Josh Andrews

Rivalry.gg Joins Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC)

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Dedicated Esports betting operator Rivalry.gg has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) to become the coalition’s latest member with the goal of ‘supporting the application of best practice across the Esports betting industry’. Rivalry.gg which is a fairly new entrant into the Esports betting business is licensed in the Isle of Man and it will be joining a host of other outstanding ESIC members that include DreamHack, Betway, Sportradar, LVP, ESL, Intel, LVP and UKGC among many others.

The Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) was formed in July 2016 so as to clamp down on all forms of cheating in the professional Esports market. ESIC is currently considered to be one of the most reputable Esports regulatory authorities in the world especially due to its unambiguous endeavour to create an unequivocal Esports playing field for all the members of the Esports community.

“ESIC is pleased to welcome another specialist Esports betting operator into membership to extend our suspicious bet alert network and help us detect possible match-fixing as it happens and having a legitimate, licensed operator that supports Esports integrity and our vital education program helps lessen the influence of dodgy operators and betting fraudsters,” noted Ian Smith, the Integrity Commissioner at ESIC.

Rivalry.gg, being quite young in the industry has employed a steady approach towards a conquering the Esports market – they are focusing on original content and pre-match betting at the moment. But, there is definitely so much more to come.

“This is just the beginning for us. Next steps are implementing the minimum requisite of features from a traditional sportsbook perspective, such as live betting, followed by a much deeper offering. We spent the better part of 2017 curating and testing various bespoke feature sets that we believe the community will love and can’t wait to share them with everyone,” Rivalry Co-Founder, Steven Salz confirmed.

Salz also pointed out that while they just recently rolled their service offering, they have been members of the community long enough to notice that members of the Esports market were being frustrated by underage and unregulated betting that was growing rapidly with little to no intervention. He believes that this was partly due to the lack of viable alternatives for gamers as well as the lack of education on the importance of regulation in online gambling. As an ESIC member, Rivalry will be supporting the coalition’s goals by reporting any and all suspicious online betting activity.

“At Rivalry our foremost effort is to provide Esports enthusiasts with a legal, and safe way to bet on competitive play in the games they eat, breathe, and sleep. Our participation in ESIC is a cornerstone piece of this effort. Having a legitimate, licensed operator that supports Esports integrity and our vital education program helps lessen the influence of dodgy operators and betting fraudsters,” Salz added.

The Relationship Between Online Gambling and Match Fixing

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Sporting events are a big deal in all parts of the world even though there are variations on how a sporting activity appeals to members of given demographics. This is just the reality of human culture. However, despite the diversity and difference of the elements of different sports, there is a constant that plays a huge role in all of this – sports wagering.

The World Cup, for instance, draws nearer and being one of the most sporting events of the year, it is certainly drawing a lot of attention. This piece is however mostly interested in the examination of the financial stakes pertaining to online gambling. Thanks to the spread of internet and the proliferation of online gambling operators, the online gambling market has been on a roll for quite some time now. Global sporting events such as the World Cup are a huge boost to this particular market and this is the focal point of a number of discussions about match-fixing. Case in point, in 2016, the France UEFA European Championship and the Rio Olympics had online gambling profits go up 45 percent which summed up to €2 billion.

This is not a bad thing. In fact, it is great. However, the whole thing gets tainted by the looming threat of match-fixing where the outcome of games – including the big global ones – are known or determined by ill-intentioned and money-hungry people. In many cases, these individuals target lower division teams where player salaries are not that huge and they are thus more susceptible to being bribed. Generally speaking, match-fixing has been rather rampant in the last couple of years or so. It has even gotten so bad that it not only affects the poorly published matches but even grand ones such as the World Cup qualifiers.

This kind of fraud extends all the way to other sports as well; tennis, American football, baseball and even basketball. So, can this be fixed? If so, then how?

Online Gambling Is Not the Problem

Well, I was obviously going to lean towards this fact especially because this is a pro-gambling site, but come to think of it, it is actually a true sentiment. Online gambling is a multi-billion dollar industry with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of employees and in most part, it is legal and straightforward. Even if online gambling is banned due to its reputation for tempting individuals into match-fixing, people would still find workarounds, mostly illegal ones, to wager on sports.

Many things here boil down to ethical standards that have been put in place so as to ward off sports fraud. This has had very little success since it is dependent on willingness to adhere to laws and regulations. Apparently, getting rich quickly is far more tempting.

The takeaway here is that maybe we should look at online gambling from a different perspective in order to make match-fixing nothing more than a word in the dictionary. Efforts such as the formation of anti-match-fixing conventions could be useful. Still, there might be no definitive answer to the question about what the best solution for this would be but one thing remains clear – match-fixing certainly has the potential for ruining the global cohesiveness that sporting events foster.

Pro Sports Leagues Prepare For Legal Betting Ahead of Ruling

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Across the states of Arizona and Florida, professional baseball teams are getting ready for the inevitable surprises of a 162-game season. Players and coaches often use spring training so as to limit unknown variables and this year Major League Baseball is following suit.

By mid-season, baseball fans in some states might finally be able to place legal bets on baseball games and as such, Major League Baseball (MLB) officials are well aware that they cannot afford to wait till then to get things planned out. The league’s preparations have already begun with players from each and every team being given “enhanced education” this spring on sports betting. The same goes for both coaches and umpires.

The United States Supreme Court is expected to deliver a ruling that will certainly have a huge impact on sports gambling in the country. The most anticipated culmination would be the abolishment of the 25-year old federal law that outlawed sports betting in all but one state, Nevada. The other states have always had the liberty of allowing or prohibiting fans from wagering on sports but – not many have legalized sports betting and this is what makes the prospects of legalized sports betting so exciting to fans.

“We’re realistic that sports betting in all likelihood is going to expand in the United States,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said on a conference call with reporters a week ago.

All the four major United States sport professional sports leagues have been buckling up in preparation for the ruling. In fact, some are even eager about what the new world could bring after the court’s decision. Furthermore, they have all been, to varying extents, offering their players some education that includes analytics that monitors betting data. In addition to this, the league have been working tirelessly towards researching the best possible partnerships and business opportunities that will definitely open up new revenue streams.

Russia’s New Online Gambling Laws Raises Stars Group Concern

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As part of 2017’s earnings reports, renowned gambling operator Stars Group pointed out that the Russian gambling market would be a potentially troublesome one in 2018. The earnings report also included what the online gambling operator is expecting to make this year with the figures further including assumptions that Russia would be introducing and implementing new online gambling rules that will essentially make it harder to process payments for Russian players.

There has been no official explanation from Russian officials in regards to the implementation of the new law that is likely to be enforced as from May 25. However, it is expected that the regulations will restrict banks from partnering with foreign payment processors or gambling operators that have been blacklisted by the Russian government.

While the new atmosphere will certainly not kill the Russian online gambling market, it undoubtedly has the potential of clamping down on the size of the gambling industry in the country. This is we put into consideration a similar scenario in the United States where the online gambling industry was clamped down after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed back in 2006. In the likely case that this occurs, the Stars Group will take quite a hit especially because the Russian online gambling market accounts for a huge chunk of its global market.

Stars Group Working on Contingencies

The effects of the changes that the Russian government is going to make is off-putting for investors but Stars Group is not giving up so easily. Rafi Ashkenazi, the Stars Group CEO said that he and his team are already working on contingencies that will help the company to deal with anything that the Russian government throws at them.

“We have plan As and plan Bs and plan Cs for every type of scenario that may happen in the market,” Ashkenazi told analysts. “We are monitoring, we are assessing, and we are ready.”

The concerns that were raised about the Russian gambling market were shared as part of an overall earnings reports which showed a steady 2017 for Stars Group – this encompassed both PokerStars as well as the group’s other online gambling sites. Total annual revenue went up 13.6 percent for fiscal 2017, summing up to over $1.3 billion. The same goes for other earnings as well – the net earnings rose by over 25 percent within the same period.

Bitcoin Mining Has Just Been Banned in Small New York Town

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Plattsburgh, a small lakeside town in northeastern New York has banned the establishment of new bitcoin mining firms for the next year and a half citing the fact that the miners have been exploiting its low-cost electricity. This comes at about the same time that the New York public utilities arm gave a ruling that allowed the municipal power authorities to charge higher electricity rates for cryptocurrency miners.

The town which is quite close to the Canadian border put the one and a half year moratorium on cryptocurrency mining in a bid to preserve its natural resources, the health of its residents as well as the “character and direction” of the city. Thus, for the next 18 months, the city will not be considering any new applications for commercial cryptocurrency mining. Breaking this rule will attract a fine amounting to $1,000 daily for the period that the moratorium is violated.

“It is the purpose of this Local Law to facilitate the adoption of land use and zoning and/or municipal lighting department regulations to protect and enhance the City’s natural, historic, cultural and electrical resources,” Plattsburgh officials said after holding a public hearing on the matter Thursday.

Cryptocurrency mining is the process by which mining firms or individuals get paid with cryptocurrencies for running complex mathematical equations on high-powered computers in order to confirm the validity of transactions. This process needs enormous computing power and thus is very energy-intensive hence miners will almost naturally be drawn to areas with significantly lower electricity costs. Thanks to its hydropower plants and the subsidies that some of the municipal power authorities allow on the electricity, some parts of New York are able to offer electricity rates that are as competitive as the Chinese bitcoin mining market. Furthermore, the naturally lower temperatures in the state also significantly reduce the cost of cooling facilities at the mining firms.

It Is a Positive Move, Some Agree

While this might not be a favourable ruling for cryptocurrency miners, one local bitcoin mining operation, Plattsburgh BTC, has expressed its support for the ruling. David Bowman, the founder and CEO of the bitcoin mining firm said in an email that the move was a positive one for both the city of Plattsburgh and crypto mining as a whole.

“We will be actively working with the city right away to find solutions that work in all of our interests, like possibly shutting off the machines if we are in danger of going over the city’s quota, looking into energy recapture as a way to heat buildings,” he added. “Anything is on the table.”

Two More Major Esports Player Associations Are in the Works

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Esports just keeps getting better and better in almost every way possible with the most recent development being the move to put together player associations to cater for professional video gamers who play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s association will include players in the FACEIT ECS as well as the ESL Pro. It is led by attorney Michael Doi and Esports broadcaster Scott “SirScoots” Smith.

In an interview with Sports Business Journal, Scott Smith said that the Counter-Strike Professional Players Association (CSPPA) will not be looking to establish itself as a United States Union simply because Counter-Strike players originate from many different parts of the world. However, the association will be working towards signing all of the 255 professional players.

“Every day I sign another guy,” he said. “I would say 70 or so have signed an official membership document that they are for the players association, are behind the players association, they want to be in the players association.”

There has not been any official news regarding the Overwatch players association but the officials have confirmed that formal details on the same will be availed in around four months. The Overwatch player association efforts are being led by former player and Overwatch coach Thomas “Morte” Kerbusch and sports labour attorney Ellen Zavian. It is reported that the Overwatch association is likely to be modelled after existing U.S. unions like the National Football League (NFL) Players Association.

“I don’t see this [players association] as any different than any other PA just because it’s eSports,” Zavian said. “So this isn’t something that will be a lighthearted step. This will be a big step.”

If the two associations are formed successfully they will be joining the Riot Games’ League of Legends players association that is ran by Hal Biagas. Esports player associations are still in the very first stages of development but many agree that it is certainly a logical step for competitive video gaming as it draws nearer to being a mainstream activity, just like traditional professional sports.

Nevada’s Anti-Online Poker AG Running for Governor

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Nevada’s Attorney General Adama Laxal on Tuesday announced via his Twitter account that he had officially filed the necessary paperwork to run for the state’s Governor this fall. This particular move has caught the eye of the gambling community, especially poker enthusiasts since the lawmaker is extremely against online poker and he has been very vocal about it.

Laxalt’ stance with regard to online poker became known towards the end of 2015 when he confirmed that he would be signing a letter with some other state Attorney Generals in support of Sheldon Adelson’s Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) bill. Sheldon Adelson, the CEO of the renowned Las Vegas Sands Corp., is known for being a Republican donor and his passionate campaign towards having online gambling completely outlawed in the United States. This is despite the fact that online gambling is now legal in four states, a number that is likely to increase soon, and that a number of Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s competitors like Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts are backing online gaming.

The aspiring Governor reiterated his position in 2016 in a letter addressed to the then newly-elected Donald Trump Administration. In the letter, Laxalt, along with nine other state Attorney Generals asked for online poker to be banned. However, unfortunately for them, President Donald Trump, who happens to be a former casino owner and operator took a neutral stance in this case.

Furthermore, the online gambling ban at the federal level is rather unlikely owing to the vast bipartisan opposition. In fact, a decent number of stakeholders and interested parties have pointed out that a ban of such kind will violate states’ rights. Laxalt, who allegedly has other controversial ties to Adelson, has been strongly rebuked by fellow Republican, Sandoval, over this.

“I am very concerned that anyone representing the state’s legal interests would speak out against current state law in our leading industry,” Sandoval said. “At its core, this is a state’s rights issue and I disagree with the Attorney General that a federal government one-size-fits-all solution is in the best interest of Nevada.”

Sandoval is the former state regulator that signed Nevada’s online poker legislation. He also brokered the online poker liquidity sharing deals with Delaware and New Jersey. Both of these actions were an effort towards growing or nurturing the regulated online poker market.

Dafabet Closes UK-Facing Online Casino amid Regulatory Heat

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Renowned online gambling operator Dafabet has recently announced that it will be exiting the United Kingdom’s online gambling market, a move that is speculated to have been triggered by the ongoing regulatory pressure within that particular field.

Dafabet’s United Kingdom-facing online casino stopped accepting deposits from its customers last week on March 8. The players now have up to Tuesday, March 20, to withdraw their funds from the online betting site. Fortunately for the operator’s customers, their player balances will be automatically returned through the deposit methods they used to register if the will not have made withdrawals by the specified withdrawal deadline. Also, sports betting fans have nothing to worry about as Dafabet also assure their users that the sports betting operations will not be affected by the closure of their casino business.

As it stands, Dafabet is the most popular and the biggest brand of Philippine-based AsianBGE, its parent company. Its operation in the United Kingdom is backed by a license from the UK Gambling Commission but this is not the only place it excels at – the operator also sponsors Premier League’s Burnley F.C. Dafabet signed a £2.5-million sponsorship deal with the football club for the 2017-2018 football season which represents a £0.5 million increase from the previous soccer season.

UK’s Prevailing Storm Regulatory Atmosphere

The UK Gambling Commission recently discovered multiple violations by a number of its licensees and now, in conjunction with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), it has begun a regulatory crackdown that targets the erring operators as well as their affiliate partners.

The nature of the violations that the UK Gambling Commission range from breaches of advertising codes to inadequate anti-money laundering controls among a few others. The CMA has taken action with the most recent being in the form of a written warning that was addressed to a number of online gambling operators. The writing specifically pointed out the terms and practices that the operators have put in place to obstruct their customers from accessing their funds. These included the unreasonably low withdrawal limits, the short deadlines for players to verify their identities in order to be allowed to withdraw their funds as well as the so-called “dormancy” terms that allow the operators to confiscate customer funds after a given period of time when the customer accounts have had no activity.

The UK Gambling Commission will be working with other regulators in changing the rules and ensuring that both new and existing operators are probed more stringently to ascertain that they truly are capable of fully complying with all the laid out regulatory laws, terms and conditions.

Alibaba Endorses Non- Violent Esports Titles for Olympics

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Alibaba Group Holding Limited has come out to publicly promote the inclusion of competitive video gaming among other Olympic games so long as the games do not feature elements of gore or violence. The company, which is the largest e-commerce company and also an Esports business operator in one of the sponsors of the Olympics Games through to 2018. The games that the e-commerce company is endorsing for the Olympics include soccer, car racing among many Olympic-friendly games.

This move will essentially ban some of Esports most beloved titles from the Olympics. For obvious reasons, League of Legends, as well as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, will definitely not make the cut for Olympic inclusion. The two Esports titles are distributed by Tencent Holdings Limited in China, one of Alibaba’s competitors.

Esports has grown to become one of the biggest entertainment businesses, drawing in spectators to huge arenas where the video gamers compete for prizes and glory. Statistical projections see the business soaring to up to $5 billion in annual revenue from ticket sales, broadcast rights, advertising and merchandising.

“In our communication with the Olympics committee, we’ve come to have a better understanding of their values, which is to promote peace,” Alisports chief executive office Zhang Dazhong said in a telephone interview. “That’s why for the future development of esports, we will focus more on titles that are actually related to sports, instead of games that focus on violence and slaughter.”

Alibaba has been very serious about its venture into Esports – it is investing $47 million in Esports this year through to march. The company will also be hosting the World Electronic Sports Games this week and being a member of the International Olympic Committee, Alibaba officials will also be attending to observe.

According to Zhang, game producers will need to be open to the idea of having to share their intellectual property for free at events. Also, the titles need to have a considerably large fan base to be considered for the Olympics.

“We think as a third party Esports organizer we’re a better match for principles that the Olympics promotes, which is fairness,” Zhang said, adding that Alibaba will boost its investment in its Esports unit in 2018.

India Can’t Regulate Bitcoin, Says Former Indian Bureaucrat

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India has been struggling with regulating cryptocurrencies for quite some time now mostly because of the strong aversion the governments has towards digital currencies but they are yet to ban any. Now, a former Indian top finance ministry official insists that bitcoin, as well as other cryptocurrencies, should be completely banned in the country.

Shaktikanta Das, who is a former secretary of economic affairs, believes that regulating bitcoin is going to be quite tough and thus the only feasible alternative would be to outlaw their use. Das headed the Indian government’s first panel that was set up in April 2017 in a bid to understand and recommend necessary regulations pertaining to cryptocurrencies. Currently, Das is a member of the 15^th finance commission which has been tasked with reviewing the financial situation of the present government.

“Let us accept that it would not be possible to regulate it effectively. Because they will do transactions from their houses. You cannot enter every home to check what transactions are going on. So, I think this is a serious challenge, and this should not be allowed at all,” Das said.

The Indian government’s aversion to cryptocurrencies can be traced back to 2013 when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) warned its customers against the potential security threats that were associated with digital currencies. Despite this, and multiple other warnings from the country’s ministry of finance and the RBI that followed since then, cryptocurrencies have grown in popularity even among people who were considered to be “conservative” Indian investors.

Why Das’ Opinion Matters

Shaktikanta Das has held a number of key positions in India’s ministry of finance including being the head of the departments of economic affairs and revenue. He has also served as a board member of the Indian market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Reserve Bank of India – both institutions play a monumental role in the drafting of cryptocurrency regulations in India.

Das argues that since the Reserve Bank of India is the only institution allowed to issue currency in India, cryptocurrencies are essentially illegal. He further pointed out that cryptocurrencies are paralleling present financial frameworks without any backing from legal provisions.

“There is the danger of cryptocurrencies leading to money laundering, terror financing, and unaccounted transactions. It will pose a serious threat to the financial stability not only of India, and in fact more, in the case of the developed world,” he added. “It’s a serious challenge and threat to global financial stability.”