Esports Pools secures “world first” skins betting licence

ESports fantasy league site esportsPools has secured the “world’s first” licence to allow gambling with virtual goods on its ESP.bet real-money gambling site.

Issued by the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC), the licence enable ESP to offer skins betting, which is currently illegal under all other European licences.

Skins are in-game items like weapons or outfits, and Eilers and Narus estimate that $5bn in skins were used to bet on esports in 2016.

The GSC’s new licensing regime will also allow the operator to process digital currency transactions, such as bitcoin.

ESP.bet is now licenced to offer skins betting

CEO Scott Burton said the firm has taken a “more transparent approach” to esports betting by carrying out stringent KYC and age verification checks.

“With this licence, that work has been validated and I feel like we have taken the first step towards building a regulated market place that is safe for consumers, businesses, and investors,” Burton said.

Director of IOM-based business management firm Boston Multi Family Office, Alex McNee, said global revenues from eSports are “now tipping the $1bn a year mark”.

He added: “As the betting markets for this industry mature, operators are going to have to be licensed to ensure long term growth, and that licence will need to cover areas such as digital currencies and virtual goods.

“The Isle of Man’s recent inclusion of these assets into their regulations is a huge step forward, which has now been made real by the granting of ESP.bet’s licence.”

The operator also offers a free-to-play site esportspools.com in jurisdictions that deem skins betting to be illegal.