Nevada Approves Esports Betting In Historic Moment For Industry

Ever since the COVID-19 outbreak started wrecking havoc on the world, the sports betting industry has been one of the most hard-hit areas to suffer. In these trying times, it has been important for casinos and sportsbooks to find new ways of bringing in revenue.
As we’ve detailed here over the last couple of weeks, video games have become an outlet for not only entertainment but wagering as well. Now, the mecca of sports betting has made it a priority to have esports as part of its regular lineup.
Nevada approved sports-betting outlets within the state’s borders to allow esports wagers for Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) – don’t worry, we’ll all learn the terminology together over the next few weeks.
William Hill is the first Las Vegas sportsbook credited with allowing esports to wager on. As early as Thursday, they had odds on two esports contests available to bet on.
Both of those matches were streamed on YouTube and Twitch and were available to bet on via the William Hill mobile app in Nevada.
This is obviously an unprecedented area of sports betting for the United States, but this is currently being wagered on over in Europe. While that has been accepted with mixed reviews, New Jersey even decided to get involved in the mix at one point.
Currently, the situation is on a case-by-case basis because New Jersey sports-betting regulators need to approve any event before it is put out on the market for people to wager on. Back in November 2019, The Garden State allowed wagering on the League of Legends World Championship Final.
Following Suit?
This is an interesting precedent, considering other states will certainly be looking for ways to bring money in. Since the United States Supreme Court made the ruling to allow each individual state to make their own decisions on whether to allow sports betting or not, over 20 states have gotten themselves involved in the mix.
Furthermore, it’ll be truly interesting to see what these states like Illinois, Michigan and Montana do in the coming weeks. After all, these are the three newest states on the block to have legalized sports betting within its borders.
Additionally, there are five states – Washington D.C., Tennessee, North Carolina, Colorado and Washington – that are legalized and on the verge of getting the green light to make sports betting fully functional. It’ll be interesting to see if those states expedite the process of legalization, in hopes that this esports craze can catch on with its customers.
It is worth noting, though, that Iowa, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island all outlaw esports betting.
Folks, we’ve seen a lot of weird things over the last two-and-a-half weeks; and there’s no doubt that we’ll see a few more things we’ve never seen.
Esports have been extremely popular over the last few years, but you do have to wonder about the integrity of these events. One way or another, it’ll be more exciting to bet on something than watch another series on Netflix.