Riot Games and MSI make case for prediction markets in esports
3 August 2026
Together with international esports as an industry, online betting on esports has rapidly become more popular in the past few years as well. At the same time, countries around the world as well as various states in the United States have been fighting the growth of prediction market providers, one of the biggest sources of esports betting options. Opponents cite, among other factors, the lack of regulation and oversight as a major risk linked to prediction market platforms like, for example, Polymarket and Kalshi.
At the same time, esports industry leaders like Riot Games have shown that there exists serious demand for options relating to online betting on esports. This became more than clear once more during the most recent Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), one of the major events on the international League of Legends calendar. The studio integrated official data from GRID into their Crystal Ball feature, allowing fans and viewers to make (live) predictions and make their fan experience even more exciting.
League of Legends MSI 2026
This year’s Mid-Season Invitational, the second traditional cross-regional competition of the annual League of Legends esports calendar, took place from June 28 to July 12 at the Daejeon Convention Center II in Daejeon, South Korea. As usual, it features the eleven best teams in the world at that moment and it was home side Hanwha Life Esports who ended up taking home the trophy (and $ 500.000 in prize money).
Live esports data
As Riot has been doing for a while now, they integrated Crystal Ball into the MSI 2026 fan experience. This can be considered an advanced mini game featured in various League of Legends events and tournaments that allows fans and viewers to forecast tournament stats like winners, KDA (Kills, Deaths, Assists) and total objectives. Fans can earn points for making correct predictions as an event unfolds.
During the 2026 MSI, Riot Games collaborated with GRID to power the in-game Stats Tracking Hub with the goal of embedding official match data and visual stats directly through the game client. This allowed for seamless tournament tracking and unprecedented access to live data. Through their Stats Feed API, GRID then integrated that data with Riot’s Crystal Ball, resulting in fast and verifiable live data and prediction tracking.
Betting on League of Legends
All of this provided fans and viewers with a much improved (live) betting experience as well, and they clearly appreciated it. Recent data has shown that no less than 1,7 million players engaged with Crystal Ball during the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational. In other words, one of the standout fan experiences of the event.
“I spend way more time invested in the tournament than usual because of Crystal Ball” said one viewer who interacted with Crystal Ball during the 2026 MSI, “I’m watching every single match, tracking stats, hoping my picks are right, competing with my friends and trying to win the jackpot — every single ultimate skin in the game. It makes every game matter to me even when my favorite team is already out.”