Partners Ben and Ari Fox from The Casino Esports Conference presented this case study exploring the nature and opportunities within the emergent market of esports competitions, exploring both the demographics behind esports, the potential market, and the challenges for investors.
While the presenters did warn that casinos might struggle to host full scale professional esports competitions for logistical reasons, they did note that larger invitationals and amateur events can be an effective start to building an audience. A number of resources were specified that would be necessary for hosting an esports event including the sheer physical space, which most casinos possess, fast internet upload and download speeds, and physical hardware such as consoles, and depending on the scale of the event, dedicated servers to monitor and stream the event.
They also emphasised the need to cater to millennials in terms of hospitality and the overall provision of an experience which millennials want. This might mean providing board games or other facilities not normally seen in a casino. According to The key to the millennial market is authenticity – understanding the market, the different games and different communities. The Fox brothers showcased mentioned numerous game communities including the FGC (Fighting Game Community), Fortnite, Super Smash Bros, and the retro games market.
Ben Fox presented the most common question on this topic as being “where’s the money?”. What’s the revenue source for investors? He spoke about entry fees, food, merchandise, streaming charges and wagering as such sources.
The big question during the thirty minute Q&A at the end of the presentation which several audience members returned to however was not revenue, but worries about underage play, what restrictions might be in place concerning that, and what concerns might exist over normalising gambling for children, who are a part of this esports community, and interested in many of these games.
“Sure Mario’s there, and he’s cute and everything…” said Ari Fox in responding to one of these questions, going on to argue that most participants are indeed of age, and Ben further noted that the professional and invitational levels of play, with bigger buy-ins do feature an age restriction of 21.
