Nevada goes ahead to esports bets, says no approval needed

Nevada has tread carefully insofar as esports are concerned. After years of experimenting with the format, and mostly after the pandemic of 2020 which left many local sportsbooks dry, the Nevada Gaming Commission has decided to give an official go-ahead and allow operators to offer all types of esports markets without seeking a preliminary approval.

The regulator has held a fairly firm hand on the vertical, not fully comprehending it at the beginning and seeking to control it closely, but also rather restrictively. However, the Nevada Gaming Commission has come a long way. The decision made last Thursday during the watchdog’s October meeting finally cleared the path for a more vibrant and dynamic betting industry.

The Nevada Gaming Commission has followed up on recommendations originally drafted by the Nevada Esports Technical Advisory Committee about a year ago, which advised the regulator to normalize wagers on competitive gaming events by ensuring that sportsbooks do not have to jump through a number of legal hoops before they can offer a certain market. Esports markets are dynamic and they must be cleared quickly, something that the red tape did not help for. New Jersey, for example, has made it much easier for esports platforms to integrate.

Previously, authorized sports betting operators were forced to seek the commission’s input and explicit approvalevery time they wanted to offer a wager on the outcome of events, which made the process sluggish and the available options much less exciting. According to Brittnie Watkins, a Gaming Control Board member, the removal of these restrictive rules would ultimately lead to a more vibrant market that will help promote the vertical and similarly boost the overall revenue.

Of course, there have been concerns about the fairness of the event. For example, at one point, the Nevada Gaming Commission wanted to make sure that sportsbooks only accept wagers from events that have a clear guidance on things such as doping, but the language was eventually dropped as esports presents its own challenges in that regard, and it seemed impractical and difficult to establish clear regulation in the matter when even esports does not address this.

Doping has not been an active issue in esports, but the industry has already responded to the threat of match manipulation. A concerted effort between publishers and independent authorities, such as the Esports Integrity Commission, has been acting together to prohibit esports players who cheat or manipulate games to access tournaments. In places such as Australia, esports match-fixers have faced criminal charges and prison sentences.

Importantly, esports betting can now be integrated a little more easily into sportsbooks’ offers, which will give the industry a welcomed boost and be an interesting litmus test for whether competitive video gaming can drive sufficient interest. As a reminder, Unikrn and Luckbox, two companies that focus on providing esports wagers, have had to shutter their B2C divisions over the past weeks.

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