League of Legends Betting Tips & LoL Live Streams
About League of Legends
League of Legends, developed and published by Riot Games, is a 5v5 multiplayer online battle arena game available on PC and mobile.
LoL eSports tournaments are conducted at amateur and professional levels, and they're hugely popular and enjoyed by millions worldwide.
Riot organizes and sponsors a number of tournaments each year, ranging from international and regional leagues to collegiate and academy events. The most recent was the LoL Worlds 2022 in October, which saw the Korea-based DRX script history and claim its maiden title.
The Season 1 World Championship held at DreamHack Summer 2011 in Jönköping, Sweden, was the first ever professional LoL esports tournament conducted.
Where to bet on League of Legends
Betting on eSports is big business now and the world's biggest bookmakers all offer tournament, pre-match and in-play betting on League of Legends.
You can see the best betting sites for eSports in your region or choose to bet with this month's top five ranked sites.
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League of Legends Live Streaming - Where To Watch
You can watch live streaming of League of Legends via a number of methods from YouTube and Twitch to betting sites and social media.
Some of the best ways to watch LoL live streams, including the World Championships, are:
- Betting Sites bet365, Stake and Pinnacle
- League of Legends esports website
- Riot games’ official Twitch channel
- League of Legends esports YouTube channel
In some regions, you could also watch it on Afreeca, TV, Trovo or Facebook. You’ll also be able to find streams on the same platforms for the Mid-Season Invitational when it occurs.
Try their official Twitch and Youtube channels if you want to tune in to a specific league. All the major regional leagues, such as the LPL, LCK or LEC operate social media accounts that livestream matches during their respective splits.
Format of Major LoL Esports Tournaments
Two international LoL tournaments are organized yearly, the Mid Season Invitational (MSI) and the World Championship (Worlds). These offer massive prize pools, usually in excess of $2 million, and will feature the top teams from each region battling it out for the coveted titles.
Twelve professional regional leagues conducted across the globe decide which teams get to attend them. They're conducted twice a year, generally divided into spring and summer splits, with the spring winners taking part in the MSI, while the summer’s winners head for Worlds at the end of the year.
Each region is allotted a specific number of slots in the MSI and Worlds - some leagues, like the LCK and LPL, possess multiple slots. In this case, the teams attending are decided based on the following factors:
- their seed in their respective spring or summer splits, with the winners or sometimes runners-up, depending on the league, qualifying
- the Regional Finals, which are elimination brackets contested by the league’s top four or five teams
- Championship Points, which refers to points accumulated yearly by winning games across splits
The following regional leagues have the biggest representation at Worlds:
- Legends Champions Korea (LCK), with 4 slots at Worlds
- China's League of Legends Pro League (LPL), with 4 slots
- North America's League Championship Series (LCS), with 3 slots
- League of Legends European Championship (LEC), 4 slots
The Worlds has 24 teams participating, and is structured as follows:
- Twelve teams, usually the winners from the majors leagues, are invited directly to the main event
- The other twelve have to go through a play-in stage and will be narrowed down to four that advance to the groups
- Once the top sixteen teams are confirmed, they're randomly drawn into four groups. A double round-robin stage conducted across each group will eliminate the group's bottom two teams, while the top two - eight in total - will qualify for the playoffs.
- These are held in the classic, single-elimination format with knockout quarterfinals, semifinals, and the Grand Final all played as best-of-five series
The MSI’s qualification route is more or less the same. The tournament is smaller overall, featuring only 11 teams without a play-in or qualification stage.
Biggest LoL eSports Tournaments
The World Championship (Worlds) is the biggest League of Legends event of the year.
The tournament's first edition was held in 2011, and the recently concluded 2022 edition was arguably its most successful yet. It usually takes place at the close of the year around October once the regional summer splits have concluded, and the most recent event was organized in North America.
The LCK fourth seed DRX broke the glass ceiling with their record-breaking victory in 2022; it made them the first team in Worlds history to win the tournament after qualifying through the play-ins.
That year, the Worlds peak viewership recorded an all-time high of 5.1 million - an increase of 1.1 million from last year.
The Mid-Season Invitational is the next on the list, the only other international LoL event outside of the Worlds. It was first organized in 2015, and is generally held around the month of May each year.
Fans have been clamoring for years for more international LoL tournaments, but until Riot agrees they’ve had to make do with just these two.
The regional leagues that are generally considered to have the best talent pool are the LCK and LPL, and these are the two biggest LoL tournaments outside of Worlds and the MSI.
Aside from Europe's LEC and North America's LCS, Riot Games recognises eight other professional leagues. These are:
- Pacific Championship Series (PCS) representing Taiwan and Hong Kong
- Vietnam Championship Series (VCS)
- Campeonato Brasileiro de League of Legends (CBLOL) from Brazil
- League of Legends Circuit Oceania representing the Oceania countries Australia and New Zealand
- League of Legends Continental League (LCL) that represent the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), or Russia
- League of Legends Japan League (LJL)
- Liga Latinoamérica (LLA)
- Turkish Championship League (TCL)
Most Successful Teams in LoL eSports
South Korean superteam T1 are widely considered to be the best League of Legends team in the world. Their achievements include:
- Three Worlds titles in 2013, 2015, and 2016, the most by any team
- Five Grand Final appearances, having finished as runners-up in 2017 and 2022
- Two MSI titles, achieved back-to-back in 2016 and 2017
T1’s mainstay Faker is the only player in LoL history to record 100 games at Worlds, and is the only player to have attended five Worlds finals. His ten-year duration with the team is the longest any player has ever remained with a single organization.
Gen.G, known as Samsung Galaxy pre-2018, have also been among the world’s most successful LoL teams with:
- Two Worlds titles, the first in 2014 and then in 2017, the most behind T1
- Three Grand Final appearances, including a runners-up finish in 2016
Aside from T1 and Gen.G, no other team has managed to win a Worlds title more than once. The others are:
- Fnatic in 2011, who won the tournament’s inaugural edition, and became the first and only team from Europe to lift the Summoner’s Cup
- Invictus Gaming in 2018
- FunPlus Phoenix in 2019
- Damwon Gaming in 2020
- Edward Gaming in 2021
Korea holds the most number of Worlds titles and secured its seventh Worlds trophy this year, while the LPL have five so far. Europe has one title.
The LPL’s Royal Never Give Up has secured three titles at the MSI, and are the current defending champions. Before their victory in 2022, they had won the tournament in 2021 and 2018.
T1 has two titles, achieved back-to-back in 2016 and 2017. The only European team to have won the MSI are G2 Esports in 2019, and Edward Gaming won the tournament's inaugural edition back in 2015.
League of Legends (LoL) FAQ
What is esports?
Esports (also known as electronic sports, e-sports, or eSports) refers to sport competitions using video or computer games.
What is League of Legends (LoL)?
League of Legends (LoL) is a multiplayer online battle arena video game.
What is the League of Legends Pro League (LPL)?
The League of Legends Pro League (LPL) is the top level of professional League of Legends esports in China.
What is the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK)?
The League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) is the primary competition for League of Legends esports in South Korea.
What is the League of Legends European Championship (LEC)?
The League of Legends European Championship (LEC) is the name of the professional League of Legends esports league in Europe.
What is the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS)?
The League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) is the top level of professional League of Legends in the United States and Canada.
How can I watch League of Legends (LoL) Live Streaming?
Check our live streaming calendar to see where you can watch League of Legends (LoL) live streaming.
