Competitive video games, or eSports, have seen their popularity grow by leaps and bounds in the past few years.

Online streaming sites like Twitch have made the games more accessible to fans, and also ESPN has broadcast a small number of championship matches in games like Dota 2 and Heroes of the Storm.

And much like any endeavor that is competitive a big fan base and plenty of players and teams to follow, it didn’t take long before the notion of wagering on matches started to get steam as well.

Gambling on eSports is quickly becoming a big business, and lots of businesses are looking to cash in on what may be the next development marketplace for online betting.

Just this week, a brand new startup business known as Unikrn established a sleek site that enables players from all over the world (where online sports betting is legal, at the least) to wager on upcoming matches in League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike and other popular competitive games.

Unikrn Targeting Europe, Asia, Australia

Unikrn was founded in Seattle, however right now, fans in the united states of america can’t bet on matches: online sports betting isn’t legal generally in most of the country, and also live sports betting is fixed to simply a states that are few.

However for the company, that just means focusing on other markets for enough time being, with Europe, Asia and Australia being targeted at the moment.

An australian betting firm in order to bring online eSports betting to these markets, Unikrn has partnered with Tabcorp. Unikrn’s eSports offerings will likely be added to Tabcorp’s mobile apps, while the same bets can also be made directly through Unikrn’s site.

The hope is that the addition of gambling to the eSports world will expand the appeal of these games for general audiences for Unikrn founder Rahul Sood.

‘It brings a higher level of adrenalin to it,’ Sood said. ‘People who bet love that feeling. It is made by it more enjoyable, more engaging.’

Concerns Over Audience, Match Fixing Disputed by Tabcorp

Tabcorp CEO David Attenborough also indicated enthusiasm in regards to the partnership, calling eSports a ‘major sport’ and noting that around 200 million people watch video gaming online.

But others in Australia questioned or perhaps a company ought to be moving into an arena in which children and young adults compensate a portion that is large of audience.

‘Gambling at a young age [18 to 24], although legal, causes serious problems later in life,’ stated Dr. Sally Gainsbury of Southern Cross University. ‘Betting on video gaming will undoubtedly attract teenagers.’

Other people questioned whether or not introducing more main-stream betting would cause match fixing problems in eSports.

There have definitely been such incidents in the past: early in the day this season, a match scandal that is fixing the world of competitive Counter-Strike, and games like League of Legends and Starcraft have also seen matches thrown.

But, Attenborough has said that 71 percent of people who watch competitive video clip games are grownups, so children should maintain no more danger of picking up a gambling habit they are whenever watching sports that are traditional.

And as for questions of match integrity, he believes that Tabcorp’s current technology to monitor unusual betting patterns will really assist keep an eye on any suspicious activity in gambling areas, that ought to be much safer for several involved than whenever bets occur on unregulated sites.

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