So-called eSports events are packing Las Vegas arenas as state gaming regulators and casino operators continue working on regulations to enable eSports wagering.
The Mandalay Bay in April hosted the North American League of Legends championship, which packed the casino’s arena with mostly millennial-age fans for two days.
Another 15,000 showed up each day during the two-day Evolution Championship Series, which pitted players against one another in several popular online games, such as Mortal Kombat X and Street Fighter V.
The success and popularity of such events has casino operators looking to build one or more dedicated eSports arenas, and the Downtown Grand’s sports book already has applied for a gaming license to offer sports and poker-style eSports wagering.
The Grand also built the first dedicated eSports venue in Nevada and hosts a professional eSports team from Australia, which practices at the casino when preparing for big events.
Each weekend, the Grand also hosts eSports events, where mostly Millennial-age participants can win cash and prizes while playing their favorite games.
Market research firm Newzoo anticipates the global market for eSports will top $460 million this year and $1 billion in 2019. That means many times more in potential betting handle on eSports events.
Another primary driver for embracing eSports in Las Vegas is its close ties to the millennial generation, which grew up playing online and console video games and greatly prefer them to slot machines and table games.
Las Vegas also has one of the nation’s highest densities of millennials, with about 14 percent of the about 2.2 million people in its metropolitan area being between ages 18 and 34.
Las Vegas also is located about three hours or less from eight of the nation’s nine other high-density millennial populations, most of which are located in the Southwest. Only Washington DC is located more than three hours away by plane.
At more than 76 million, millennials already are the single-largest generation group in the U.S. and is expected to continue growing in number to about 81 million in 2036, according to the Pew Center.
With eSports set to take off and Las Vegas ideally located to fly them in, state gaming regulators and casino operators want to make eSports a permanent fixture in the Las Vegas Valley.
