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William Hill Accepts First Legal E-Sports Bets in the US
- Updated: November 22, 2016
The 2016 Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) took place at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, the home of NBA’s Golden State Warriors this weekend and saw two world firsts occur.
The IEM saw some of the best League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams from around the world compete for the title of champions. For the first time in the history of the IEM, the Counter-Strike finals were streamed in virtual reality and saw Team Ninjas in Pyjamas prevail against SK Gaming.
Another world first was British bookmaker William Hill accepting the first real-money bets on e-sports in the United States at its sportsbook at the Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino.
William Hill was given the green light by the Nevada Gaming Control Board to accept real-money wagers on various outcomes of the 2016 IEM tournament, with bettors able to place wagers on the outcome of the League of Legends tournament.
Team SoloMid (11:10) were the pre-tournament favorites with The Chiefs eSports Club (100:1) being the rank outsiders. Even so, it was Unicorns of Love who were crowned the League of Legends champions, defeating Flash Wolves in a tense best-of-five finale.
“This announcement is a major step toward ensuring Nevada …