Category: Event

Overwatch’s Shanghai Dragons Announces First Female Player

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The Overwatch League has finally announced the first ever female player – there has been a tremendous amount of speculation regarding the matter in recent weeks and the League officially confirmed it on the team Twitter on Wednesday. The announcement also comes after recent discussions pertaining to the lack of female players in the very popular Esports title.

“I’m kind of shocked with the absence of women in the Overwatch League teams. For such a diverse game, with more than half of its roster being girls, it’s kind of disappointing. Girls play games too, and the lack of representation is not okay,” one critic pointed out on a Twitter post.

In what might seems to be an acknowledgment of concerns by critics, Shanghai Dragons, the team, announced the signing of four new players, who included Kim “Geguri” Se-Yeon, who will be the Overwatch League’s first female player. Joining Geguri will be Le “Fearless” Eui-Seok, He “Sky” Junjian and Chon “Ado” Gi-Hyeon.

The Shanghai Dragons have had a good number of wins in previous seasons and it seems that the only way to go is up. However, the team will have to brace itself for the uphill task it will have to try and make their way up the overall standings in a bid to reach the playoffs by the end of the season. The newly signed players are going to be a critical part of this journey. For instance, Fearless is a tank main who previously played with Element Mystic while Ado is a great DPS player with great strength on Genji and many other Attack heroes. Sky, also, is recognized mostly for his Ana play in China’s Miraculous Youngster squad – in essence, he will be adding a great deal of flexibility to the team.

Being the first ever female player in the Overwatch League is definitely going to make Geguri the biggest name of the four newly signed games, but she brings so much more to the table. She had her first brushes with mainstream popularity within the competitive gaming community for her Zarya play, where she had an amazing 80 percent win rate. While other players thought that she was cheating, it turns out that she just that good. The Shanghai Dragons also seemed to be particularly impressed by her expanded hero pool that now includes D.Va, Roadhog as well as Zarya at higher levels.

Hopefully, these new additions will better Shanghai Dragons’ luck – they have not won a single series in the first stage of the season.

MGM Cotai Finally Opens in Macau As License Renewal Looms

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On Tuesday, MGM Resorts International finally opened its $3.4 billion casino resorts in Macau, a venture that is latest big bet by foreign gaming operators on the Chinese gambling haven. MGM Cotai, the casino, opens after months of delays and will be the new highlight if Macau’s Cotai Strip with its 1,390-room hotel-casino offering. Also, with the Chinese Lunar New Year just around the corner, the casino is expected to draw in massive crowds within the next few days of its launch.

MGM Resorts International is one of the six licensed casino operators in Macau which is the only place in China where the citizens can gamble legally. However, MGM’s operational license in the region is due to expire in 2020 alongside SJM Holdings’ license. The other four operators, that is, Wynn Macau, Sands China, Melco Resorts and Galaxy Entertainment, on the other hand, will be able to operate normally until 2022 when their licenses expire.

While Macau authorities are yet to provide more information regarding the renewal of the licenses, the launch of the new MGM Casino in Cotai is anticipated to hasten the process in one way or the other. In fact, Grant Bowie, the chief executive of MGM China, MGM Resorts International’s Macau unit, believes that the launch was critical for the concession renewal process.

“Concession renewals will be determined on diversifying Macau into more than just a gaming town,” Bowie told a news conference.

Riding the Revenue Boom?

As the license expiration dates draw nearer, MGM Resorts and other operators have worked tirelessly towards diversifying their non-gaming offering in a bid to pacify Beijing which has grown more wary about Macau’s acute dependence and reliance on gambling – 80 percent of revenue in Macau is derived from gambling.

At the moment, Macau gambling revenues are on the upswing having risen by 19 percent in the last year to $34 billion following years of declining fortunes as a result of wealthy Chinese gamblers shying away from the casinos to avoid being probed by an extended corruption campaign by President Xi Jinping. These Chinese high rollers who are making a come-back to the casinos helped to propel Macau’s rapid transformation into what is now considered to be a global gambling powerhouse.

Analysts are anticipating that MGM Cotai will open with about 177 mass gaming tables. VIP gaming is expected to be handled by middlemen junkets that are likely to go live by the end of the first half of year alongside MGM Resorts’ luxury mansion villas.

Pro Gaming: Could Esports Be the Future of the Olympics?

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This year’s Winter Olympics was graced by Esports or competitive video gaming is what is considered to be a warm-up of better things to come. Having been finally recognized as “real” sports by Olympic officials, Esports has its sights set on expanding more and eventually getting their own spot on the medal table.

The most recent debate on what the requirements pertaining to Esports relevance as part of the Olympics was rekindled by a gaming tournament of sorts that was held in PyongChang, which is also the venue of the ongoing Olympics. Professional video gamers who were brought in by Intel Corp, an Olympic sponsor, got the attention of everyone by playing Starcraft II. The game is known for being a real-time strategy game that demands tactical thinking, concentration, and even quick reflexes. While this may sound like the characteristics of any Olympic sport, the raging debate is about whether the rigorous requirements are sufficient to earn Esports a spot among other Olympic games.

A decent number of nations and the International Olympic Committee already recognize Esports as a “sporting activity” and thus it could go Olympic as early as 2024. Looking back at some of the key factors for its success outside all the Olympic buzz, Esports has certainly earned it;

It’s been with us for a while

Prior to the true beginning of Esports in 2000 when the Korea eSports Association (KeSPA) was created to promote and regulate Esports competitions, there were lots of video game competitions of varying scales. Remember Pac-man? Or Space Invaders? If anything is to make Esports Olympic-worthy, then, this is it.

It is a diverse and complete ecosystem

Today, Esports draws a flurry of different participants from all over the world just like regular physical sports. Other characteristics that make it such a worthy newcomer of the Olympics include the fact that it too has had its fair share of scandal. Controversies ranging from doping to abuse by Esports organizers are not completely unheard of in the Esports community. This is, of course, not something that we should be proud of but it does go a long way in proving the maturity of the Esports ecosystem as well as how serious the participants, stakeholders, and spectators are.

Resorts World Catskills Opens New Casino in Sullivan County

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After decades of waiting, the New York’s newest casino, a $1.2 billion project in the Catskills finally began operating. The Resort World Catskills casino is a 100,000-square-foot behemoth that sits on a site that is approximately 1,700 acres – which was previously owned by the former Concord Resort Hotel. This particular Resorts World Catskill project was spearheaded by Empire Resorts which also happens to be operating the Monticello Casino & Raceway in Sullivan County.

Resorts World Casino & Resorts becomes the fourth state-approved casino to open since December 2016. The state currently hosts three other commercial, non-Indian casinos – the Tioga Downs Casino in Nichols, Tioga County; del Lago Resort & Casino in Tyre, Seneca County; and the Rivers Casino in Schenectady.

What To Expect

Already, there are huge expectations being mounted on the new casinos. For instance, the Resorts World officials are projecting that the complex will draw about 4 million visitors every year. Also, the operator’s management held job fairs in Orange and Sullivan Counties this winter in order to fill around 1,400 vacancies the casino would have when it finally launched. As it stands, this has been handled quite well and the state officials have confirmed that about three-quarters of the 1,300 permanent employees that the casino hired were either women or minorities. The number will eventually be bumped up by adding 600 more permanent employees next year when a planned indoor water park, entertainment village and the Concord’s redesigned Monster golf course open.

Resorts World Catskills’ Sullivan County complex boasts of a 100,000-square-foot floor comprising of a whopping 2,151 slot machines, 150 exciting table games as well as a poker room. Also available at the venue is a meeting space and 27,000 square feet of entertainment.

Customers will also be treated to some dining options including the Cellaio – restaurant operated by celebrity chef Scott Conant – which will be offering an Italian-style steakhouse menu. The casino will further host Good Friends Market and Lotus, both of which are outstanding Asian restaurants.

 “Resorts World Casino will be a destination with a variety of gaming, entertainment and dining options for tourists near and far that will boost the region and the entire state,” said Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who attended Resorts World Catskills’ grand opening ceremony on Thursday.

The casino has a hotel that has 336 premium all-suite rooms and another with 324 rooms even though the latter will not be opened until next year.

Seattle to Host First-Ever Esports-Dedicated Convention

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It is finally here! All roads lead to Seattle’s GG Expo where Esports champions, enthusiasts, and fans will be coming together for the very first Esports convention in history. Even though the rapidly growing Esports industry has had a number of video game conferences in various parts of the globe, there has never been any major convention where the primary focus is on Esports in a broader sense and not to certain specific video games. This is the void that the organizers of the Seattle convention are seeking to fill.

“There are a lot of shows that cover video games very broadly,” said the GG Expo’s Executive Director, Joe English. “And on the esports sides, there are a lot of tournaments. But where do esports players come together for community building and learning and the experience of esports? That’s where the genesis of the GG Expo came from – bringing the community together and bringing pro players to an event where they can talk about how they become successful.”

Esports has proven to be quite a big deal especially considering the huge market potential it has. Case in point, according to Newzoo, a gaming analyst firm, in 2017 Esports global market hit $660 million with the number of hardcore Esports enthusiasts growing to over 191 million worldwide.

The three day convention will address three of the biggest areas in Esports during each of the three days – the first day will focus on sports games such as NBA 2K and FIFA, the second day will be set aside for Fantasy games like Hearthstone and the third day will be all about battle games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Furthermore, the focus programming will feature player panels on various Esports titles.

The programming will be extended beyond the scheduled focused programming on each day. For instance, the programming for each day will further included panels whose major focus will range from issues such as career opportunities in Esports and associated tech industries. In addition to that, people who attend the conference will be treated to some exciting daily Esports contests and match play.

The guest roster comprises of some pretty big names in Esports. They include players from the Lenovo Silver Snipers, Team Fnatic as well as their team managers, coaches, and even team operations managers.

Tickets for the conference went on sale last Friday. So, if you are interested in attending and partaking in making history or meeting your favorite Esports champions, head over to the GG Expo website and get yourself a ticket.

DraftKings Hoping to Get Into Legal Sports Betting by 2019

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DraftKings has always argued that its business, a daily fantasy sports game where customers play to win cash prizes in exchange for cash entry fees, is a game a skill and not chance – the former being legal and the latter being illegal in the United States. However, for those who have been looking forward to it, the operator is now officially preparing to cross over to the other side with a new sports betting product that they hope to get off the ground by 2019. Hopefully, by that time the United States Supreme Court will have already delivered a ruling regarding the bill that intends to legalize sports betting in the country. From the looks of it, it is likely that the court will rule in favor of New Jersey and abolish the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA).

“We’re certainly going to go after it,” DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said in an interview. “I think the Supreme Court — I’m hopeful — will rule that way. You can’t really predict what the government will do, but you have to be prepared.”

“For me, it was always, ‘this is going to happen, it’s just [a matter of] when. We’ll be prepared,” he added.

By branching out from the full-slate, roster-drafting contests that made it the top spot for daily fantasy sports competition the company hopes to achieve the same level of success in the legal sports betting industry. In fact, it has already created a single-game contest which will allow DraftKings’ customers to participate in 2018’s NFL title game. By 2019, DraftKings hopes to have a curved up a solid reputation and attracted enough customer recognition that will be very helpful in securing a portion of the Super Bowl action.

The company will also keep running their daily fantasy sports platform which Robins says will continue to grow, and may even grow faster thus dispelling the need to constantly keep tabs on it. The company thinks that the new venture is just as important as the business they have been running all this while. While DraftKings has always distanced itself from sports betting in the past, it is quite clear that the opportunities that legal sports betting presents are just too enticing to be ignored especially considering the huge revenue potential of the market. After all, it’s business.

Bitcoin Tumbles Below $8,000; Is the Bubble About to Burst?

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For the first time since 2017, bitcoin dropped below $8,000 yesterday and with the drop came a lot of speculation about what the future holds for the digital currency. According to CoinDesk, bitcoin plunged to $7,695.10 but recovered to $8,618 by mid-day – the bitcoin price index on CoinDesk tracks cryptocurrency prices from digital currency exchanges itBit, Bitfinex, and Coinbase.

The general takeaway from some economists and digital currency experts is that bitcoin is likely to weather yet another downturn. They believe that bitcoin can only continue to develop if it continues to be extremely volatile.

“Bitcoin is in trouble,” wrote Lukman Otunuga, a research analyst at foreign exchange broker Forextime. “Price action suggests that bears are clearly in control, with further losses on the cards as jitters over regulation erode investor appetite further.”

Bitcoin is, however, not the only digital currency that is experiencing a rough time. To put this into perspective, cryptocurrencies collectively lost over $100 billion in the last 24 hours. The price drops abruptly changed the mood and people’s perspectives as far as cryptocurrencies are concerned – the hype and overall excitement that was characteristic of the crypto – world, especially during this holiday’s season run-up, turned into a wave of uncertainty that swept through the space like wildfire.

Likely reasons for the price plunge include tougher regulatory scrutiny and imposed measures by governments in South Korea and China amidst concerns about tax evasion, money laundering as well as heavy speculation. Facebook’s ban on cryptocurrency and initial coin offering (ICOs) ads earlier this week is also partially responsible for the price drops – the company is however not changing their stand as they say the ban was influenced by the fact that such ads are “frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.”

Also, according to CoinDesk, Ether coins on the Ethereum blockchain sank 15% to $880, Ripple coins slid 13% to 85 cents, and Litecoin tumbled 11% to $128.

NBA Expects a Cut Should Sports Betting Be Legalized

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The United States Supreme Court is still chewing over the legality of Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), the 1992 federal law that imposed a ban on sports gambling in the country. However, in anticipation that the ban will be lifted and that sports betting will finally be legalized, a number of states are already laying the groundwork for statutory frameworks in the form of various legislations. New York is among these states and it is where hearings hosted by the Senate’s Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee were held earlier this week, on Wednesday.

It was at this hearing when a top NBA official revealed the league’s thoughts on what they considered to be an ideal sports betting environment. The NBA wants in on the profits amassed from wagers on professional basketball games in the United States. According to NBA senior vice president, Dan Spillane, the league will be taking on “risk that sports betting imposes” and should, therefore, receive the 1 percent compensation of the total amount wagered on the league’s games.

“Without our games and fans, there could be no sports betting. And if sports betting becomes legal in New York and other states, sports leagues will need to invest more in compliance and enforcement, including bet monitoring, investigations, and education,” Spillane told the committee. “To compensate leagues for the risk and expense created by betting and the commercial value our product creates for betting operators, we believe it is reasonable for operators to pay each league 1% of the total amount bet on its games.”

Who Is Buying It?

Well, at least the league is being halfway honest about it. The NBA is very smart and while it may seem like it, the league is definitely not a victim of circumstance in this case. Case in point, it has been the only league that has been very open about embracing the possibility of a legalized-sports-betting future. Seemingly, the true intent was backed by their vision to use sports gambling as a quasi-revenue stream – which makes their logic pertaining to the whole issue quite assailable. Spillane further argued that a similar model was already in place in countries like Australia and France where there is legalized sports betting and the leagues in said countries are compensated.

The fee represents a colossal financial windfall for the NBA, as well as other leagues which are likely to make similar requests if NBA’s is approved. A renowned gaming research firm estimates that in case states where sports betting is legal or will be legalized agree to compensate the leagues, the total annual revenue will be about $2 billion. At the moment, NBA’s proposal is still nothing more than a statement to kick off a negotiation – on Wednesday, it was greeted with a lot of skepticism thus making its future rather uncertain.

Taking Gaming to the Next Level: Enter the Sweaty Esports

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It would be very easy to pass a line of cyclists spinning madly on stationary bicycles, sweating profusely with their eyes fixed on screen for regular fitness junkies. However, inside Paris’ National Velodrome, there is so much more to what is going on than just a regular day at the gym. The bikes, in this case, are not regular exercise bikes and the 10 extremely fit cyclists decked out in full racing kits are actually pedaling away on svelte racing bikes mounted on indoor trainers which are tuned to vary the levels of resistance to the rider’s effort, just like it would be in a real bike race. The computer screens display a virtual cycling platform which is where the racing action is.

In the virtual racing world, the bike riders have avatars pedaling through landscapes marred with tunnels, dark forests as well as lava-spewing volcanoes. The idea is to simulate a real-world racing scenario – well, the lava-spewing volcanoes is a rather a bizarre addition to it, but that is what video games are all about. The riders’ avatars go at each other in the same way they would in a real race and the feel of it is just as realistic since a steep climb in the virtual world is actuated through an uptick in the bikes’ resistance. The idea that the pain and effort in the virtual world can be reproduced in the real world is what makes this exciting new Esports venture a gem.

Is it the future?

Already, a number of popular sporting events have been spawned from the idea of merging Esports and traditional sports. Cycligent CVR World Cup is one of the pioneering sporting events that intend to marry the growing popularity of Esports with the grit and determination associated with the physical sporting events. This presents a whole new dimension to both traditional sports and Esports, and it will go a long way in merging both markets or even extending it.

While only about 200 spectators attended the Paris race, over 28,000 viewers watched the race online. Similarly, about 1.1 million viewers streamed 2017’s World’s Toughest Mudder Sufferfest on Facebook even though not very many spectators were present at the arena.  Now, the International Olympic Committee has shown interest and intends to introduce an Esports tournament as we approach February’s Winter Olympics that will be held in South Korea.

According to Cycligent CEO, Frank Garcia, “Doesn’t physical Esports make more sense? You see suffering and you see elation. People connect with that.”

Clearly, now that Esports has shifted from being a mere fad to an integral part of the sporting entertainment scene, there is bound to be more interest and investments. Esports like League of Legends and Dota 2 are already attracting tens of thousands of spectators to their arenas as well millions more who enjoy the action via various streaming platforms. Online spectatorship has been on the rise for CVR and Tough Mudder as well, and the decision by the Olympics to venture into Esports will be transformative to the initiatives that depend on true sporting excellence.

ICE 2018: UltraPlay To Elevate Its Esports Betting Solutions

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Advanced betting solutions provider UltraPlay has announced that it will be expanding its portfolio through a premium Esports betting site offering during this year’s ICE Totally Gaming that will run in London from February 6th to February 8th.

Having been part of the iGaming industry for seven solid years, UltraPlay has what it takes to successfully expand its portfolio through the launch of its latest products which they say will offer revolutionary match-predicting systems and thus the widest odds feed in the market. Dubbed odds.gg, the system will be presented with all the latest upgrades and add-ons that UltraPlay has been working on in the past year. In addition to its most popular game titles, UltraPlay has also extended its odds feed to include such titles as Kind of Glory, Heroes of the Storm Live as well as live betting options GWENT for FIFA Interactive World Cup. Alongside the Esports betting company’s diversified catalog of 25 competitive games, it further offers over 3,000 events every month and more than 1,500 in-play events.

Last month, UltraPlay announced that GWENT, the Witcher Card Game, was to be added to its Esports betting portfolio which makes it the first online betting provider to offer betting options for the renowned card game. During the acquisition, Peter Ivanov, UltraPlay’s Head of Esports trading said that he believed that “the game holds a great potential to attract many esports punters with passion and experience in card games.”

“Gwent is a perfect choice for a card game that offers endless fun to the players. The esports betting brands using UltraPlay’s products will be one step ahead of the competition providing another exciting option to their players,” he added.

Since it was founded in 2010, UltraPlay has always been very ambitious about offering innovative approaches to the online gaming industry using modern technology to provide advanced betting solutions that are focused on Esports, bitcoin solutions, sports betting, live betting and online casinos.