Tag Archive for: Milestone

Esports Milestone: Guild Esports Looks For London Stock Exchange Listing

/in

For years now, we’ve covered various milestones the esports industry has hit as it has exploded in popularity. Once relegated primarily to a few overseas markets, the past decade has seen an acceleration of the industry hitting the mainstream, from features in sports media on participants, college scholarships for esports, IRL leagues getting in the game, and even the betting markets opening up to esports gambling. While this trend began long before the world’s current predicament, it’s also true that the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered live sports for months, acted as a supercharger for all of this.

All of which contributed to the latest milestone the esports industry has managed to hit, as famed footballer David Beckham’s Guild Esports franchise has announced it plans to get listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Guild Esports, a UK-based owner and developer of esports teams, confirmed plans for an initial public offering in a statement Wednesday. The company said it wants to build a global sports franchise modeled on the English Premier League, NBA and NFL. It will float 40% of its shares next month and hopes to raise £20 million ($ 25.9 million) to recruit new players and invest in the business.

Beckham, a former Manchester United and England footballer, will use his global influence and following to support the Guild Esports brand, the company added. Beckham is also co-owner of Inter Miami CF, a Major League Soccer team in the United States.

The CNN post goes on to note that ad revenue in the industry for 2019 was just under a billion dollars. The point in all of this is that the difference between a beloved hobby and professional sports is the “professional” part. In other words, money. Now that esports has not only emerged as a major force in competition when it comes to ad revenues and eyeballs, but also now a place for potential owners of sporting franchises to invest very real money, the only question is just how popular and dominant esports will grow to become.

Based on the company’s plans, it has some very lofty goals.

The company plans to recruit up to 20 esports players by the end of next year, modeling player training and scouting on the talent academies pioneered by Premier League football teams.

The last milestone is probably one we’re hurtling toward at speed: when the maturity of the esports industry is so accepted that these posts on Techdirt no longer make sense to write.

Techdirt.

Esports Milestone: Gambling On Esports Will Double To $14 Billion In 2020

/in

We’ve chronicled the many milestones esports has hit on its way to becoming the mainstream cultural occurrence that it is today. From having participants gain notoriety and fame by being featured on mainstream sports publications, to universities handing out esports scholarships, to esports being broadcast on ESPN, to the major IRL sports leagues getting involved. Now, with the world enveloped in the COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis that has shut down many if not most of the world’s traditional sporting leagues, esports is having something of a moment, rocketing in popularity as a result.

All of that being said, there has been one lagging indicator in the popularity rise of esports compared with its IRL counterparts: betting. You’re not a big boy event until the gamblers get involved. Well, as we’ve seen with other indicators of esports’ popularity, betting on esports is set to rise significantly as well.

Esports global gambling revenue is set to double to US$ 14 billion in 2020, according to new research from global consumer surveyors 2CV and market analysts ProdegeMR. The survey took responses from 1,028 gamblers aged 18 to 64 and looked at how the current climate is affecting gambling in the UK, as well as the potential role that esports could play in becoming a new revenue driver for the industry.

The research also reveals a shifting interest towards other betting properties such as esports, with 36 per cent of gamblers having made a bet on competitive gaming in the last three months. It also found that 30 per cent of consumers betting on esports have only started to do so within the last month. Moreover, 22 per cent of gamblers who have not tried betting on esports before revealed that they will consider doing so within the next three months.

Now, it is certainly true that this level of growth has been spurred on by the COVID-19 shutdown of IRL sports. Still, the trends were already in place for a rise in esports betting. And for those who regularly bet on sports, or esports, there is a certain degree of this bell not being able to be un-rung. Once gamblers fold esports into the portfolio of betting opportunities they have, it’s not clear if or why they would fall back to IRL sports only once this pandemic is all over. On that note, it’s the new adoption rate of betting on esports that is most illuminating in the numbers above.

And just in case you thought this was fringe operations getting into this stuff, it sure as hell isn’t.

The forecast comes as the Nevada Gaming Control Board issued a notice of approval permitting sportsbooks to offer wagers on the Call of Duty League through 2020. Licensed bookmakers may offer the following wager types: head to head, match winner, and overall winner.

With the Call of Duty League moving its operations online amid the Covid-19 outbreak, the Nevada Gaming Board has deemed that the esports competition can join Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, Dota 2, iRacing and Overwatch League (OWL) as available markets. All of those competitions were approved by Nevada regulators during the last few weeks.

Whatever you think of esports, whatever you think of betting on sports, this is indeed a milestone of sorts. I, for one, look forward to reading the story of whatever the esports version of the Chicago Black Sox is going to be.

Techdirt.

AT&T and Comcast claim “anti-robocalling milestone” with new Caller ID tech

/in
An AT&T logo.

Enlarge / The AT&T logo is displayed at a retail store in Washington, DC, on Monday, March 21, 2011. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg)

AT&T and Comcast today said they’ve completed a successful cross-network test of a new Caller ID authentication system, and they plan to roll out the technology to consumers later this year.

AT&T and Comcast are among the phone providers implementing the new “SHAKEN” and “STIR” protocols, which use digital certificates to verify that Caller ID numbers aren’t being spoofed.

Today’s AT&T/Comcast announcement said the carriers completed “an exchange of authenticated calls between two separate providers’ voice networks that is believed to be the nation’s first.” They called the test an “anti-robocalling fraud milestone.”

Read 11 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Biz & IT – Ars Technica