{"id":60949,"date":"2017-10-16T16:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T23:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=60949"},"modified":"2017-10-16T15:18:45","modified_gmt":"2017-10-16T22:18:45","slug":"maryland-casinos-esports-healthy-look-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maryland-casinos-esports-healthy-look-boost\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Casinos Esports Play Looks to Boost Already Healthy Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maryland casinos might be looking to get competitive with esports and skill-based gaming. The state\u2019s committee on gaming oversight met last week to discuss the subjects with representatives of gaming corporations and they could soon be in the state\u2019s six casinos.<\/p>\n

\"Esports
Esports is becoming big business and the Luxor in Las Vegas announced they are building an arena dedicated to the activity. (Image: Gamesbras.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last time this joint legislative committee met was in 2016 when they discussed Daily Fantasy Sports. In January the government implemented new regulations that are considered some of the fairest in the country for both operators and players.<\/p>\n

Maryland\u2019s casinos reported $1.42 billion in gaming revenue for fiscal 2017, a $277 million more than last year and a 24.2 percent increase. But Carole Bober Gentry, managing director of communications for the Maryland State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, said the facilities are constantly evolving.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Maryland\u2019s casino market matures, each of the six casinos is fine-tuning and adjusting its gaming floor to meet customer trends and demands,\u201d\u00a0she said.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hollywood Casino in Perryville, Maryland reduced the number of slot machines from 1,158 in 2013 to 822 this year and is looking for other forms of gaming to take up the slack. Skill-based gaming and esports are two possibilities.<\/p>\n

Esports Already Present<\/h2>\n

Maryland already allows for skill-based games under current regulations, Blaine Graboyes, co-founder and CEO of GameCo Inc. told the committee. Esports are on college campuses and University of Maryland players receive scholarship money. The team reached the final four of the League of Legends College Championship in May in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Some players bypass college and go right to professional team, where tournaments can have as much as $20 million in prize money, filling basketball arenas and drawing millions of viewers online. Team owners spend in excess of six figures to sign the best free-agent players, often housing them so the players can practice together daily.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s ridiculous how much you can make,\u201d Zaqueri \u201cAphromoo\u201d Black told the Baltimore Sun. He is regarded as a veteran player at 24. \u201cThe really good streamers make over $1 million a year.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Casinos can make their money not from a gambling angle but by hosting competitions<\/a>. In March Caesars held an event in Atlantic City that attracted approximately 900 players. They didn\u2019t see any increase in wagering, but did get a benefit from related services.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s still trying to figure out, how do you make this appealing for the consumer and make sense for the business? Kevin Ortzman, Atlantic City regional president for Caesars Entertainment told USA Today.<\/p>\n

The Luxor in Las Vegas announced in April they were utilizing space in the casino for an esports arena that is expected to open next year.<\/p>\n

None of the Maryland resorts have so far said they will try and grab some of that business, as well as install skill-based gaming.<\/p>\n

Mixed Success in Nevada, New Jersey<\/h2>\n

Two places that have tried skill-based gaming machines<\/a> were Las Vegas and Atlantic City and both had mixed results. Harrah\u2019s, Caesars and Bally\u2019s all pulled the machines from the New Jersey casinos in June after they didn\u2019t make enough money to cover fees. Borgata and Tropicana have had better luck with the games at their establishments.<\/p>\n

Las Vegas has games at the MGM Grand\u2019s Level Up Lounge in Las Vegas as well as Planet Hollywood. Neither facility has given any indication how well the devices are doing.<\/p>\n

\n

Some recent crowd sizes at esports arenas<\/p>\n

KeyArena, Seattle \u2013 Dota 2 The International 2014, 10,000 fans<\/p>\n

Sang-am World Cup Stadium, Seoul – League of Legends 2014 World Finals, 45,000 fans<\/p>\n

Staples Centre, Los Angeles – League of Legends 2013 World Finals, 12,000 fans<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maryland casinos might be looking to get competitive with esports and skill-based gaming. The state\u2019s committee on gaming oversight met last week to discuss the subjects with representatives of gaming corporations and they could soon be in the state\u2019s six casinos. The last time this joint legislative committee met was in 2016 when they discussed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":60951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,3312,10,18,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaryland Casinos Esports Play Looks to Boost Already Healthy Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Maryland joint legislative committee met with gaming corporations to discuss esports and skill based games last week and they may be in casinos soon.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maryland-casinos-esports-healthy-look-boost\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maryland Casinos Esports Play Looks to Boost Already Healthy Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Maryland joint legislative committee met with gaming corporations to discuss esports and skill based games last week and they may be in casinos soon.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maryland-casinos-esports-healthy-look-boost\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-16T23:00:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-16T22:18:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/f620x350-1717_32735_0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maryland-casinos-esports-healthy-look-boost\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maryland-casinos-esports-healthy-look-boost\/\",\"name\":\"Maryland Casinos Esports Play Looks to Boost Already Healthy Business\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maryland-casinos-esports-healthy-look-boost\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maryland-casinos-esports-healthy-look-boost\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/f620x350-1717_32735_0.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-16T23:00:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-16T22:18:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"A Maryland joint legislative committee met with gaming corporations to discuss esports and skill based games last week and they may be in casinos soon.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maryland-casinos-esports-healthy-look-boost\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maryland-casinos-esports-healthy-look-boost\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maryland-casinos-esports-healthy-look-boost\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/f620x350-1717_32735_0.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/f620x350-1717_32735_0.jpg\",\"width\":620,\"height\":350,\"caption\":\"Esports is becoming big business and the Luxor in Las Vegas announced they are building an arena dedicated to the activity. 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