-size betting and don’t chase losses.
- Track your bets for progress and insights into your best bet types (moneyline, handicap, First Blood, etc.).
- Research teams and focus on recent performance and head-to-head results.
- Use sources like Oracle’s Elixir, Liquipedia, and LoL Esports Stats for research data on teams/players.
- Follow the community on social media (X/Discord/Reddit/Twitch) for the latest news on players/teams and any patch/update news.
- Make use of live betting if you think the early portions of the match (First Blood) are telling in who will win.