The Riot Games held talks with Polymarket and Kalshi about possible sponsorship deals for its esports championships, according to people familiar with the negotiations who spoke to Bloomberg. No partnership has been announced so far.
The discussions involve the presence of prediction market platforms in the competitive ecosystem of League of Legends and VALORANT. In this type of service, users trade contracts tied to the outcome of future events, including matches and tournaments.
Riot said it evaluates potential partners considering factors such as competitive integrity, value for teams, fan experience, and compatibility with its commercial rules.
Any company approved to operate in this space would have to use official data from GRID Esports, a Riot partner responsible for distributing match information. Polymarket already has a partnership with GRID to incorporate esports data and markets into its platform.
The move comes after Riot allowed, in 2025, top-tier League of Legends and VALORANT teams in the Americas and the EMEA region to sign sponsorships with betting companies, provided the partners were previously approved.
At the time, the developer reported that global betting volume involving LoL competitions and the VALORANT Champions Tour had reached US$ 10.7 billion in 2024, according to data from Sportradar.
It is still unclear how a potential deal with Polymarket or Kalshi would be structured or whether the negotiations will result in contracts.
