Gary Denham is the Founder and CEO of Wamba Technologies and developing the patented Esports platform with in-game wagering, Gamers Oasis.
Casinos, and the gaming industry as a whole, have a massive impact on the U.S. economy. The $261 billion industry generates $40.8 billion in tax revenue and supports nearly two million jobs across the country. While that’s impressive, industry leaders are always asking the question that drove the American Dream: In a country where we are approaching the population ceiling, how can we make the numbers bigger?
The key lies in properly embracing an equally behemoth industry—video game competition. The video game industry generated an estimated $248 billion in 2022. With 62% of adults in America eager and willing to embrace one of their favorite pastimes: competition for money. While video game competition is not gambling and is more akin to a golf or tennis tournament, due to the advent of online video game competition, the casino gaming industry is the perfect canvas for this new picture to be painted upon.
Having recognized the opportunity, it’s crucial that it is considered properly because the gaming community is highly online and very aware. They value transparency above almost everything else, and a poorly thought out cash-grab can crash and burn before day one.
So what exactly is the angle casinos can take to show gamers there’s fun to be had? Gamers should recognize that much like poker, video game competition is about more than just money—it’s also about earning bragging rights. In fact, these bragging rights often hold more value than the financial winnings. If you were to approach any game enthusiast and mention winning $4M last year competing in video games, you’d probably earn their admiration. However, if you were to tell them that you were the number 1 Call Of Duty player in the world last year, you’d be elevated to a near-deity status in their eyes.
Embrace Esports
In my opinoion, esports and casinos go together like peanut butter and chocolate, and I’m not the first person to notice this. The gaming industry has been poking and prodding at video games for years—even drilling down to esports specifically.
Las Vegas, for instance, has hosted the fighting game community’s Evolution Championship Series since 2005, and Luxor built the massive HyperX Arena in 2018 that’s tailor made for competitive gamers. The Nevada Gaming Commission also recently allowed sportsbooks to accept wagers on esports in the same way they can with traditional sporting events.
So the pieces are all in place. However, no one has really broken the market wide open yet. I believe the next step casinos can take now is to either identify the best games to integrate into their offerings, merge wagering into existing games or refocus their efforts on mobile gaming competitions.
Option One: Design New Games
To best capitalize on the video game industry, casinos have to find the right game(s). Casinos need to partner with new game companies who are developing promising games that are built on the premise that players will compete for money. Games like Call Of Duty and others that have built a following without this feature and seem to find themselves nervous about adding the new feature when public admiration or condemnation for such a feature could go either way. When you’re already on top, why risk it? So, this opens the opportunity to design new games where the games are built on the competition premise from day one, thereby never succumbing to a situation of Sophie’s choice.
Option Two: Put Wagering In Existing Games
Alternatively, instead of only focusing on developing new games, let players wager on the games they’re already playing. If the games in the top slots are nervous about risking their top slots with a relatively new concept, then consider grabbing some games from the middle of the pack.
There are likely a number of developers who would love the opportunity to take a chance on a concept that could catapult them into the number one gaming slot in the world. When they realize that Call Of Duty and Fortnite were built on real money competition in real life—and that those same games haven’t yet realized that making this available online can further their interests—these “middle of the pack” games may very well see the logic in giving this a go with the right casino partner. After all, if it goes right, Halo would very well love to overtake Fortnite in popularity.
Option Three: Focus On Mobile Gaming Competition
Instead of focusing on major blockbuster games, casinos could seek out mobile video games with instant name recognition without any licensing requirements or restrictions—games with titles such as “golf,” “tennis,” “bowling,” etc. These are games that the public instantly knows, loves to play and could easily undersand how to win money through competition without a lengthy education process. With a strong mobile platform, due to the size of the video game playing population, a casino could build a multi-billion dollar platform before anyone really even knew their name!
Game On
Whichever direction casinos choose will take some trial and error, but they may find that the potential benefits are worth it. And when both kinds of gaming meet in the middle, it can make both industries—and their players—very happy.
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Source link