A growing number of casinos and entertainment companies are becoming aware of the potential of esports as part of the Las Vegas Strip and Atlantic City experience. One company to outright invest in the competitive group is EEG or Esports Entertainment Group. To this end, EEG made it possible to not only enjoy the thrill of Madden NFL 22, a competitive American football simulator created by Electronic Arts but also participate in skill-based wagering.
Skill-based Esports Betting Front and Center for EEG
EEG held a two-day tournament for the Madden NFL 22 and used the LANDuel esports betting platform to allow players to actively bet on their own performance. This may sound counter-intuitive was this a regular competition, but it actually makes a lot of sense when applied to esports, and no – it’s not a form of game manipulation. Platforms such as LANDuel and Unikrn are promoting skill-based wagering as a game condition where you are actively trying to perform well.
In other words, you need to reach a certain number of points by playing well instead of satisfying a game condition that would require your purposeful sabotaging of the activity. The event attracted hundreds of gamers who were happy to take place in the event, patiently waiting for their turn, the Press of Atlantic City reported.
The turnup was welcomed by EEG CEO Grant Johnson who was pleased with the interest in the event and who praised LANDuel’s first-of-its-kind capabilities. Johnson explained that LANDuel uses a handicapping system that ensures that players of similar levels are matched together.
This in turn makes for more balanced and satisfying experiences. Johnson is confident that the LANDuel model is one that allows for more safety and accuracy, especially when it concerns esports betting. Unikrn, a rival platform that introduced skill-based gambling on esports a few years back, has used the UMode solution to allow remote betting on one’s own games.
Unikrn simply explained that manipulation would be impossible as the platform knew exactly by how much a player’s performance may deviate. In other words, hiring a higher-level player to win a bet in your name would most likely result in being caught and banned from the platform. LANDuel works in much the same way, it seems.
One Event to Showcase LANDuel’s Capabilities
The event was important because it was hosted in collaboration with Hard Rock AC, which means that esports may find a home on casino floors after all, and in some of the biggest gambling hubs. Johnson was confident that casino owners are already open to the idea because the product EEG made available specifically targeted younger generations of 20s-year-olds who are also open to the idea of betting on their performance.
He similarly acknowledged that the process still needs to be monitored closely by regulators, as is this case the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE). “Hard Rock and the DGE wanted to monitor things closely. It’ll be up to casino operators as we go forward,” Johnson told the Press of Atlantic City.
Madden NFL 22 is not the biggest game nor the biggest competitive gaming franchise available. Nevertheless, it was a great example of how fun skill-based wagering can be, precisely because of how close-knit the community is. EEG acquired Helix and its LANDuel esports betting platform in June 2021.