Leading eSports publisher Valve has instructed professional Dota 2 teams competing in next month’s The International 8 to stop accepting sponsorships from gambling websites, but one prominent expert says it is time the industry overcomes its aversion to gambling links.
Hai Ng – a globally renowned eSports technology strategist, event operator and team owner – told a panel at this week’s Gaming, Racing and Wagering conference in Sydney that while games publishers remain largely averse to any association with gambling, the time has come for the respective industries to start a conversation.
“What we’re seeing with Valve and what we’ve seen in the past with Riot (creator of League of Legends) is that they don’t want to be seen as having anything to do with gambling or betting companies for fear that they will be seen as promoting gambling to minors,” Ng said.
“It’s all about perception. The irony is that betting operators don’t want to promote gambling to minors and the eSports industry doesn’t want to promote gambling to minors either. The ideologies of each are exactly the same, they just aren’t talking to each other about it yet.
“I think that has to change. At the moment the games publishers are still trying tp pretend that gambling around the industry doesn’t exist or that it’s got nothing to do with them, but just like with traditional sports the betting industry around eSports will exist with or without the publishers, so in the long term it’s better that they embrace the opportunity and start working together.”
It was revealed this week that Valve had warned participating teams in its upcoming The International 8 – one of the biggest eSports tournaments on the planet with a prize pool of almost US$25 million – to stop accepting sponsorships from online betting sites. The request comes despite a number of teams holding long-term contracts with sites such as GG.bet.
Valve said it will hold further discussions in the coming weeks amid questions over how the ban will impact ongoing sponsorships.
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