Bitcoin eSports gambling: League of Legends
League of Legends (LoL) is a computer game developed and released by Riot Games in 2009. It’s a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game and based on a modification of the game Warcraft III. League of Legends can be played online against other human players or bots and is compatible with the Microsoft Windows operating system and since 2013 also with Mac OS X.
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Gameplay
A group of 5 players battle against another group, where the goal is to destroy the Nexus, or headquarters, of the opponent before the enemy does so to you. You try to outsmart your opponent, and during the execution of your strategy you’ll, for example, try to control certain targets in order to gain a strategic advantage.
Before the game starts each player chooses a character, a Champion, to play with during the match. At the moment you can choose from 126 different Champions, each with their own skills and abilities, which they can use during the match. You can imagine that the strengths and weaknesses of a Champion affect the strategy of the game and role of each player in the team.
During the game you play on a “field” with usually 3 lanes, which lead to the Nexus of both teams at their ends. The players try to defend the entrances to their own Nexus and at the same time gain dominance in each avenue, and eventually attack the Nexus of the opponents. On both sides “minions” regularly appear in service of both teams. When you defeat enemy minions, you’ll receive rewards like gold to strengthen the Champions’ powers. Your own minions attack the opponent, and can be helped by the champions.
The crucial aspect of the game is teamplay and cooperation. If a player fails to do his job you can be certain the team will lose. If the entire team acts as a team and every player acts out his role you can almost be guaranteed a win!
League of Legends eSports
In a serious competitive context, League of Legends is played within the 5 against 5 concept, with each team being allowed to “ban” 3 Champions during the selection phase. This provides strategic diversity, as it allows you to refuse certain champions that could weaken the team’s strategy, for example because it doesn’t fit into a particular role. Likewise, you can keep out an opponent’s champion if you know that this opponent is very strong with a certain Champion. Just like in chess, each piece has its own possibilities and goals, but you need all the pieces to make your strategy work.
There are a lot of professional leagues such as the League Challenger Series, the LPL (LoL Pro league) and the LCK (LoL champions Korea) which show how seriously this game is played in the world. Players receive a basic salary, a player’s location to train with their team, and a fixed training schedule and are seen as top athletes in the growing E-Sport world. Prizes for various tournaments are set at well over €100,000 and there are now Korean players who have a serious Sports visa, allowing them to travel freely as top-level athletes. Betting on the outcome of League of Legends matches has become extremely popular in South Korea and Japan, among others, and now European betting offices and online Bitcoin sportsbooks are also offering possibilities to bet on League of Legends!
Top 5 Bitcoin gambling sites for League of Legends
Obviously we’ve saved the best for last. Betting on eSports is big with growth being so explosive it is estimated that the global eSports betting market will be worth nearly $30 billion by the year 2020. So, how can we join the fun?
As of today each and every self respecting gambling site offers an eSports section, but not every gambling site offers the high quality you should expect these days. In our experience a few things can make a good gambling site a great eSports gambling site:
- A huge selection of eSports betting markets.
- Anonymous registration.
- Lots of payment options, Bitcoin included.
Based on those criteria we recommend the following gambling sites if you like to bet on League of Legends.