Expect eSports betting to become Italy’s newest “thing” soon.
We recently reported that Italian gaming operator Snai entered the market via a partnership with sports and betting data champions Betradar to offer pre-match and in-play markets in popular competitive gaming events such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), League of Legends (LoL), and Dota 2.
Snai is Italy’s first eSports license holder, but online gaming and betting regulator Agencizia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM) is reportedly planning to add more eSports licensees “to channel the vertical” to Italy’s regulated betting operators.
Just like Snai, the eSports licenses will cover events like Dota 2 and LoL. According to iGaming Business, licensees will be regulated under the 2013 betting decree that limits the types of wagers placed. Under the decree, “the nature of bets must not include any sort of violent, indecent or discriminating offer.”
Additionally, ADM also wants interested operators to offer solutions that will give the agency full access to information particularly during live events “for inspection and monitoring purposes.”
Kobe Bryant wants slice of eSports pie
It’s only a matter of time before Kobe Bryant joins his former teammates Shaquille O’Neal and Rick Fox in the competitive gaming arena.
During the NBA 2K World Championship event in Los Angeles early this week, the Black Mamba admitted to USA Today that he has recently developed a “strong interest” in eSports, especially in watching “how the gamers are figuring out those challenges amongst themselves.”
“I’ve really been focusing on the gaming world and how it relates to storytelling because there’s obviously a great relationship between those two,” he told the news outlet. “The lines are becoming more and more blurred every day, and so I’ve been playing close attention to the future of that industry.”
Bryant said that like Shaq and Fox, he also believes eSports is “something that we should invest in.”
“It depends, depends if the right opportunity comes along, and I feel like it’s something that we should invest in,” Bryant said.
