Former World Series of Poker champion Johnny Chan will appear at the Casino eSports Conference in Las Vegas when a California company outlines plans to launch fantasy esports betting and a peer-to-peer betting exchange for the NFL and other sports with the use of cryptocurrency.
The second annual conference will be held Sept. 5-6 at Luxor Las Vegas and will bring together casino executives, suppliers, and providers in the esports industry.
Chan has won 10 World Series of Poker individual event championship bracelets and was the winner of the 1987 and 1988 Main Event titles. He will represent No Limit Fantasy Sports join company CEO Rafael Groswirt at the conference.
During a luncheon, Chan will discuss the company, sports betting and fantasy sports, and the move to expand esports to larger arenas.
No Limit, which is nearly three years old, is an online betting platform that allows fantasy soccer, football, NHL, NBA and MLB sports betting in the U.S. and around the world. Outside the U.S., the platform allows and peer-to-peer soccer betting abroad. It offers peer-to-peer betting in the U.S. with use of the play money. The company hopes to launch real-money betting if allowed by states.
“We’re just testing peer-peer where people bet against each other,” Groswirt said. “We did it for the World Cup for the rest of the world because it’s not allowed in the U.S. yet. That worked out pretty good. That same platform will be used for all sports and esports.”
With peer-to-peer betting, which is popular in Europe, players negotiate their own lines and bet with each other, Groswirt said. In addition to soccer, the company will NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB peer-to-peer betting as the sports begin. It currently offers that concept for European soccer leagues. There will also be statistical bets between players for any sport.
“Now we’re doing it with play money, so people get used to it and understand and become familiar with it and once there is licensing then we can play for real money,” Groswirt said. “We let people put out whatever bets they want.”
Groswirt said he’s optimistic peer-to-peer betting will be licensed by states. His company wants to partner with casinos with its software for traditional sports betting.
Residents of Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, as well as Puerto Rico and prohibited from playing fantasy sports, Groswirt said.
The plan is to launch a fantasy version of esports in March with cryptocurrency where players can build teams utilizing the top teams in the world competing in international events, he said.
Groswirt hopes to launch peer-to-peer esports betting in February outside of the U.S.
“I see a lot of opportunity because there’s already millions bet on esports teams, especially in Asia and Europe,” Groswirt said. “Esports is in its infancy, but it’s growing tremendously from our point of view, and esports fantasy is how we are going to bring it into the U.S. As soon as we get this licensed in the U.S., we will be right there with peer-to-peer because we have the platform.”
Groswirt said his company uses cryptocurrency over dollars and euros because it makes it easier for people throughout the world. There’s no need to change from one currency to another, and everyone can access cryptocurrency, he said.
Ben Fox, producer of the Casino eSports Conference, said International Game Technology was added to the program. IGT will present Virtual Zone, a system that runs both the games and physical stage where players compete. The product was developed for this ever-evolving gaming market to combine next-generation, immersive game technology with prizes, in a unique casino package, Fox said.
“A lot of the future is going to be done through online, but esports tournaments and virtual reality is going to change the internals of the casino structure,” Fox said.
Also at the conference, HARMAN, a Samsung company, is partnering up with the Allied Esport, to host a kick-off mixer for attendees which will include small-group tours of the eSport Arena at Luxor.
For more information, go to www.casinoesportconf.com.
