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.
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.”
Embracing eSports Isn’t Such a Bad Idea for Casinos
The IS-7 thunders over the rubble of a ruined cottage just as a T110E5 comes crashing through the trees. They simultaneously fire on the Spahpanzer Ru 251, which is rocked by explosions but manages to hang on. As the attackers reload, the Ru 251 wheels backward, searching for cover. But an SU-152 is waiting to deliver the kill shot. In a fiery blast, the Ru 251 ceases to exist.
That’s a lot of twisted metal carnage, but Angela Abshier, director of resort marketing at Downtown Grand, isn’t frantic about the destruction. She’s not even worried about turning around the Fremont Room for the wedding scheduled later that week. All of this destruction is virtual, part of a paroxysm of digital combat that will culminate in crowning a new champion of Wargaming.net League North America, or WGLNA.
Cyprus-based Wargaming offers four main games: World of Tanks, World of Warships, World of Warplanes and Master of Orion. The mayhem at Downtown Grand is confined to World of Tanks, a massive multiplayer online game that, as the name suggests, pits teams of tankers against each other. Players select which one of more than 350 historical tanks they will use, then square off. The game is free to play, but players can buy add-ons to augment their experience.
Downtown Grand CEO is gone after 8 months
Downtown Grand CEO Jim Simms is gone after less than a year on the job, the casino announced today.
Simms was named to the position last June, replacing Seth Schorr, who became the Grand’s chairman. The resort said in a statement today that Simms was leaving because he had “completed his one-year plan ahead of schedule.”
Simms came to the Grand in part to expand its gaming operations, the statement said, while furthering the “full casino resort experience” and building on success of the existing room and restaurant offerings. The Grand introduced a new tiered rewards program during his tenure, as well as changes to the casino floor and a competitive video games lounge.
The Grand introduced a new tiered rewards program during his tenure, as well as changes to the casino floor and a competitive video games lounge. The resort also has plans to feature skill-based games on its casino floor.
Simms said in an interview with VEGAS INC last year that the Grand wanted to compete for core casino customers while also being a technological leader.
“We’re looking at building a model here that is going be a little more technology-savvy, maybe more cutting-edge than some of our competition,” he said at the time.
Schorr said in an interview that Simms was hired on a one-year contract, and that he had a “very specific mission” that included helping to right-size some expenses and improving the resort’s finances.
“We thought that would take the course of a year or so, and it ended a little earlier than we expected. We’re not replacing him, so it’s not a termination,” Schorr said. “He helped us rebuild our team, and we’ve got great things going on.”
Before coming to the Grand, Simms was president and general manager of Miami Valley Gaming in Ohio. He held various other hospitality and gaming positions prior to that, including at businesses in West Virginia, Chicago and Las Vegas.
Schorr said that the decision not to bring in a replacement for Simms would not hinder the resort’s progress.
“My daily responsibility, in terms of the oversight and strategic direction, actually never changed,” Schorr said of his transition to chairman last year. “My direction has always been one from a strategic position, and I am still there. From that sense, there aren’t any changes in leadership.”
Location poses a challenge to the fledgling Grand, which opened in 2013 as a renovation of the former Lady Luck casino. Unlike some of the other resorts in downtown Las Vegas, the Grand’s situation at Third Street and Ogden Avenue is a bit more removed from the heavy foot traffic on the Fremont Street Experience.
But the Grand’s statement emphasized its “strong operating performance” last year, noting in today’s statement that it reported an average 90 percent hotel room occupancy, “steady growth” on the gaming side and “continued popularity” in the main restaurant and bar offerings on its property.
Schorr said in the statement that the Grand was prepared for another strong year of “elevating the casual sophisticated resort experience in Downtown Las Vegas.”
Downtown Grand to host an eSports team and players of the first-person shooter game
Amid the slot machines and blackjack tables at Downtown Grand, a group of video gamers represents the property’s latest attempt to be on the forefront of a sport you’ve probably never heard of.
In November, the property announced it’s hosting the LA Renegades, an Australian eSports team and players of the first-person shooter game “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,” for a two-month residency.
The group of five plays in a private practice room to train for eSports league competitions and hosts meet-and-greets and exhibition tournament events. Downtown Grand’s Commissary Market and Café has been converted into an eSports viewing room.
eSports, established in Asia, is a term for professional video game competitions, which includes everything from first-person shooters to high-level team strategy games.
Since expanding into the United States and western Europe, more than 47 million people have watched or participated in eSports, according to an April 2014 report by Newzoo.
“It’s a very serious sport, and the players train for eight hours a day to hone in on their skills,” Downtown Grand Chairman Seth Schorr said. “We wanted to create a professional training facility that they can use as a home base as they travel throughout the world to play in eSports tournaments.”
According to Schorr, the Renegades residency came about after meeting the team’s owner.
DOWNTOWN GRAND WANTS TO BE A VIDEO-GAMER DESTINATION
Here was the bulk of my knowledge about video-game tournaments before Saturday: 1. If you were in a Tecmo Bowl tournament, you weren’t allowed to play as the Raiders, because Bo Jackson was unstoppable. 2. The character Jimmy Woods was likely somewhere on the autism spectrum but was able to express his genius by dominatingSuper Mario Bros. 3 in the film The Wizard.
I learned a lot about the world of eSports at Downtown Grand this past weekend when the hotel hosted the official viewing party for Intel Extreme Masters, a major event featuring the world?s best players of the games Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and League of Legends. I spent a portion of my time watching a CS:GO matchup between the Brazilian team Luminosity and the European team NaVi. Frank Villarreal, one of the owners of the Enemy (NME) eSports team and still in his early 20s, was my guide, explaining the action as it happened.
CS:GO is a first-person shooter game in which you stalk your opponents through different settings. The first team to win 16 rounds wins the match, but teams switch sides after 15 rounds – like halftime – because the first position is advantageous.
While all involved at the Grand admitted they were hoping for a larger crowd on Saturday, the weekend was only a signal of things to come, according to chairman Seth Schorr. “It’s our desire at Downtown Grand to become the premiere video game and eSports destination, which is really something that doesn’t exist today, a 365-days-a-year destination for video-game enthusiasts.” That’s why eSports team the LA Renegades currently has a residency at the Grand, complete with a private practice room.
Schorr’s plans also include teaming up with Turner Broadcasting’s new eSports league and a concept to remake one of the property’s restaurants into an eSports bar and lounge. Whether or not those elements can capture the crowd addicted to watching people play video games on sites like twitch.tv remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure: If Jimmy Woods were playing as Bo Jackson, there’d be no doubt as to the identity of the best CS:GO player in the world.
As gamblers shun stingier slots, casinos shake things up
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Move aside one-armed bandits. The casino floor is making room for game zones with oversized popping dice, digital spinning Big Six wheels and virtual roulette, with an eye on adding arcade-style video games in the not-so-distant future.
GameCo, Inc. To Bring World’s First Skill-Based Video Game Gambling Machines To Casino Floors
GameCo, Inc., a pioneering new company poised to unite skill-based video games with real-money casino floor gaming, has created the world’s first video game gambling machines (VGM™) in an effort to bring a new generation of gamers to land-based casinos.
Similar to electronic poker or blackjack but featuring popular video games, GameCo’s proprietary arcade-style cabinets utilize a patent-pending system that balances player skill with proprietary game design to deliver single player games, while maintaining the same house return to players as traditional slot machines.
“Attracting millennials to the casino floor is the most critical issue facing gaming destinations today and GameCo is delivering the solution casinos need to engage this key audience,” remarked Blaine Graboyes, GameCo co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO). “Our skill-based VGMs are the natural evolution of the slot machine. We have created a truly state-of-the-art experience that speaks directly to the nearly 93 million adult Americans that play video games.”
BOARD OF MUSEUMS AND HISTORY MINUTES
What are Some of the Misconceptions that Non-Nevadans Have About People Who Live in Nevada?
“That we’re always playing blackjack in our free time. In reality, Nevada is blessed with tremendous outdoor activities, the year-round weather to enjoy them, and plenty of opportunities for cultural learning beyond the casino doors.” Rory T. Kay | Attorney, McDonald Carano Wilson, LLP (Hails from: Lincoln, NE) “It’s not just misconceptions as much as it is people thinking…