Nevada sportsbooks permitted to accept bets on League of Legends, Overwatch

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has approved wagers for the League of Legends European Championship (LEC), League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), and Overwatch League.

In a string of approvals, Nevada regulators announced Thursday evening the state’s licensed sportsbooks would be permitted to post and accept bets on the LEC, LCS, and Overwatch League. The triad of esports leagues have been approved for the following three wager types: head to head, match winner, and overall winner.

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Offerings will be made available to Nevada licensees with immediate effect barring adherence to the provisos outlined by the regulator. Official rulesets must be defined on the event organiser or sanctioning body’s website prior to the acceptance of wagers. The determination of odds will be at the book’s discretion, although those electing to accept bets must first provide the Enforcement Division with notification of terms.

The Control Board’s exemptions will prohibit all in-play staking options across the trinity of events, stating bets “must cease” prior to the start of each match. All event results shall be established on a permissible source and in obedience to regulatory requirements. Nevada licensees opting to offer markets deviating from the three approved wager types must submit and receive separate application approval.

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The trilogy of betting permits will mark seven events across Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, iRacing, Dota 2, Overwatch, and League of Legends approved by Nevada regulators in the last month alone.

At the time of writing, it’s unknown if any of the state’s licensees have delivered the Enforcement Division intent to accept wagers; previously with these omissions, Nevada-registered sportsbook William Hill has arrived early to the party.

Esports Insider says: Apparently bringing esports betting markets to the United States wasn’t such a cumbersome process after all; it just took the global extinction of traditional sports to make it happen. In all seriousness, Nevada is making it rain with esports offerings, and what we’re witnessing in terms of the speed and volume of esports betting exemptions is completely and entirely unprecedented. There’s truly no telling how this will play out in the long run, but it’s certainly got us excited.

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