Inside Asian Gaming

SEPTEMBER 2018 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 11 Melco Resorts confirms Studio City IPO plans in motion Call for eSports to embrace gambling after Valve bans betting sponsorships Melco Resorts & Entertainment has confirmed that it is continuing preparations to launch an Initial Public Offering of shares in Studio City International Holdings – the holding company for its Studio City integrated resort in Macau. Updating the company’s intentions almost exactly a year since submitting a draft registration statement for a possible IPO to the US Securities Exchange on 14 August 2017, Melco said that it has been “continuing its preparations for the proposed IPO, which is expected to commence as market conditions permit and remains subject to the US Securities and Exchange Commission declaring the registration statement effective.” Melco added that the shares “may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective.” Leading eSports publisher Valve has instructed professional Dota 2 teams competing in this year’s The International 8 tournament to stop accepting sponsorships from gambling websites, but one prominent expert says it is time the industry overcomes its aversion to gambling links. Hai Ng – a globally renowned eSports technology strategist, event operator and team owner – told a panel at the Gaming, Racing and Wagering conference in Sydney that while games publishers remain largely averse to any association with gambling, the time has come for the respective industries to start a conversation. “What we’re seeing with Valve and what we’ve seen in the past with Riot (creator of League of Legends) is that they don’t want to be seen as having anything to do with gambling or betting companies for fear that they will be seen as promoting gambling to minors,” Ng said. “It’s all about perception. The irony is that betting operators don’t want to promote gambling to minors and the eSports industry doesn’t want to promote gambling to minors either. The ideologies of each are exactly the same, they just aren’t talking to each other about it yet. “I think that has to change. At the moment the games publishers are still trying to pretend that gambling around the industry doesn’t exist or that it’s got nothing to do with them, but just like with traditional sports, the betting industry around eSports will exist with or without the publishers, so in the long term it’s better that they embrace the opportunity and start working together.”