It’s a sure bet most of us never thought that gamblers could someday want to wager on how well we played video games like Pac-Man or Asteroids.
However, as video games have become more sophisticated and include team play, the Nevada Gaming Control Board was commanded by state legislators in Senate Bill 165. It is now required to regulate esports competitions which have grown to be a multibillion dollar global industry.
That’s the purpose of the eight-member Control Board-appointed Esports Technical Advisory Committee that met for the first time last week. As the bid to take more wagers moves forward, it will be a priority to eliminate the possibility of cheating.
Good start
Committee member Brett Abarbanel, director of research at UNLV’s International Gaming Institute, said esports are on a rapid growth trajectory, and noted viewpoints offered by panelists and four special presenters at the first meeting provide a great start to the process of managing and regulating wagering on games and tournaments. This will lead to increased gambling revenue and tax revenue for the state.
Experts in Esports believe that the industry will attract 29.6 million gamers in 2022 and 31.4 millions in 2023.
Esports was a $1.084 trillion industry in 2021. It is projected to reach $1.8billion in 2022 according to Sam McMullen. Sam McMullen is a fifth-generation Nevadan and founder and managing partner at FiveGen in Las Vegas, which is a consultancy that works to connect esports players and vendors.
Asia, Europe and North America are the regions with the highest participation. Competitions take place regularly online. The main hubs of activity in Las Vegas are Luxor, which is home to the HyperX Esports Arena and Downtown Grand. Fifth Street Gaming’s CEO, Seth Schorr has been a pioneer in the Nevada Esports Alliance and was instrumental in establishing the industry. He’s also one of the committee members.
Nevada was helped by Schorr when he was granted special permission by the Control Board to place bets on competitions in 2016.
The spring of 2020 saw the closure of several traditional sports leagues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This sparked interest in esports betting. The Control Board approved betting for several events, including the 2020 DreamHack Masters Spring, 2020 ESL One Road to Rio, and the 2020 Call of Duty League competitions.
Deputy Attorney General John Michela told committee members that esports originally was lumped into a category of “other events” that sportsbooks could take wagers on, but after former Gov. Brian Sandoval instructed the Gaming Policy Committee in 2016 to analyze esports. This led to the possibility of placing bets on competitive events.
Pandemic sparked interest
McMullen stated that 92 percent match-fixing was driven by betting fraud. In this perspective, esports oversight is no different from traditional sports monitoring for cheating. Critics have expressed concern that betting would be placed on participants who are too young.
Ian Smith, a commissioner for the Esports Integrity Commission, was one of the presenters. He discussed current integrity issues, as well as past esports integrity experience. He’s hopeful that Nevada will adopt some of the ESIC guidelines for detecting fraud.
Jeff Cohen, vice-president of strategy at Esports Entertainment Group said that this should not be any different from betting on college sports.
“While it is true that professional (esports) teams will often have players under the age of 21, we do not see the distinction as to why esports would be dangerous when betting on March Madness or college football where almost all of the participants are underaged and do not receive the same scrutiny,” he said. “Additionally, while it is also true that the average age of an esports bettor skews about a decade younger than that of traditional sports bettors, our belief is that this makes it actually even more important to legalize and regulate it.”
That’s because much of the wagering on esports occurs offshore at illegal sportsbooks.
“Overall, we do not believe there is any greater level of integrity risks inherent in esports than are in more accepted sports, such as tennis, rugby, and soccer, all of which have had their fair share of controversy at various different levels of leagues,” Cohen said. “Additionally, as esports leagues have become more professionalized and player salaries and prestige have increased, we believe the incentives to throw matches has dramatically decreased.”
Match-fixing in esports
Match-fixing in Esports is no different to finding point-shaving scams.
Nevada sportsbooks often are credited with blowing the whistle on a point-shaving incident involving Arizona State University’s men’s basketball team in 1998. Books noticed that a large amount of money was being placed on ASU underdogs. Two ASU players and game-fixing gamblers were also implicated. The Nevada books alerted authorities and the gamblers were convicted and imprisoned.
Also, sportsbooks would be required to alert regulators if large amounts are placed on esports events.
Abarbanel hopes to gain more perspectives on how to regulate esports best in future committee meetings.
These could include new regulations or a registration system that includes all players, coaches and team owners.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at [email protected] or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelottaFollow us on Twitter.
