Category: Announcement

Scholarships: Is Collegiate Esports the Next Big Thing?

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Ohio’s Ashland University made history last week by becoming the first institution to create a collegiate scholarship for popular Esports title Fortnite.  This move has set a new precedent for the school and the entire Esports community as a whole. Instead of centering the Esports scholarship on a specific genre of competitive gaming like many other scholarships have, Ashland University’s offering has narrowed it down a notch. Now, the university had a Fortnite squad alongside its already established League of Legends and Overwatch teams.

Narrowing down to specific Esports games is a truly wise move for Ashland University especially because it will be able to effectively transcend its financial limitations and be able to compete in specific Esports tournaments without ever needing huge investments.

Still, even though it is definitely a bold move, the choice of Fortnite is rather strange. However, the university is banking on the Fortnite’s insane popularity to eventually pay off in the form of a strong and unified league in the near future.

“Fortnite appeals to both the core and casual gaming audience,” head coach Josh Buchanan said in an official announcement on the University’s website. “We’re excited to provide this platform for gamers who want to showcase their skills in a more competitive space. Fortnite facilitates an environment that allows players to get creative, innovate and show off their mastery of their skills. The growth of Fortnite has been astounding to witness and getting players into structured practices ahead of the launch of a collegiate league will be extremely beneficial to our program.”

Eligible Fortnite players can apply for the scholarship which amounts to up to $4,000 and will entail both academics and skill level. The university is even planning to construct a gaming center which will include 25 gaming stations in the institution’s library.

“As part of the program, you’re going to have coaches and a staff dedicated to helping you succeed — not only in the game but also in your academics,” Buchanan added. “Helping to make sure that you have a good social life, and that your physical fitness is on point. All of our athletes are going to have access to our fitness facilities and trainers. And Ashland is known for putting a lot of focus on the individual and having a lot of one-on-one sessions with professors, or small group sessions, to really make sure that we’re personally invested in the students’ success.”

China Bans Online Poker and Its Promotion on Social Media

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According to a report by Inside Asian Gaming, China has launched a crackdown on online poker operation and its promotion in the country. Beginning June 1, online poker will no longer be considered a competitive sport and thus not only will it be illegal but also its promotion via all social media platforms will be banned. The impacts of the ban are already rippling throughout Asia and beyond but the Chinese gaming industry is certainly going to get hit the hardest.

Regardless of the fact that gamblers are not allowed to play online poker for real money in China, the game has grown rapidly partly due to their promotion on social media. Therefore, places like Manila, Macau and Jeju Island in South Korea are certainly going to feel the pinch once the ban is implemented as from June 1.

According to the requirements of the ban, all mobile apps and device software offering any form of social online poker games are to be shut down and removed from the app stores. In addition to this, social media platforms like WeChat will no longer be allowed to promote any social poker offerings, particularly any Texas Hold’em product. The huge implications mentioned earlier emanate from the fact that poker in China to a large extent is played on these apps.

Operators from other parts of Asia are also bound to be affected by the ban specifically because Chinese players make up nearly half of their customers. Playing poker online is one of the main ways for players in Asia to qualify for live tournaments. Even if Chinese players choose to attend live poker events in other places, they will not be in the loop because on the social media ban – obviously, they cannot attend live poker events that they do not know about.

“It is a shame that the government won’t allow people talking about the game,” said Stephen Lai, the managing director of Hong Kong Poker Players Association. “We have been very happy that China has been allowing social gaming, not for money, so that people from China have a chance to practise and travel around Asia and beyond to play poker, where it is legal to do so.

Chinese players won’t have a chance to practise, and they won’t get to know about legal poker events around Asia. Poker has gone back to square one in China.”

While the Chinese government is yet to issue an official statement regarding the decision some operators such Tencent are already making moves to comply with the new regulations. Apparently, Tencent and some other companies are already removing their social online poker apps from the app store.

Poland Imposes New Cryptocurrency Tax Levy Sparking Protests

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Apparently, the United States is not the only place where the crypto-taxation discussion has been a subject of controversy. The Polish Finance Ministry recently issued a tax ruling that will see taxes levied on all crypto transactions regardless of whether they constitute a profit or not. This ruling has sparked a feud between the government and the outraged cryptocurrency traders who have now resorted to protests.

The tax ruling which was published a fortnight ago stated that income form crypto-trading is subject to tax rules and fall under two tax brackets – that is, 18 percent and 32 percent. In addition to this, all the cryptocurrency traders in the country will have to pay a mandatory 1 percent tax on the value of all their cryptocurrency transactions. Furthermore, the taxes that have been imposed on the traders could go as high as a hundred or a thousand times of the traders’ capital investments and this could eventually cripple the crypto trading market in the country.

In response to the ruling, the outraged Polish cryptocurrency traders opted to put together an online petition that argues that the ruling was not only going to wipe out the cryptocurrency community in Poland but will also set the country’s efforts to develop blockchain technology back. As it stands, Poles will be required to file their annual personal income statements on April 30 – the petition that has already been signed by 2,200 people hopes to derail the stipulations of the ruling ahead of this date.

“We are demanding the release of the blockchain technology market and the abolition of all taxes related to this industry,” the petition read. “We want to be active creators of this technology, not just its passive recipients in the coming years, from centralized Polish institutions or foreign entities.”

From a neutral observer’s point of view, the Polish government’s stance on decentralized digital currencies should be enough to keep cryptocurrency traders awake at night. The country’s Prime Minister has previously labeled cryptocurrencies as “Ponzi schemes,” an opinion that is shared by a vast majority of the government officials. As such, the tax levy on crypto transactions stinks of a government-sanctioned attack on digital currencies. But will it be enough to tame the rather spontaneous crypto ecosystem?

Unikrn Acquires Esports Tournament Platform ChallengeMe.GG

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Renowned Esports betting operator Unikrn has acquired peer-to-peer Esports platform ChallengeMe.GG as part of its grand plan of launching “full-blown skill-based betting” to its customers. Scheduled to be launched in May, the Esports betting platform will be launched on Unikrn and will allow the customers to enter Esports betting platforms using UnikoinGold, Unikrn’s in-house virtual currency.

The German-based ChallengeMe.GG has been working closely with Unikrn for quite some time now making the acquisition not much of surprise. ChallengeMe.GG’s management team will be retained under Unikrn’s ownership. Also, the company will keep acting as the matchmaking platform that will be linking players of similar skill levels in leagues, tournaments as well as peer-to-peer challenges. Once it is fully integrated into Unikrn’s platform, ChallengeMe.GG will be able to offer buy-in tournaments using UnikoinGold.

The integration will also involve the inclusion of the Dota 2 events in the ChallengeMe platform. In addition to this, the integration will introduce a raffle system whereby players can earn tickets by completing daily, weekly, and monthly draw missions with the players being awarded cash prizes and gifts from sponsors.

“Joining forces with Unikrn was the ideal match for us. Instead of doing our own initial coin offering (ICO), we can take advantage of the best gaming crypto has to offer: UKG’s ecosystem and technology. Combining the brand-power of Unikrn and UnikoinGold with our world-class tournament & matchmaking platform will provide esports enthusiasts from casual to pro a place to enjoy, compete and be rewarded for playing their favorite Esports titles,” said Simon Seefeldt, the ChallengeMe.GG chief executive.

Unikrn’s acquisition of ChallengMe.GG points to a number of great opportunities for both the company and Esports enthusiasts. For instance, Unikrn will now be offering tournament betting across Europe and North America using its blockchain technology.

“Last October, Unikrn launched the first-ever community CS:GO tournament with a crypto (UnikoinGold) prize pool on ChallengeMe.GG CME,” explained Rahul Sood, Unikrn’s founder and chief executive. “Since then, we’ve been running weekly events, ladders, and challenges with our partners at CME. After that success, we immediately began the months-long process of acquiring them. As we got through the legal process of making this happen, we’ve been strategizing on how Unikrn + CME could be even better. How can we bring unprecedented merger of crypto and gaming and give players around the world revolutionary experiences? Now the acquisition is complete.”

“CME’s platform is beyond its competition, and with their technology and Unikrn’s userbase, endemic reach, brand partnerships, and existing product lines — as well as UnikoinGold, the largest token in esports and gaming history — users are about to see a digital casual-competitive landscape well beyond anything to date conceived,” he added.

There are a plethora of features that will be introduced along the way but generally speaking, this development is a truly promising sign for Esports as a whole as well as the role of the business aspects Esports betting and tournament platforms such as Unikrn.

Pennsylvania Receives No Bids for Sixth Mini-Casino License

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On Wednesday, April 19, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) held its sixth mini-casino license auction in Harrisburg. The board received no bids for the sixth mini-casino license something that according to experts, puts the auctions of the remaining licenses in a rather tight spot. Already, state regulators are pondering about opening the remaining licenses to bidding by non-casino business in the state or even out-of-state casino operator. This applies to the sixth one as well as it goes to the third and final round of bidding.

The board has the option of opening the field of qualifies bidders that has so far been off-limits to the operators of Pennsylvania’s existing casinos. This decision is yet to be made and once it is made, the board will announce it at a later date. If the board chooses to conduct more auctions, it will have to establish suitable criteria and procedures that will be used to justify the qualification of the entities that wish to bid on the licenses.

It is however very likely that the decision will be similar to the one that was made for the March auction of the fifth mini-casino license. Like the case with the sixth mini-casino license, no bids were received and the PGCB was forced to include operators of two relatively smaller resort casinos in the bidding process. The winning bid, however, came earlier this month when a subsidiary of Penn National Gaming known as Thoroughbred Racing Association offered the board $3 over the $7.5 million minimum.

The Keystone state had planned to auction off 10 mini-casino licenses in an effort to make up for its financial shortfalls. Each of the mini gambling halls can host up to 40 table games and as many as 750 slot machines. So far, the state has been able to amass $127 million from the auction of the first five mini casino licenses – officials originally estimated a total of $100 million for all the 10 mini-casino licenses. Therefore, the initial rounds of auctions might as well be over but we will have to wait for the board’s decision before we can be certain of any developments in this regard.

U.S. Player Associations Weigh In on Sports Betting Debate

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The major professional league associations in the US have finally broken the silence as the country awaits the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that is likely to legalize nationwide sports betting. The unions, which include the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA), and the Major League of Baseball Players’ Association (MLBPA) have joined together to insist on being included in discussions pertaining to the legalization of sports betting. This announcement was released via a joint statement that was meant to make public the position of the union with regards to the matter at hand.

The joint effort by the unions is specifically geared towards ensuring that any new laws put players’ rights and integrity into consideration regardless of their respective sports affiliations. As outlined in the statement, the players’ associations concerns revolve around the profits that sports betting would bring as well as the potential costs of such arrangements.

The joint statement further revealed that the unions had discussed the potential impacts of legalized sports betting on players’ privacy and the security. Another key focus for the discussion was the integrity of the games. Still, the main takeaway from the recent development is the fact that the associations share the belief that lobbyist groups are not the only stakeholders and thus should not be the only participants in the process of legalizing sports betting.

The associations are calling for the inclusion of athletes in the discussions so as to ensure that the rights of the players are upheld and the integrity of the games remain intact when sports betting finally becomes a reality.

“Given the pending Supreme Court decision regarding PASPA representatives of the MLBPA, NBPA, NFLPA and NHLPA have been working together on the legal, commercial, practical, and human consequences of allowing sports betting to become mainstream,” the joint statement read. “Betting on sports may become widely legal, but we cannot allow those who have lobbied the hardest for sports gambling to be the only ones controlling how it would be ushered into our businesses. The athletes must also have a seat at the table to ensure that players’ rights and the integrity of our games are protected.”

There have been raging debates for some time now with regards to ensuring the integrity of games intact. So far, the MLB and the NBA have been the most vocal – both have proposed that a 1 percent integrity free from the overall betting revenue should be paid to the leagues. Fortunately, while this legislation has been met with equal amounts of support and opposition, the leagues might just get what they want after all. Case in point, the New York Senate recently passed a legislation that requires a 0.25 percent fee to be paid out to the player leagues.

Copycat Lawsuits Piling Up Against Social Casino Operators

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A slew of lawsuits have begun piling up against Washington State social gambling operators in the wake of a federal court ruling which found that Big Fish Casino which was previously owned by Churchill Downs violated Washington State gaming laws. All these copycat lawsuits hope to capitalize on the recent court ruling and state laws that govern and regulate online gambling.

As of Monday, Geekwire reports that four lawsuits had already been filed against four other social gaming operators namely High 5 Games, Playtika, DoubleDown Interactive and Huuge Games. Each of these operators offers a series of casino games like blackjack, slots, and roulette that use virtual chips. These chips have no monetary value but players must have them in order to play. Therefore, when players run out of the chips, they can either opt to wait until the game offers more free chips or buy a huge number of chips with real money and get back to playing.

All four suits further user similar language and arguments in their filings which also happen to be centre around the same arguments of the Big Fish Casino case. This takes advantage of a vague clause in Washington state law that backed the idea that the chips represent “something of value” even though they are not worth any money on their own.

“Double Down Casino games are illegal gambling games because they are online games at which players wager things of value (the chips) and by an element of chance (e.g., by spinning an online slot machine) are able to obtain additional entertainment and extend gameplay (by winning additional chips),” states one of the suits.

All these cases including the Big Fish casino case that preceded them are very likely to have major implications for the casual casino games market as a number of social casino gaming providers today depend on in-app purchases as revenue sources. The lawsuits represent an emerging backlash against this model. Already, online gambling lawsuits are becoming fairly common but the tide turned in favour of the petitioners and this opened the door for similar occurrences in the near future.

Playing It Safe

Again, following the Big Fish Casino ruling, PokerStars became one of the first social gambling operators to stop offering free play games in an effort adhere to the terms outlined by the March 28 Court of Appeals decision. According to the Washington State Gambling Commission press release, PokerStars opted out of the state’s online gambling industry. The gambling commission however assured the public that it had nothing to with this move by the online gaming operator:

“We are not a party to the civil court case, we did not testify in the case, and we did not order these sites to discontinue free online play for Washington residents. Customers with concerns should contact these websites directly,” reads the April 4 press release.

PokerStars’ parent company, The Stars Group, released a statement shortly after saying that the company was “reviewing the rulings and ensuring that our activities are in line with state regulations.” The company also said that it would reinstate players to their status before the free game offerings were altered once the law is clarified.

New York Online Poker Bill Back on the State Assembly Table

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It has been just a few weeks since the New York State Senate passed a budget which excluded plans for legalized online poker or online casinos. This was a presumably clear indication that the proposed bill represented nothing more than a pipe dream but, apparently, a recent Online Poker Report story suggests otherwise. The legalized online poker legislation still has a good shot at getting passed this year.

At the helm of the rejuvenated efforts is New York State Assemblyman Clyde Vanel who has called for the involvement of New York poker activists as he prepares to solicit for votes to support legislation that will finally allow for legal and regulated real money online poker in the state.

At the moment, the bill has 13 co-sponsors but Vanel expects it swell its ranks to “60 to 70 sponsors.” If this is truly the case, then bill A 5250 that was proposed by Assemblyman Gary Pretlow in a bid to legalize online poker, might finally be passed in the course of the year.

“Chairman Pretlow is a great champion for it, and now he has the partners to bring it through,” Vanel said in an interview with Online Poker Report. “The next few weeks will show some traction for the bill. With enough co-sponsors, I like it to get out of committee and onto the floor. I think we have a good shot at getting it through this year. My job is that I’m the guy who is going to whip these votes. That’s what I’m doing. I’m working these votes to get the bill on the floor, and I will be whipping votes on the floor.”

Vanel’s involvement, for one, makes the online poker community in New York more optimistic that they might finally be able to enjoy the games legally. The lawmaker’s attitude of fortitude is what has been missing all along in the New York online poker scene. He managed to get more than 60 Democrats in the Assembly to sign a letter that supported the inclusion of online poker in the budget. Now, the task at hand is to transfer all those signatures to co-sponsors of the bill and maybe get more on board.

“The budget effort didn’t work, but that happens with negotiations,” Vanel said. “What the exercise did is make us see that there’s more support for online poker than we previously thought.”

Suppose the proposed bill is passed at the Assembly, “it will have no problem getting through the Senate.”

Two More States Considering Sports Betting Legalization

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Currently, there are sports betting bills being discussed by lawmakers in at least 18 states, a number which is now poised to grow by two. Media outlets in both Arizona and Minnesota have recently reported that lawmakers in both statehouses have been considering legislation pertaining to sports betting even though neither has produced a bill to date.

The only issues, so far, will be the timing, as the 2018 legislative calendar is nearing its end, as well as tribal interests in both states which will certainly make such legislative efforts quite complicated.

What’s Going On in Arizona?

Arizona is known for its thriving (but separate) sport and gambling industries – all four United States professional leagues have Phoenix-based franchises and the state also hosts 20 tribal casinos, a lottery, as well as two horse racing tracks. Pro-sports betting legislators in Arizona intend to use tax revenue from the industry to allocate more funds to the state’s teachers.

Senator Sonny Borelli will be supporting the legislation mainly because of geography and the fact that the state needs the money.

“We’re sending all of our money to other states right now on sports betting,” he said.

The idea of legalized sports betting in Arizona has received a fair share of criticism and opposition with Sen. Dave Farnsworth, one of the legislators who oppose the idea saying that more gambling is the last thing the state needs. He believes that he has the support of a good number of lawmakers which may see his take on the bill passed in case the federal prohibitions are relaxed.

Furthermore, any expansion of gambling in the state must put tribal agreements into consideration – the report overlooks this. There is less than a fortnight until the Arizona lawmaking calendar runs out which makes the possibility for progress significantly slim during this session. Fortunately, Arizona state laws do not allow for daily fantasy sports and the tribes have not allowed legislation to change that to advance and thus their approval may not be needed regardless of what the state decides on sports betting.

What About Minnesota?

Even though it also has both tribal and commercial gaming operations, unlike Arizona, the tribes do not share their gaming revenues with the state of Minnesota. Everything is likely to be smoother for the state since the state is not bound by any contractual restrictions as far offering its own gambling products is concerned. However, its state statues would need to be amended.

Rep. Pat Garofalo who is leading the pro-sports betting campaign in Minnesota cited “huge public demand” in the state and as such, he has been quite vocal about the need to prepare for the much anticipated Supreme Court ruling.

“People are going to have an expectation that they’re going to be able to engage in safe, fair, and regulated sports gambling,” Garofalo said, presuming the Supreme Court will lift the ban on sports betting. “We’re going to have a lot more people gambling on sports by the end of this year. It’s just a matter of whether they’re going to be doing it in a safe, regulated environment in Minnesota or whether they’ll be using offshore sportsbooks.”

PA to Permit Online Gaming Licensees to Host Multiple Skins

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The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) published its most recent rules and regulations that govern is imminent online gaming licenses. The new rules and regulations will allow the state’s online gambling licensee to host multiple ‘skins.’ This means that non-Pennsylvanian companies will have the opportunity to participate in the state’s lucrative online gambling market. However, the licensees will be forced to piggyback the skins on their casino domains.

The contentious question about skins or the ability of a casino to host affiliate operators has been looming of the board for quite some time and now that it has been addressed operators can start preparing. In essence, it emulates New Jersey’s approach where one casino is allowed to partner with and offer services from other operators.

In Pennsylvania, the lobbyist efforts on the issue of skins have proven to be very fierce with online operators such as 888 Holdings advocating for it and Parx Casino and Penn International arguing that no third-party sites should be allowed. 888 Holdings has successfully implemented a model of such kind in New Jersey where it has piggybacked its local casino license to favour its partnership with Caesars Entertainment.

Ultimately, the PGCB opted not to restrict its online market and instead decided to permit its interactive gaming certificate holders to partner “with multiple licensed interactive gaming operators to offer interactive games the Board has authorized the interactive gaming certificate holder to conduct.”

The PGCB further clarified that it was not going to restrain third-party operators from inking deals with more than one Pennsylvania gaming certificate holders. However, this is on condition that the third-party companies will no offer online gambling to the Pennsylvanian market “independent from an interactive gaming certificate holder and the interactive gaming certificate holder’s webpage or the webpage of an entity within the interactive gaming certificate holder’s organizational structure.”

On the same note, the licenses or any of their partners “may only offer interactive gaming in this Commonwealth through the interactive gaming certificate holder’s webpage or the webpage of an entity within the interactive gaming certificate holder’s organizational structure.”

The mentioned clauses clearly indicate the fact that third-party operators will have to piggyback on the domain names of the license holders. Fair enough. The board will begin accepting interactive gaming applications from the state’s existing brick-and-mortar casinos later this month.