Hosted by founders Ben and Ari Fox, the CEC will be held at the Alexis Park Resort across the street from the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. The event connects the esports and video-gaming industries to the casino, cinema, and collegiate worlds and esports players, marketers, developers, event providers, lawyers, educators, and products and services purveyors.
Among the speakers is Tyler Bushnell, CEO and co-founder of Polycade, a modern arcade platform for in-person social gaming. He’s the son of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell.
Other speakers include Robert Heller, CEO of Spectrum Gaming Capital; Dr. Laila Mintas, former CEO of PlayUp Inc; Giovanna Fessenden, an intellectual-property attorney and esports legal expert; Larry Jaeger, CEO of Sponsors Burst Esports and founder of 24-Z Esports Consulting; and Tael Tamar, co-CEO of SolidBlock.
The conference agenda will cover the current state of esports in casinos, colleges, and finance and delve into what’s happening globally. There will be updates on casino and igaming regulations and what states are passing laws to assist with wagering, including peer-to-peer wagering.
States such as Nevada are on the verge of expanding esports offerings and experts see a lot of potential for such wagering to take off in the future, as it has globally. New Jersey and its laws on esports tournaments and participation will be a main focus.
There’s even discussion on the potential for the use of cryptocurrency in esports wagering and what can be done to take advantage of betting on college esports teams just like in college football and basketball.
“This year’s event is important, because we’re talking about a lot of things that have come out of the pandemic that (casinos) need to incorporate immediately,” Ari Fox said. “It’s everything involved with NFTs and how to attract younger audiences and cryptocurrency and the landscape of the video-game industry that’s changing so rapidly. If casinos try to initiate something today, they’ll be behind the eight ball. They’ll get updated on what has moved the entire community to another plateau that they may not even be aware of.”
