The Casino eSports Conference, which was recently held at the Westgate Hotel in Las Vegas, has failed to attract the attention of many of the big casino names in Sin City. The conference was held not far from the Las Vegas strip and offered attendees a number of discussions on how to best approach the new eSports betting market. However, most of the big players in the Las Vegas casino industry elected not to attend the conference.
Big Casino Uninterested in eSports Betting?
The Casino eSports Conference had hoped to get the gambling industry leaders together for two days to create strategies on how to integrate video games with the casino floor. While most of the major casinos did not attend, there were representatives from downtown resorts. The man behind the conference, Ben Fox, did not seem all that surprised that the big casinos were largely absent. He stated that the smaller, regional casinos tend to be able to make decisions quicker, as they do not have to answer to a massive corporation.
While the big players may not be rushing to board the eSports betting train, MGM Resorts is currently building an eSports Arena at Luxor Hotel. This will be the first such venue on the Las Vegas Strip, so some of the big casinos are not blind to eSports.
Nevada Expands eSports Betting
If you’re unfamiliar with eSports, essentially it is professional, competitive video gaming. This industry has exploded in recent years, and total prize money at competitions has reached $360 million. The issue for casinos is, how can they get involved. Most of the people involved in eSports are under 21, so the casinos cannot serve them drinks or let them gamble. In addition, people this age typically can’t afford to stay at the casino’s hotels.
Nevada has recently expanded eSports betting in the state as well. It has been legal for some time, but until recently, sports books were only allowed to offer odds on one eSports market at a time. This has now changed, and sportsbooks will be able to offer wagers on multiple games at a time. eSports is definitely getting more accepted, just a few months ago, Madison Square gardens bought an eSports company. In addition to that, the world’s first licenses for skin betting have been issued.
