Macau Follows Las Vegas Opening Its Doors To eSports

eSports is now a big business and Las Vegas and Macau are taking steps to get a bigger piece of the market. The first one to take significant steps towards welcome the eSports industry was Las Vegas. The entertainment capital of the world has seen a rise in eSports tournaments and venues over the last 18 months.

Earlier this year, Luxor Casino opened the eSports Arena Las Vegas. The eSports arena is owned by Allied Esports, which is a joint venture by Chinese gaming companies. The eSports operator has an objective to build a network of eSports arenas around the world to make eSports more mainstream. This new venue is already drawing in the crowds and it will not be surprising if more Las Vegas casinos start making provision for eSports facilities.

Macau is following in Las Vegas’ footsteps by opening its doors to eSports operators. This time it is in the form of hosting the 2018 League of Legends Master Series (LMS) Spring Final. The event will be held at Studio City Macau and will be operated by Melco Resorts & Entertainment, with the help of online gaming operator Garena. This will be the enclave’s largest event involving eSports, with over 2,000 people in attendance.

League of Legends

eSports Could Soon Take Off In Macau

Melco went all out to throw out the red carpet for the eSports industry. The casino operator did a major overhaul of the main Studio City Event Center so that it can act as an eSports arena. This is a lot more difficult than it seems since they needed to take into account computer screens and connectivity.

In a statement, Geoff Andres, Property President of Studio City Macau at Melco Resorts & Entertainment said

We are always looking for fresh ideas to diversify the entertainment experience offered to our guests. In recent years, we have kept a close track of the increasing demand in Asia for new and unique tech-based entertainment, where eSports is now a fast-growing and major segment. We are excited by this partnership with Garena to bring the Legends Master Series Spring Final to Macau for the first time, where the event has raised the bar for destination sporting events in Cotai

Expect Melco’s partnership with Garena to be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to eSports in Macau.