MACAU BUSINESS
Legal betting in Las Vegas W
hile e-sports has been plugged as a non-gaming
offering in the city, this format of video game competition has recently been legalised for wagering in the state of Nevada, having been an online betting favourite for years. Last year, Nevada, home
to the Las Vegas Strip, passed amendments to its pari-mutuel wagering rules, allowing wagering on non-traditional events like e-sports tournaments as well as horseracing and athletic sporting events. “As far as I’m aware
Nevada is the only place accepting legalised wagering on e-sports tournaments,” said Jennifer Roberts, Associate Director of the Centre of Gaming Regulation at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, quoted by a subsidiary of US
20 OCTOBER 2018
broadcaster ABC in a report this year. Following the
enforcement of the bill in July last year, a casino on the Strip –Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino – became the first casino to accept wagering on an e-sports event last November for a tournament held in Beijing, according to media reports. While Las Vegas casinos
have had a history of hosting video game tournaments for more than a decade, Luxor Las Vegas – operated by MGM Resorts International – has lately transformed its former nightclubs into space for e-sports. The Esports Arena Las Vegas opened earlier this year. “[The arena] is the first
facility of its kind to be dedicated to this form of gaming,” said gaming analyst Chris Grove, quoted
by The Las Vegas Review Journal. “To try something like this and build an e-sports arena and wrap a marketing and event concept of this around a destination for gaming is unprecedented; there are a lot of people waiting to see how it plays out.” According to a report this
year by gaming research and consultancy firms Eilers & Krejcik Gaming and Narus Advisors, global betting on e-sports amounted to only US$649 million (MOP5.24 billion), mainly via online bookmakers, in 2016…but it could grow to US$5.88 billion this year. The size could hit US$11.53 billion by 2020 due to a dramatic increase in the number of e-sports events, which will generate a surge in both the demand and supply side for cash betting, the report concluded.
Macau E-Sports Federation this year to facilitate the development of the sector, taking advantages of the city’s abundant MICE and hotel facilities. The Federation plans to organise several major
international events here a year. For example, an e-sports carnival was held in SJM property Grand Lisboa Hotel in June, attracting the attendance of Mainland players and celebrities.
Late arrival
“The gaming operators have only taken an interest in e-sports events in very recent times – a few parties asked some of them to co-host e-sports tournaments a few years ago but the proposals were turned down,” says a local e-sports industry figure, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. “[The operators] cited a tight budget and doubts about whether such events could attract visitors as the rationale behind the rejection,” the figure added. The tight budget at the time was due to the monthly decline in gaming revenues for 26 straight months in the 2014-2016 period, given an economic slowdown and an anti-corruption campaign in Mainland China that kept high rollers at bay. “They are late to the party but it’s better than no-show,” the figure added. The interests of gaming operators in e-sports
events also come at a time when their licences, which will variously expire by 2020 and 2022, are up for renewal. Despite the current lack of detail from the government on how it will handle future gaming licences the promotion of non-gaming elements and
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