Las Vegas casinos to provide eSports
eSports are considerate as competitive video gaming and its players, a sort of “athletes.”
US.- Last Friday, the Nevada Gaming Policy Committee held a hearing to present a new possible expansion of Las Vegas offerings and casino attractions: the addition of eSports in the gaming portfolio. Thinking about millennial generation, eSports –competitive video gaming imitating real life sports– could fit in to authorities’ expectations to attract innovative industries to the state.
“Gaming is just the new passion point for this digital generation,” stated Craig Levine, CEO of the Electronic Sports League. Governors, regulators and operators carried out the three-hour meeting presenting their perspectives of eSports, an industry that would become a US$1.9 billion business. Whether Las Vegas is adding the video sport competition or not, depends on the writing of proper regulation in all aspects of development.
The Commission hearing offered an educational segment of eSports and the betting industry behind them. The general atmosphere showed a trend of proposing eSpots as the emerging innovative opportunity Nevada is aiming for. New generations would appeal more to this kind of betting rather than classic casino games, which could also create new job opportunities for young citizens.
Las Vegas regulators should now debate about the legalisation of the new industry in order to determine if players are cyber-athletes and the competition is a regular sport match in which wagers can be set. Currently, the Downtown Grand revealed a video game lounge that organises eSports tournaments every weekend. The gaming venue only offers prizes to players, with each tournament having a fixed entry fee and prize payouts. But other jurisdictions, such as the UK and Australia, do allow spectators to bet on eSports outcomes. Further innovations are expected in one of the biggest gaming hubs worldwide.
