eSports governing bodies will have to submit a request no less than 30-days before their event begins if they have any chance of stopping a Las Vegas sportsbook from offering odds at one of their events according to an eSports news writer.
It was only a matter of time before the Nevada Gambling Commission (NGC) gave the green light for Nevada sportsbooks to offer odds on eSports events. As our very own Peter Amsel points out right here. William Hill US were the first to break that particular hymen when they opened a book on the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Oakland League of Legends (LOL) at the Downtown Grand & Casino.
The thumbs went up only a day before the players got their keyboards out of their backpacks after a last-minute meeting of minds within Nevada’s Gaming Policy Committee. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said it was a significant step towards turning Nevada into the ‘eSports capital of the world.’ Fifth Street Gaming, CEO, Seth Schorr, pointed to the ‘positive impact on state revenues.’
But it seems not everyone within the eSports industry is so keen on the move into the regulated and licensed gambling sphere. In an article scribed for PVPLive, Dustin Steiner, poked around the innards of the NGC to find out what would happen if an eSports tournament organiser didn’t want gambling at their events.
The reply might come as quite a shock to people within the eSports industry, given that the weekend before the IEM Oakland LOL event, Evolution Championship Series (Evo) co-founder, Joey Cuellar, went onto Twitter to say that, ‘The LV Gaming Commission needs permission from the event to do bets. Evo blocked them last year and will continue to do so.”
If Steiner’s Poirot skills are on point, Cuellar is going to be sorely disappointed. In an exchange of emails, Chief of the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB), Karl Bennison, told Steiner that an eSports event organiser would have to submit valid reasons to block gambling at an event to the NGC no less than 30 days before the event begins. The final say on the matter then rests with the NGC.
The email quoted NGC Regulation 22.120:
“Based on the merits of the request, the NGC would decide whether or not to grant the request.”
Evo isn’t the only eSports outfit that doesn’t want gambling involved with their tournaments. The Twitter chain that contained the Cuellar statement also pointed out that Capcom and Riot ban gambling at their events.
Evo has time on their side. The 2017 Championships won’t begin until July 2017.
