Venues are catering to e-sports fans with beanbag chairs, energy drinks and food on sticks

In a rare move, the largest sports arena in Columbus, Ohio, relaxed a key policy for an event in April, allowing attendees to freely exit and reenter a game in progress.

Nationwide Arena simply couldn’t expect fans to stay seated for nine hours of action.

It’s among the accommodations event spaces across the country are making in bids to capitalize on the rise of arena-packing video-game contests, which they hope will attract a new generation of event-goers — and with them increased ticket and concession sales.

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At Least One Type Of Esports Betting Could Be Happening In Atlantic City Casinos Today

Last week, reports surfaced that Glenn Straub’s Revel casino resuscitation project could offer an esports lounge, one of the first of its kind at a New Jersey casino.

Just as Seth Schorr’s Downtown Grand Las Vegas has formally applied to the Nevada Gaming Control Board to offer wagering at its esports lounge, a natural extension of any esports activity at the Revel would be allowing for some form of esports wagering.

That could take the form of esports tournaments, head-to-head player wagering, esports slot machines, audience-based sportsbook-style wagering, as well as other forms.

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Esports amenities attract customers to Downtown Grand

On a recent Friday night, Isaac Perez walked out of Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino $250 richer.

But it wasn’t because he wagered his money at a slot machine or tried his hand at blackjack.

He won a “Street Fighter V” video game tournament.

“We are at the convergence of eSports and gaming,” said Carson Knuth, co-founder of LEET, a startup that has been operating esports tournaments at Downtown Grand since January. “Our whole vision is that the 21st or 22nd casino floor would be video games and gambling.”

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Esports and Casino Industries Converge This Fall in Las Vegas

The esports phenomenon has drawn in mainstream media like ESPN, major arenas like Madison Square Garden, and investors ranging from Shaquille O’Neal to Mark Cuban. As esports continues its torrid growth, the commercial gambling industry is asking how to effectively embrace and engage esports companies and fans.

Answering that question is the central aim of “Esports & Casino Resorts,” (http://naruscope.com/), a two-day event produced by Narus Advisors that will connect stakeholders from the commercial gambling and esports industries.

“Esports & Casino Resorts” takes place on October 25-26, 2016 at the SLS Casino and Resort in Las Vegas.

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This Will (Probably) Be The First Esports Bet Taken

This year’s EVO 2016 tournament is set to be the biggest in the event’s history.
Entries for the Street Fighter V tournament had exceeded 4,000 by early April, which is one reason why Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino wants EVO 2016 to be the first esports event on which players can legally wager on the outcome in a Las Vegas casino.

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It’s All About eSports at iGNA 2016

With the same three states offering iGaming as for the past two edition of the iGaming North American conference, and few legitimate prospects, the focus of this year’s conference became the one remaining interactive gaming opportunity left: eSports. Some of the statistics about eSports are astounding. Chris Grove of LegalSportsReport.com said eSports is a $5.1 billion industry. At its height, daily fantasy sports was around $2.5 billion, so is eSports the most important secret in gaming. According to Seth Schorr, the chairman of Fifth Street Gaming, which operates Downtown Grand Las Vegas, it is. Schorr has been producing small eSports tournaments at the property that have been remarkably successful. “Vegas has a unique opportunity to position itself as the destination for eSports,” he said. He points out that MGM is using it as a spectator sport, scheduling a massive eSports tournament for next weekend. But the potential for eSports is as a betting vehicle, which it is not at the time. Grove says the worldwide wagering numbers for eSports is now on a par with rugby and Formula One racing, so it’s an untapped reservoir. Grove anticipated eSports leagues—and there are more than a dozen professional leagues, with over 150 teams—getting licensed by Nevada gaming regulators. Integrity isn’t an issue, he said, for two reasons. First, the leagues have much at stake and wouldn’t risk their status. Second, the same data that prevents match-fixing in other sports would also be applied with eSports. “It’s always possible,” said Grove, “but like with other sports, the lower you go on the professional ladder, the more problems you are likely to have.”

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Will Las Vegas Become the Mecca for Esports Competition?

The Las Vegas Strip could soon be home to an arena for competitive video games if one Chinese company gets its way. The Beijing-based Ourgame International Holdings Ltd, the parent company that owns the World Poker Tour, wants to build an arena for e-sports. They want to build them in many locations around the world, but they see Las Vegas as a prime location.Ourgame already runs an arena in Beijing, and officials said this week that the company was teaming up with other Chinese businesses to expand to other countries. Add that with the fact that Downtown Grand Las Vegas has opened their own e-sports lounge and the signs point to Las Vegas developing as an eSports city soon. Every Friday, the casino also runs eContests in which entrants pay around $15 to compete against other players in games ranging from Madden to Mortal Kombat for cash prizes. This events regularly draw as many as 50 players with an equal number of spectators. When Seth Schorr, the chairman of Downtown Grand, was asked about why he decide to implement the e-sports lounge, he said “It’s undeniable that the landscape of gaming is changing, along with every other industry because of advanced technology and consumer behavior… I feel it is my duty to my company and its investors to keep Nevada relevant by changing with the times and coming up with new ways to make the gambling experience more compelling.” This could lead to Las Vegas becoming the hub for all e-sports betting in the country.

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Downtown Grand adds dedicated eSports Lounge

Seth Schorr is the first to admit it. Of the estimated 93 million Americans who play video games, he has never really been one of them. Truth be told, if it weren’t for relenting to his 6-year-old son Dax’s persistent requests to sit down and play Star Wars Battlefront, Schorr’s time spent with a game controller in his hands would be next to nil.

But Schorr isn’t blind to the tremendous influence the eSports market could have in Las Vegas, where he serves as the owner of Fifth Street Gaming and chairman of Downtown Grand Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. In fact, his eyes are more wide open and optimistic regarding the enormous potential than perhaps anyone in the entire casino industry.

“It’s undeniable that the landscape of gaming is changing, along with every other industry because of advanced technology and consumer behavior,” the 39-year-old Schorr explained. “I feel it is my duty to my company and its investors to keep Nevada relevant by changing with the times and coming up with new ways to make the gambling experience more compelling.”

Enter eSports.

Last year, Schorr and his staff began implementing a strategy in which competitive and professional video gaming would become a part of the guest experience at Downtown Grand, located on the site of the former Lady Luck Hotel & Casino in the center of the Downtown 3rd metropolitan district. In February, it became the first casino Schorr is aware of to open a dedicated space for video games. Right dab in the middle of the casino floor for all to see, Downtown Grand now has an eSports Lounge, in a room previously used for high-limit gaming, which can now be found next to Furnace Bar. The 1,140-square-foot lounge is ideal for five-on-five team competitions with a bank of 10 PCs, as well as Xbox and PlayStation consoles. Within the next month, classic arcade games will be added, as well as a Nintendo 64 console, an attempt to appeal to the late-30s/early-40s demographic who grew up with that wildly popular game attached to their TVs.

Every Friday, the casino runs eContests in which entrants pay a fee of around $15 and compete against others in games like Madden, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and NBA2K for cash prizes. The events regularly draw as many as 50 players with an equal number of spectators.

“It’s really cool to walk by on a Friday night and see two people playing Mortal Kombat head-to-head with 40 or 50 people standing around cheering them on,” Schorr said. “What’s great is that we’re finding that something like this really fits quite naturally in the casino atmosphere. It brings tremendous energy to the casino floor, which is always a good thing.”

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