*By Brandon Brathwaite*
After the "TMartin Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" skin scandal ー in which CSGO Lotto deceived users into thinking their odds were more favorable than they actually were ー the subject of gambling and esports became a point of serious tension for gamers.
For companies like Unikrn, which built its platform on the practice of esports betting, battling that stigma is a central, implicit part of the operation.
But according to CEO and co-founder Rahul Sood, the company is determined to make betting on esports a “safe, legal, and relegated” space.
Sood told Cheddar Sports: “I like to bet on sports and I like to bet on esports.”
“Up until now,” he added, “there hasn’t been a comprehensive legit space to bet.”
Fortunately, Sood has some pretty influential partners.
Unikrn has investments from celebrity names like Mark Cuban and Ashton Kutcher ー the company has raised $10 million in venture funding and an additional $25 million for an initial coin offering for its cryptocurrency, UnikoinGold. Through UnikoinGold or U.S. dollars, users can bet on esports events ー and even bet on themselves in games.
“For example, you can load up a game in ‘Fortnite’ and you can bet on yourself that you’ll be 1 of 100. We’ll put odds on your chances of being that one of 100,” Sood said.
As for the prospects of esports as a whole, Sood is optimistic about its future ー and he pointed to moments like Drake and Ninja’s Twitch stream as a positive indicator of its growth. He predicted that "the future of sports is really esports."
“When you start to look at these older sports they’re losing the younger demographic or their fans are getting older,” Sood said.
“More esports fans are being born. That’s just the reality of the situation.”
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Jan. 14, 2019.
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This year, CES marked a new partnership between gaming hardware maker Alienware and "League of Legends" developer Riot Games, a union that was a year in the making, according to the general manager at Dell's gaming arm, Alienware. "It actually started here a year ago," Azor told Cheddar at the Las Vegas conference on Wednesday. "That's where we first met."
Devon Still, a former defensive end for the Cincinnati Bengals, is sharing his personal playbook ー "Still in the Game," a self help-style manual for success. Still, who retired from the NFL in 2017, told Cheddar the new book revisits his most dramatic challenges ー most notably, his daughter's cancer diagnosis.
League of Legends' Korean scene has a new look. While the region's SK Telecom T1 has remained the dominant force in competitions, other contenders threaten its position. In particular, last season saw teams like Griffin and KT Rolster take advantage of a weakened SKT T1, which missed the Worlds Finals in 2018 for the first time in several years.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019.
TSM’s Fortnite pro Ali "Myth" Kabbani ignited a conversation last month about esports player unions when he suggested he might start one for the Fortnite community. But esports unions were on the mind of Stephen "Snoopeh" Ellis long before Kabbani pushed them into gamers' consciousness. “There’s a huge lack of education and awareness amongst players in the importance of taking their career seriously," Snoopeh told Cheddar Sports.
Esports fans tuning into Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's new show on NBC, "The Titan Games," may be surprised to see a familiar face: Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez, who is more likely as a commentator for "Overwatch" or "Halo" than for an athletic obstacle gauntlet.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2018.
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