Atlantic City invests in eSports

The CRDA authorised a US$700k investment to promote eSports events in the city.

US.- The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) board voted this week in favor of a proposal that invests up to US$700k to promote events in the next 18 months at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall and the Atlantic City Convention Center by Ingame Esports Inc.

The authority is confident that eSports will attract millennials and young people to the resort world. CRDA Executive Director Matthew Doherty said that while the concept of eSports may sound odd to some people, “thousands of people sit around and watch people play video games,” and added that “this may be the future of spectator sports,” reported Press of Atlantic City.

Doherty said that the authority will determine which events to back with the funding, and added that people from big IT companies, such as Facebook, Dell and Microsoft, attend these events to recruit people: “All the IT monsters out there. It brings other folks into town as well… who may have no other draw to come here except eSports.”