Totals betting in League of Legends

What is Totals betting in League of Legends?

Totals betting in League of Legends is a bet on how long a match will last. In competitive LoL, it is common for tournaments to play head-to-head matchups that are Best-of-Three (Bo3) which means a bettor can bet on whether the ‘total’ number of games played in a match is Over/Under 2.5.

Unlike a Money Line bet, which is a bet on the winner of the match, a Totals bet doesn’t rely on predicting the winner but rather on how a match could unfold. If a team sweeps their opponent in a straight 2 - 0 set, those that bet ‘Under 2.5’ will be paid out, whereas if a match goes to all three games in a Bo3, those that bet ‘Over 2.5’ will have their bet settled.

Totals betting provides a great alternative for bettors that think that the teams in a head-to-head match are evenly skilled due to the fact it isn’t reliant on the match winner.

How does Totals betting work in LoL?

While in LoL it is common to have Bo3 matches (Over/Under 2.5), some tournaments may change the structure to encompass a Bo5 format (Over/Under 3.5) in the Playoff bracket of their tournaments, examples being the Mid-Season Invitational and the World Championship.

Totals betting in a Best-of-Five scenario functions exactly the same as our Bo3 example with the exception that the bet is on whether a match will last three games (Under 3.5) or be played to four or more games (Over 3.5).

The Totals betting market is an indicator on how traders think a match could unfold and will have odds to reflect this. Take for example a hypothetical Bo3 matchup between G2 Esports and Fnatic in the LEC:

With odds sitting at 1.65 for Over 2.5 in the matchup, the traders expect the head-to-head to be a relatively close affair with all three maps being played to determine a winner. To further develop this example, the Money Line also places G2 Esports at 1.70 and Fnatic at 2.10, by utilising both the Totals and Money Line market, a bettor can deduce that the traders expect G2 Esports to win the match over the course of three games.

Totals betting in a Best-of-One

Given that competitive LoL isn’t exclusively played in a Bo3 format, games that are played in a Bo1 format will instead have a more specific Totals market available for bettors, primarily on the total time taken for the game to finish.

For those betting on the Totals market in a Bo1, knowledge and awareness of the Average Game Time (AGT) statistic will prove particularly valuable.

Team Totals for Kills

Another alternative Totals market, Team Totals for Kills provides bettors with the opportunity to bet on the number of kills a specific team achieves during a game. This market functions differently for each head-to-head matchup with each team being set an Over/Under kill number based on their game average.

Fundamentally, Team Totals for Kills functions the same way as other Totals markets. Betting on this specific market requires a deeper knowledge of LoL as each team can have a play style that can lead to more or less kills in a game.

Improving your Over/Under LoL predictions

Due to the variety of Over/Under markets available for bettors, research becomes paramount for those wishing to inform their Over/Under bets. There are a number of websites that provide historical performance data such as Oracleelixir and gamesoflegends (GOL).

Both Oracleelixir and GOL provide specific data such as the Average Game Time (AGT), Gold Difference at 15 minutes (GD@15) and Dragon control rate (DRG%) among other data sets for every team over the course of regular season and tournament play.

Leveraging other points of data will help you to understand the performance of a team over time, provide points of reference when making future predictions and improve your understanding of LoL strategy.