Riot Games and Sports Radar to Work on Boosting Integrity
- Riot Games adds Sportradar as integrity partner
- Sportradar to help Riot identify fraud quicker than before
- Riot needs to focus on clearing up its name after a sexism lawsuit scandal
Sportradar and Riot Games team up to guarantee better integrity for players and competitions around the world.
Sportradar and Riot Games Conclude Integrity Protection Deal
Sportradar, a data analytic company, has announced a new partnership with Tencent-owned game developer Riot Games, famous for their work on one of the blockbuster esports titles, League of Legends. Since the arrival of the game, Riot Games have transformed themselves into an event organizer, running and assisting multiple leagues around the world on the professional and collegiate level.
As part of the deal, Sportradar Integrity Services will be leveraged to establish better supervision of the professional esports community built around League of Legends. The platform will help Riot Games spot and investigate suspicious activity at a short notice, assisting in Riot’s efforts to uphold the integrity of its brand.
This comes at a time when Riot Games is embroiled in a sexism lawsuit with employees staging a walk-out over the “toxic culture” within the company. Meanwhile, Riot remain in charge on several high-profile events in esports that need extra care in handling any security and integrity risks, including:
- League of legends World champions
- The League Championship Series
- Mid-Season Invitational
Stressing the importance of the partnership, Sportradar Head of Integrity Service North America, Andy Cunningham, had this to say:
“Through this partnership, Riot Games is bolstering its capabilities by implementing an effective and innovative integrity program. With legal sports betting expected to grow over the next several years, especially in the U.S., we are encouraged by Riot’s proactivity, as it looks to maintain and further establish its leadership position in the esports space.”
Sportradar will let Riot access to the company’s Intelligence and Investigation Service solution, which would allow the game developer to keep better track of its in-house operations.
Doug Watson, Riot’s Head of Esports, has acknowledged that keeping esports competitive would require protecting the integrity of events. Faced with expanding global reach, Riot are obliged to up the ante insofar as their protection mechanisms go.
“This partnership with Sportradar enables us to protect our players, teams, and competitions and continue to deliver a best-in-class product to our fans,” Watson concluded.
Tackling Sexism at Home
Not much has happened since the first reports came in that Riot is encouraging a sexist environment towards its female staff. Managers were reportedly discriminating against employees as not being too “assertive enough” or not “gamer enough”.
The case was reported by Cecilia D’Anastasio in Kotaku and it has since empowered Riot employees to stand up to practices that they regarded as frivolous and discriminatory. With this being said, Riot will need to do a lot to clear up its image. In March, the company hired a new chief diversity officer, Angela Roseboro, to help the company solve its internal problems.
Rachael is a veteran gaming journalist with over 9 years of writing experience but has only just started within the gambling industry. She has built a keen interest within the iGaming sector over the years from exposure at events and intends to translate her passion into publications here at GamblingNews.com to keep our readers updated with the latest developments.
