Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming January 2017 36 US, outside of a few major eSports events hosted by Vegas casinos and a notable embrace by the Downtown Grand, integration has essentially been non-existent.” To Graboyes, whose company has developed a skill-based video slot game that debuted at Harrah’s Atlantic City last month, eSports is part of a larger conversation adding skill to a casino gaming mix that is too skewed toward randomness. “First you have to look at what is eSports and too often there’s a focus on the top 2% of competitive stage and arena events,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say most of us in this space would call eSports ‘competitive gaming’. So when you look in that wider sense, it provides a lot of opportunity for everything from sportsbook betting to a product like ours where we’ve created a video game gambling machine. It looks like an arcade cabinet, you play a popular video game, you get a payout based on your skill. “We’re starting to add other features such as tournament and competition controllers, so that gamers can come to the casino floor and compete against each other for cash and other prizes. So I would say the perfect product isn’t that different from the electronic gaming machines that exist today; it’s really about the content. Gamers want to play video games. They want to be involved with other gamers. So it comes down to providing that content experience for gamers.” To date, the one venue where eSports has been incorporated into the larger gaming entertainment offer is the Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino. “To me it was not a great leap to see the integration of video games in a casino resort environment,” said Seth Schorr, CEO of Fifth Street Gaming, the property’s owner. “I agree that there’s an enormous revenue upside, but to me just enhancing the casino resort experience and introducing the younger generation to casinos, I have found that eSports has been a fantastic way to achieve that goal. “What we have found is the current slot product simply does not appeal to the specific guests who are coming for our eSports product. Just taking Call of Duty and sticking it on a reel slot machine will be laughed at. It’s not just the IP, it’s the basis of chance-based wagering. “The eSports audience finds that concept completely unappealing. Gambling games that have some component of skill, even blackjack for example, they’re at least a little bit attracted to.” The eSports gaming lounge at the Downtown Grand has attracted widespread attention, but it is a work-in-progress. “There’s going to be a lot of trial-and-error because there’s a lot to learn,” said Schorr. Sam McMullen, CEO of FiveGen/NV eSports – which worked with the Grand to develop its eSports lounge – said the goal was to create an environment that had aspects of the competitive game and merged some of the aspects of social competitive play. “We figured it’s a contest and they created an eContest environment. Twitter impressions in the first week went from 396,000 to around 2.9 million. That competitive and social aspect – whether they’re playing for money or bragging rights doesn’t matter – it’s working.” Feature In Focus The Downtown Grand in Las Vegas started accepting bets on eSports events late last year “The growing conversation around skill gambling has brought eSports specifically, and video games more generally, to the front-of-mind for regulators, casino operators and suppliers.”