*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.”
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The professional gamer and Twitch streamer told Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg that it's hard to get fans to follow you from game to game, no matter how big your following. The 31-year-old also championed the "shenanigans" of Fortnite maker Epic Games, which allowed him to ride a rocket launched by fellow esports hero Ninja ー a combination of words that aren't typically uttered in a traditional workplace.
Fintech companies are taking notice of the rapid growth in esports, and Quicken Loans has partnered with 100 Thieves, a League of Legends expansion team. Quicken CMO Casey Hurbis said this venture opened the company's eyes to the endless possibilities of esports and its personalities.
The Twitter Esports Business Summit ran from Oct. 1-3, and it held its focus on the growing market of esports and how Twitter fits into the business. Rishi Chadha, head of gaming content partnerships at Twitter, said the company is focusing on the communities that foster players and fans, as well as publishers and developers of different platforms.
The team became the first in the NBA to introduce GIFs for the Facebook platform. Sandro Gasparro, director of social media for the Los Angeles Clippers, told Cheddar it's not just another way to promote engagement, but can also connect fans to players on a more personal level.
Ralf Reichert, CEO of ESL, sat down with Cheddar at this weekend's tournament at the Barclays Center and talked about the esports world and what he believes is needed for the enterprise to grow.
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Ron Darling, a former MLB starting pitcher and current TBS baseball analyst, said the easiest way to attract younger people to baseball is to get more kids playing it when they're kids. Darling said there are more children opting out of football due to concerns about head injuries, and those athletes should be primed to take up a different sport.
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18Birdies has seen success as a one-stop shop for golfers, both amateur and pro, gaining 1.3 million members since its launch. The app lets players book tee times, navigate a new course, and choose the right club. But CEO Eddy Lui says the main goal is to create a community ー a social network ー of golfers.
