South Australia has moved swiftly to ban betting on video games after a move to legalise punting on eSports was rejected by the government.
In a sensational move that could change the face of eSports betting in the country, the SA State Government advised the Independent Gambling Authority to reject any attempts to legalise betting on professional gaming events.
In a statement, Consumer and Business Affairs Minister John Rau said children were particularly vulnerable to the attraction of betting on eSports events.
“The Government is determined to keep our children cyber-safe,” Mr Rau said. “We do not want them to be introduced to gambling under the guise of a game.”
The decisions comes only days after Independent Senator Nick Xenophon revealed plans to amend the Interaction Gambling Act 2001 to include video games.
Video Game Gambling
Professional video game tournaments are a big deal in Australia and other large markets like Korea, China and the United States.
Events attract thousands of spectators, with the potential for millions more watching at home through online streaming services like Twitch and YouTube Gaming.
While much of the community still sees video games as toys, the rise of competitive gaming, or “eSports”, has coincided with the medium’s ageing demographic, with the average Australian gamer being 32 years old.
As one might expect, with such a mature audience and plenty of interest around the globe, there’s big money involved for highly skilled players.
Melbourne’s Crown Casino hosted a Counter-Strike: GO tournament last year, drawing 15,000 people through the door to watch the world’s best teams compete for $50,000 in prize money.
Fans are also finding ways to make money out of the juggernaut, and some Australian betting agencies have already started offering eSports markets.
It goes well beyond simply betting on matches, however.
In Counter-Strike: GO, players can pay as little as $US2.49 for gun skins and cases created by the game’s developer, Valve, which are rewarded via a randomised slot machine that could give common, inexpensive items, or lucrative “rare” items to the player. Players can then sell these items on the Valve marketplace.
There is also a highly lucrative “skin gambling” market, in which players can use skins acquired via the game to bet on competitive matches. This market is estimated to be worth US$7.3 billion.
Gambling on eSports has grown significantly over the past few years, and is estimated to be worth a staggering $US8 billion in 2016.
