Esports betting and King of Glory — what you need to know
Competitive multiplayer mobile gaming — mobile esports gaming — is huge, especially in Asia. A recent report from Google noted that global mobile esports games generated $19.5 billion in revenue, with 68% ($13.3B) of said revenue driven by Asian consumers.
With such a large consumer base, it comes as no surprise that China’s 2015 mobile MOBA title King of Glory (or Honor of Kings) boasts over 100 million active daily players and currently stands as the highest grossing mobile game in the world. The game’s professional esports league, the King Pro League garnered 24 billion total stream views over 9 months of play last year, according to the game’s publisher Tencent.
🎲 Why we’re launching King of Glory
Despite being a relative unknown to some Western audiences, King of Glory is a benchmark for Asian esports, and so too for esports betting. The King Pro League is a must have for any Asia or China facing bookmaker offering esports to punters.
The game has started making waves for Western bookmakers too. In a partnered announcement with Esports Insider, dedicated esportsbook LOOT.BET reported that King of Glory came in at 10th for total betting turnover in 2020. It also ranked 2nd for average bet size at €30.65, trumped only by League of Legends at €32.34.
Which is why we’ve rolled out stats and odds coverage for the King Pro League, China’s premier esports competition for mobile MOBA King of Glory. We’re already supplying bookmakers with fixed, prematch odds and will be eyeing off live odds down the track.
For us at PandaScore, it’s an important step in empowering bookmakers with the data and odds they need to better cater to esports punters across the globe, whatever game they’re passionate about. It’s also our first foray into mobile esports, and with a player base of over 100 million, King of Glory has tremendous esports betting potential.
If you already know how the game works and the structure of the King Pro League, you can jump ahead to the markets we’re offering. If not, here’s the key info to get you up to speed on King of Glory.
💬 The game with many names
King of Glory? Honor of Kings? Arena of Valor? What the game is called depends on who you’re talking to and what language you’re speaking.
The official name of the game in Mandarin is 王者荣耀 or Wángzhě Róngyào, which translates into English multiple ways. It can be read as ‘King’s Glory’ or ‘King of Glory’ and in international settings, the Chinese version of the game is also referred to as ‘Honor of Kings.’
Many of the playable characters in King of Glory are based on figures from Chinese history and folklore. Seeking to expand the game’s reach to a global audience, Tencent launched an international adaptation titled Arena of Valor. For pro’s and players outside China, they operate on a separate system under the AoV banner.
For the purposes of esports betting, King of Glory refers the Chinese game only and the domestic competition, the King Pro League.
📱 Gameplay basics
King of Glory is a 5v5 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) with 2 opposing teams aiming to destroy their opponent’s central building, the nexus. The game is set up very much like League of Legends or Dota 2: it has 3 lanes — top, middle and bottom — with a jungle in between. The map is split in half by a river, with 2 big neutral objectives on either side that give players buffs and bonuses when defeated.
Players gain experience and gold by killing opponents and neutral monsters or farming creeps, which they then use to level up and buy items, augmenting their character’s powers to give them greater opportunities to win the game.
Being a mobile game, King of Glory matches are quite short compared to its PC counterparts — about 10 minutes on average. Whereas a pro match of League of Legends on PC generally falls within the 20–40 minutes mark and matches of Riot Games’ recently launched mobile MOBA, Wild Rift, are generally about 15 minutes.
🧨 An action-packed league
With games averaging 10 minutes you’re guaranteed to have explosive action, and plenty of it.
Similar to the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) in China, the King Pro League has matches almost every single day of the week. During the regular season each match is a best-of-5 series, with anywhere from 6 to 15 games a day over intervals of 4 weeks.
The league is structured into 3 groups based on their record the previous season, so teams of similar skill level face one another more often. After each 4-week period, the groups are restructured according to their performance and play resumes.
When the league reaches its playoffs and major tournaments like the World Champion Cup, every match is a best-of-7 series, offering anywhere from 48 to 84 playoffs games depending on which stage of competition we’re at. For a more detailed breakdown of competition structure, check out the official King Pro League Liquipedia page.
🧮 Markets offered by PandaScore
The fixed, prematch odds we’re offering at launch are as follows:
- Winner 2-way (Game)
- Winner 2-way (Match)
- Total Maps Over/Under
- Correct Score
- First Map/Match Results
- [Team] To Win A Map
- [Team] Maps Won
- Maps Handicap
