Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:29 AM on Friday, March 29th, 2019
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———————–
Simplicity set to open five esports gaming centers
Simplicity has identified locations for five esports gaming centers, representing around 9,000 square feet of space with over 150 gaming stations.
The first center will be located in Boca Raton, which is scheduled to have its grand opening in April of this year.
Logo credit: Simplicity
Simplicity
has now opened its franchise partner program, allowing the centers to
be opened in new locations by partners while retaining the
organisation’s branding. The centers are said to “feature cutting edge
technology including high performance PCs.â€
Jed Kaplan, CEO of Simplicity discussed
the venture in a statement: “I am excited to announce the opening of
our first Esports Gaming Center and the locations of our next four. Our
goal is to open 15 locations by year end and a total of 50 nationwide in
the next 24 months. Additionally, we offer attractive opportunities for
advertisers and sponsors to connect with our audience via our digital
and physical real estate.â€
In late 2018, Simplicity was acquired by SMAAASH Entertainment. In a statement given at the time of the deal, F. Jacob Cherian, CEO of SMAAASH Entertainment revealed that the company aimed to build “brick and mortar esports centers.â€
Following
the merger, Kaplan joined SMAAASH Entertainment as its Co-CEO and is a
minority owner of NBA team Memphis Grizzlies and Welsh football club
Swansea City.
Simplicity is currently partnered with esports apparel company Raven GG and competes in PUBG, SMITE, Gears of War, and NHL.
Esports
Insider says: More and more companies and organisations are looking to
open centers, either for internal use or aimed at the public. As gaming
and esports continue to be gradually embraced by the general public,
there’s potential for these establishments to become mainstays all
around the globe. These plans sound very ambitious considering
Simplicity’s centers are unproven in terms of popularity so we’ll have
to see how things pan out after the Boca Raton center opens.
The Startup On A Mission To Create A Truly O2O Edtech Ecosystem
According to a study conducted by KPMG and Google, India’s online education market will grow to $1.96 billion by 2021.
Online to Offline or O2O segment in India is heating up with Reliance planning to foray into e-commerce backed by its 7500+ offline stores and Paytm scaling down its Paytm Mall to focus on the O2O space, led by its acquisition of NearBuy.
Bengaluru: The Online to Offline or O2O segment in India is heating up with Reliance planning to foray into e-commerce backed by its 7500+ offline stores and Paytm scaling down its Paytm Mall to focus on the O2O space, led by its acquisition of NearBuy.
A recent report by The Boston Consulting Group pegged 5% of volume
and 16% of value of purchases in the Indian retail space to O2O
channels. The Indian customer is now smartphone savvy and uses the
online world for discovery but prefers an offline experience before
buying, especially in high ticket segments. The trend is clear with all
major players now having offline presence, across every segment such as
fashion (Myntra, YepMe), furniture (UrbanLadder, PepperFry), kids
(FirstCry), opticals (LensKart), jewellery (CaratLane),fitness
(Cure.fit) and more.
Education, especially outsourced to help for K-12 parents, has one of
the greatest needs for an O2O experience but that remains largely
untapped. According to a study conducted by KPMG and Google, India’s
online education market will grow to $1.96 billion by 2021. However, the
average rate of completion of online courses is less than 10%. Hence,
there is a strong need for an offline learning centre with a teacher or a
coach to help in learning and doubt solving.
The sweet spot in outsourced learning help lies in the Blended
Approach of digital content with offline consumption. PlanetSpark, one
of India’s fastest growing edtech startups is working on this huge O2O
opportunity in the K-8 edtech space. The company has developed highly
engaging and gamified digital learning content for children that can be
consumed at any of its offline experience centres across the country,
thus providing a seamless learning experience.
The parents discover the content through PlanetSpark’s free learning
app loaded with thousands of learning games, learning cartoons and
quizzes. “After parents discovers us online through our app, they have
the option to take up a premium learning plan or experience the learning
content at any of our experience centres in the presence of a
PlanetSpark certified teacher. Many parents opt for a classroom learning
and digital content plan. However, a visit to the offline experience
centre also helps parentsin decision making for the purchase of the ‘at
home’ digital planâ€, said Kunal Malik, Co-Founder of PlanetSpark.
An O2O (online to offline) strategy has helpedPlanetSpark to optimize
students’ experience. The students can learn at home using digital
content through a PlanetSpark ‘child safe’ tablet or a mobile app. They
can then visit their nearest experience centre to get mentorship and
support from a certified teacher.
“We operate in two models. First, we have home based learning
centres, completely managed by our top teachers. Second, we have
partnered with several space-sharing companies to lease safe and
asset-light shared learning spaces to set up a PlanetSpark experience
centre that can accommodate 50-100 students while keeping the capex
minimal. We have already set-up over 300 experience centres and are now
live in 7 cities across India. We are on a rapid expansion mode and aim
to be the largest player in the O2O edtech space by the end of 2019.â€,
says Maneesh Dhooper, Co-Founder of Planet Spark.
Backed by FIITJEE, India’s largest Education company, PlanetSpark
will use the funds to aggressively grow its online learners to 5 million
and its offline experience centres across 5 more cities.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:00 AM on Friday, March 29th, 2019
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——————-
Blockchain Spending in 2019 to Grow to $2.9 Billion, 88.7% Growth Since 2018
The amount spent on blockchain technology by businesses seeking to utilise the trust-enhancing features of distributed ledgers is expected to grow to $2.9 million in 2019
This would represent a growth of 88.7% over the $1.5 billion spent on the technology during 2018
By: Rick D.
The amount spent on blockchain technology by businesses seeking to utilise the trust-enhancing features of distributed ledgers
is expected to grow to $2.9 million in 2019. This would represent a
growth of 88.7% over the $1.5 billion spent on the technology during
2018.
The reported figures come from the International Data Corporation
(IDC) who recently updated its “Worldwide Semiannual Blockchain
Spending Guide.†According to a representative for the IDC, the tech has
moved out of the design phase and into actual use and this shift will
drive a lot of the expected spending through the next ten months.
New Industries Finding New Ways to Use Blockchain
The IDC report states that the financial sector will continue to
account for the lion’s share of the spending on blockchain technology
during 2019. The estimated figure here is $1.1 billion. This will come
from a variety of interests, including: banking, securities and
investment services, and insurers.
Another notable sector expected to be a part of the group of biggest blockchain spenders is that of manufacturing and resources.
These industries will reportedly account for $653 million combined.
They are also expected to see the largest growth in spending over the
entire five year period with a CAGR of 77.6%.
Coming close behind manufacturing and resources is the distribution
and services industries. Firms doing business in these industries are
expected to spend $642 billion on exploring and implementing blockchain
technology during 2019.
Blockchain technology is being explored by a range of industries.
According to IDC vice president of the Customer Insights and Analysis
programme, Jessica Goepfert, the technology is still very much in its
infancy and businesses are still at the phase of explosive innovation
when it comes to its implications:
“The use cases that comprise the blockchain opportunity are
developing as swiftly as the technologies enabling it. While spending
for more developed use cases in the financial sector like trade finance
and cross-border payments is still healthy and growing strong, relative
to six months ago we’ve seen an acceleration in spending across a
variety of other areas, such as energy settlements and warranty claims.â€
As part of the report, documenting the five year period between 2018
and 2022, the IDC states that it expects the total spent on blockchain
to reach $12.4 billion by the final year of the sample.
A director of research at Worldwide Blockchain Strategies, James
Webster, commented on the projected growth in spending on blockchain:
“Blockchain is maturing rapidly, and we have reached an inflection
point where implementations are moving quickly beyond the pilot and
proof of concept phase.â€
According to Webster, the figures gathered by the IDC reports will
give crucial insight into over the technology is being adopted by
different industries and where it is having the largest impact.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:00 AM on Friday, March 29th, 2019
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—————
Marijuana edibles: Is Canada on track to legalize them?
In a second wave of recreational legalization in Canada, cannabis edibles will be permitted for legal sale no later than Oct. 17, 2019, Health Canada has confirmed. And the market is up for grabs.
The edibles industry is expected to be worth $4.1 billion in Canada and the United States by 2022, according to a report by a marijuana market research company called The Arcview.
In a second wave of recreational legalization
in Canada, cannabis edibles will be permitted for legal sale no later
than Oct. 17, 2019, Health Canada has confirmed. And the market is up
for grabs.
The edibles industry is expected to be worth $4.1 billion in Canada
and the United States by 2022, according to a report by a marijuana
market research company called The Arcview.
As of now, in Canada, you can make
cannabis-infused food at home but it is illegal for anyone to buy and or
sell them to the public.
Canada’s proposed edible pot regulations
have been published by Health Canada and the 60-day consultation
process has come to an end. The public health agency is now reviewing
the responses.
The draft regulations
Under the proposed federal rules, a single serving would be limited to 10 milligrams of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, and each serving must be individually wrapped. This is considered a low to moderate dose of THC.
This dosage limit is stricter than in
Colorado, Washington or California, where multiple servings are allowed
per package. So for example in a chocolate bar, each breakable square
can contain 10 milligrams each for a total of 100 milligrams.
Pot meant for ingestion cannot have alcohol, have limited caffeine and come in a plain, child-resistant package. The draft regulations say the products must not be appealing to youth and the packaging can’t advertise dessert or confectionery flavours — so no gummies shaped like bears.
The proposed rules are an attempt to address one of the main concerns
with edibles: making sure it doesn’t pose a risk to public health,
especially for those who are underage.
“In other jurisdictions, which
legalized marijuana just like the states in the U.S., one of the
problems, [with] legalizing edibles, were kids. So kids came into the
kitchen saw this wonderful nicely coloured marijuana edible and
as kids do, try it out,†said Dr. Jürgen Rehm, a senior scientist at the
Institute for Mental Health Policy Research at CAMH.
However, some are worried the black market will continue to thrive
with such strict regulations. In California, for example, which
legalized recreational marijuana and edibles last year, industry experts
say the illicit market continues to boom.
One major cannabis edibles
manufacturer in California says it’s been difficult to navigate within
the legal market because there is still so much competition in the
illicit market.
“People that are heavy consumers of
THC and like to ingest it, can ingest hundreds if not thousands of
milligrams of THC in a day and so if they have products that are
available in the illicit market that are much cheaper and have a higher
potency, they’re going to tend to go towards that rather than paying
significantly more for less THC, which is what they’ve used to consume,â€
Bryce Berryessa said, the president of La Vida Verde.
WATCH: Is marijuana good or bad for you? Everything we know about the health effects of cannabis
Berryessa says your body builds up a
pretty quick tolerance when ingesting edibles. So a lot of those people
who are currently used to consuming a higher amount of THC are still
participating in the illegal market to get access to products with
higher potencies.
Rehm who has been working on the
field of mental health and cannabis consumption says it’s better to have
an incremental approach when it comes to edibles.
“The problem with edible marijuana is
that people are not used to it. A lot of the people once they smoke
marijuana. They feel the effects pretty quickly. With edibles, the
effects can be later. And people say ‘Oh, I have now done this edible
marijuana and I feel nothing’ and they have more and more,†Rehm said.
To avoid putting people at risk, it
would be better to start with a low dosage and once we have clear
evidence the black market is still thriving, then we can re-evaluate it,
he added.
“So with all the legislation, with
all the upper limits of THC or other points, we have to be in a way so
we can reap the benefits of legalization (i.e safer product and not lose
some of the consumers to the black market). And frankly, I think there
will be a lot of trial and error in the next one to two years.â€
Health Canada confirms that they have
received 7,000 responses from Canadians, industry representatives, the
provinces and the public health community on the proposed edibles draft
regulations. Now, the agency is reviewing the comments and considering where adjustments can be made.
Those in the marijuana industry, however, are skeptical the
government will make the edibles deadline set for themselves. When it
came to recreational pot, legalization was first promised on Canada day,
but the actual date wasn’t for a couple of months later.
Health Canada could not comment on
when we will see the updated draft but confirmed that cannabis products
will be permitted for legal sale no later than Oct. 17, 2019.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 6:14 PM on Thursday, March 28th, 2019
10 years – that’s how long Lomiko Metals has been predicting, waiting and preparing for the the Electric Vehicle explosion that is now set to take place over the next 10 years.
The Company is in the enviable position of having a high purity Graphite deposit that is also located just 1.5 hours outside of Montreal.
Watch CEO Paul Gill discuss why Lomiko is positioned to now become a major player in the battery metals space.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 2:50 PM on Thursday, March 28th, 2019
SPONSOR: Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc.
(TSX-V: EGLX) Uniting gaming communities with 80 owned and affiliated
websites, currently reaching over 75 million monthly visitors. The
company partial 2018 reported revenue of $7.4 million representing a
625% increase over the same period in 2017.
Drake — along with media and tech heavyweights Marissa Mayer, Strauss
Zelnick and others — is investing $3 million into the seed funding
round for Players’ Lounge,
an esports platform where gamers can play their favorite video games
against others for prizes straight from their living room.
Why it matters: It’s the latest example of a celebrity investing in esports. NBA superstar Chris Bosh joined
esports franchise Gen.G as a player management advisor last year. Other
big names, from Michael Jordan to Steph Curry, are investing in
professional esports teams.
Other investors include Comcast, Macro Ventures, Canaan, RRE, and Courtside VC.
The details: Players’ Lounge allows gamers to
compete in skill-based esports competitions for cash prizes. Its mission
is to create a social platform for casual gamers to connect, get
matched, and compete without having to be a pro.
This is different from platforms like Twitch or YouTube gaming that focus on streaming tournaments.
Like Instagram, Players’ Lounge is hoping to give average people a
platform to compete and win money on esports games, in hopes of
eventually popularizing winners and leveraging their influencer status
to grow the brand.
Players can compete on PS4, Xbox One or PC devices. Anyone can make
an account and deposit funds into their Players’ Lounge account via
credit card, PayPal or cryptocurrency.
Once the scores are verified, the winner receives the prize money
from the pool players invested in upfront. These are usually small sums
that players can compete for incrementally, although the company does
also host bigger tournaments.
Players’ Lounge says it gives out millions of dollars worth of cash prizes each month.
The big picture: Players’ Lounge is making it easy
for casual gamers to earn cash from esports. Otherwise, the only way to
make money in esports is to go pro, which takes a lot of time and
resources, or to become a streamer via Twitch or Youtube, which focuses
more on personality than gaming skills.
“It’s kind of like the intramural network for esports. There’s a huge community potential.”
— Austin Woolridge, cofounder and CEO of Players’ Lounge
Bottom line: Esports is still a fledgling industry
compared to professional sports, but big names are investing in it
because it’s growing so fast, and the upside looks promising.
Celebrities, and especially celebrity athletes, see this as a way to
connect with hyper-engaged sports fans, who may not have the appetite to
participate in real sports but still want to compete with peers and
develop a community around game play.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 11:36 AM on Thursday, March 28th, 2019
Michael Konikoff and Ben Kessler walk through the benefits and features of KABN, A NEO Financial Services Platform that starts with Biometric enabled Blockchain Validated Identity, empowering digital currency holders and KABN cardholders alike to spend wherever Visa is accepted
Tags: blockchain, crypto, Kabn, KABN ID Posted in All Recent Posts, Bitcoin, Featured, KABN | Comments Off on Webinar: An introduction to #KABN – A NEO Financial Services Platform That Starts With Biometric Enabled #Blockchain Validated Identity $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 9:19 AM on Thursday, March 28th, 2019
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——————-
Why Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey Are Warming to Blockchain
Michael J. Casey is the chairman of CoinDesk’s advisory board and
a senior advisor for blockchain research at MIT’s Digital Currency
Initiative.
The following article originally appeared in CoinDesk Weekly, a custom-curated newsletter delivered every Sunday exclusively to our subscribers.
“Left to their own devices, computer scientists would recreate the Soviet Union.â€
That line belongs to Preston McAfee,
an economist whose job history includes senior positions at tech giants
such as Microsoft, Google and Yahoo. As he explained to an audience at
the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, recently, it refers to software
engineers’ tendency to favor centralization as the most efficient design
principle for any computing system.
The point, he said, is that decentralized networks, such as those
based on blockchain models, can often enable more positive overall
social outcomes despite the relative inefficiency of their
command-and-control architecture. It’s useful to contemplate this idea,
and McAfee’s colorful metaphor, in relation to the current state of play
on the Internet.
For the first time since they emerged as the victors of the
post-dot-com bubble shakeout at the turn of the century, the platforms
that dominate our online lives are running up against the social limits
of their centralized models.
A backlash is emerging against “surveillance capitalism†and against
the broad strategy of mining users’ data to capture audience for
advertisers and to shape consumer behavior. Manifest as both political
pressure and user rebellion, it is forcing a design rethink at these
companies.
Perhaps the Internet is facing its Berlin Wall moment.
This is ultimately why some of the principles underlying blockchains
and cryptocurrency technologies are finding favor in the business
development strategies – or at least in the PR signaling – of social
media companies.
Warming to Decentralized Models
Facebook especially has attracted much attention in this area.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently made a bombshell post outlining a “privacy-focused vision for social networking†that suggested a move to embrace end-to-end encryption of users’ data on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
In a separate post of a video interview
with Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain, Zuckerberg speculated on
the prospect of Facebook using a blockchain model to enable
decentralized logins without its servers acting as authenticators. All
this came around the time The New York Times reported that Facebook is
developing a digital currency that its users can trade among each other
and exchange on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Meanwhile, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey appears to have gotten religion
when it comes to cryptocurrencies. He has declared that bitcoin will be
the “native currency of the Internet,†has invested in Lightning Labs, which is developing payment channels for bitcoin based on the lightning network, and recently announced that Square, the separate payments company that he heads, will hire crypto engineers and likely pay them in bitcoin.
It’s fair to say there is a significant degree of skepticism that
social media companies, having made fortunes out of a centralized model
that accumulates user data, will change their stripes.
Facebook, in particular, has come under criticism from pundits who
argue that it won’t be able to shift its business model. Given data
abuse scandals such as the Cambridge Analytica affair, skeptics such as
cryptocurrency pioneer David Chaum argue that Zuckerberg’s
decentralization and privacy mantra is nothing more than a PR message.
But the departure of certain senior executives, including those who
oversaw the development of the centralized data-gathering model and the
algorithms that mine that data to deliver audiences to advertisers, has
led others to conclude that Zuckerberg is indeed serious.
Winds of Change
One thing’s clear: there’s pressure for change, whether it comes in substance or merely in message.
Much like citizens who reach a breaking point and rebel against
political leaders who act in their own interests rather than those of
the public, users of these social media platforms are starting to signal
that they won’t stand for data abuses.
Obviously, without users, these businesses fail. So, these companies
are now contemplating a revised model in which, to paraphrase Bruce
Schneier, users are no longer the product but the customer.
It’s an open question whether such companies can make money on a
model in which the nodes in the network are free from control by the
center. But let’s continue with the McAfee-inspired metaphor and
contemplate how governments in capitalist economies accrue power and
influence when their citizens are empowered to transact with each other.
Similarly, we can imagine how a Facebook or a Twitter that helps its
vast number of users conduct peer-to-peer exchanges can extract great
value from the expansion of such networks.
Either way, the winds of change are coming to the centralized systems
of the Internet. Whether the incumbents survive those changes, or
whether they go the way of, say, MySpace is not clear. More important,
let’s consider what might arise in their place and how smoothly we
transition to the new era.
These are questions for developers of decentralized solutions such as
those enabled by blockchain technology. What kind of governance models
will be in place so that users are truly able to maintain a healthy
degree of autonomy even as new centralizing forces emerge to extract
value within the new paradigm?
Remember, the Soviet Union collapsed, but it was hardly replaced by a utopia.
Image via CoinDesk archives
The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies.
CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency
Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 9:00 AM on Thursday, March 28th, 2019
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—————————–
EVs forecasted to drive global lithium-ion battery market
Grand View Research forecasts the global lithium-ion battery market to register a 17% growth by 2025.
Revenue generation within the market is expected to reach $93 billion by 2025.
The electric vehicles (EV) market is expected to be a major driver for the overall marketplace.
The growing adoption of lithium-ion batteries in portable consumer electronics and grid storage systems will accelerate its growth.
“As automakers ramp up production for evermore EVs, demand on the
power grid from EVs will grow exponentially. According to best
estimates, growth in EV adoption could drive a 300-fold increase in
electricity consumption by 2040, compared to 2016.
“The current grid will need to evolve significantly to accommodate
that growth, driving a blitz of new innovation in wind and solar power,
which will ultimately shift global reliance on coal toward clean energy alternatives,” according to a statement.
EV market growth
The rapid growth of the EV market is a result of increased focus on
EVs by governments in efforts to reduce carbon emissions through the
implementation of clean environment legislations banning gas-powered
vehicles.
Governments such as the US have intensified iissueng incentives to accelerate consumer adoption of EVs.
The rising demand for efficient but clean energy is also accelerating
the lithium market and causing prices to rise dramatically.
The energy storage systems segment is expected to witness the fastest
growth rate because of the ongoing developments in the wind and solar
PV across the world.
In 2018, lithium prices surged by 45%, or to $16,500 per ton year-over-year as the demand began to outpace the supply.
Ongoing technological advancements are aimed towards reducing the
weight of these batteries, while also maintaining the ability to provide
sufficient power.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, March 27th, 2019
SPONSOR: Esports Entertainment
$GMBL Esports audience is 350M, growing to 590M, Esports wagering is
projected at $23 BILLION by 2020. The company has launched VIE.gg
esports betting platform and has accelerated affiliate marketing
agreements with 190 Esports teams. Click here for more information
GMBL: OTCQB
———————–
Esports Popularity Around The Globe
Recent years have seen an explosion in the popularity of esports, fuelled by an insatiable appetite in Asia.
You can be sure that when a new trend starts, the USA won’t be far away from the action.
The country has taken esports to its heart and produced big names, like the celebrity gamer Ninja, otherwise known as Tyler Blevins from Michigan.
Recent years have seen an explosion in the popularity of esports,
fuelled by an insatiable appetite in Asia. It’s not just a case of
playing your favorite games hoping to get a better score than your
friends; players compete for mega bucks and have become rich and famous.
Massive Growth in Asia
There are billions of dollars to be made in the esports business.
Forecasters believe that the global market will expand by 75% to $1.6bn
by the end of 2021. The arrival of smartphones has made esports even
easier to play.
A major area of growth is in the number of live tournaments. Mixed
martial arts (MMA) promoter ONE Championship has already made a $50m
investment and wants to hold esports events alongside MMA matches.
China listed esports as an official sport in 2003
and 13 years later, it was declared a national industry. Another major
boost came in 2018 when esports became a demonstration sport at the
Asian Games. The next event takes place in 2022 and esports will be an
official medal sport.
More partnerships are being forged as companies realize just how much
money could be made in the future. The number of competitive players in
China doubled last year leading to online companies such as Alibaba
Group Holding and Tencent Holdings to set up venues in the country.
Rural areas, as well as the major cities, are being targeted, and events
take place on a weekly basis.
It’s big news for game developers as the tournaments create more
awareness of their products. The hope is that games such as League of
Legends and Dota 2 will see their already impressive sales boosted.
Academies are opening up in countries such as China, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan.
It’s becoming big business with students paying up to $975 for a
month’s tuition, all dreaming of becoming professional players.
Achieving that dream could see them earning up to $700,000 a year.
Japan has also seen incredible growth in the popularity of esports.
That’s led to increased sales of high-performance gaming computers that
eliminate the possibility of even the shortest lag. Be sure to check out
our own reviews for the best gaming gear.
The Tokyo Game Show held in October 2018 saw plenty of talk about
esports. The second-hand market for these computers also sees increased
business. Others just go to many internet cafes and use their superior
equipment.
Perhaps the best-known Asian market of all is South Korea,
which is regarded as the country that started the esport revolution.
Gamers like Faker, Bang and Wolf are more or less household names.
South Korea hosts probably the biggest live esports event in the world – the League of Legends World Championship.
The Middle East is catching up
Dubai is a place of extravagance, and the Middle
Eastern kingdom has already made it known it would like to be a global
gaming destination for esports. The United Arab Emirates is already constructing the region’s first dedicated esports venue,
catering for players who can’t get enough of games like Counter-Strike.
Pro teams play each other with over $54,000 won in prize money.
Overwatch is also popular, and teams in the UAE include Risky Gaming,
Inferno Game Zone and Dubai Mirage.
However, esports is still some way behind other social online
entertainment there, such as online casinos. Despite land casinos and
sports betting being prohibited, locals are able to find plenty of legal opportunities to play online.
Saudi Arabia is another part of the Middle East
enjoying rising esports popularity; there’s even official government
representation and support for competitive gaming.
The United States and esports
You can be sure that when a new trend starts, the USA won’t be far
away from the action. The country has taken esports to its heart and
produced big names, like the celebrity gamer Ninja, otherwise known as Tyler Blevins from Michigan.
