The live-betting eSports platform Unikrn has obtained a cryptocurrency and real-money online gambling license in the Isle of Man, allowing it to roll out various wagering products to twenty countries. Along with the standard “spectator betting” on major eSports tournaments, the company will also offer “skill-based” betting on players’ own gameplay.
On Tuesday, Unikrn CEO and VoodooPC founder Rahul Sood announced that their wagering license has finally received approval from the regulator in the Isle of Man. The company is now the only live-betting platform in the world that can offer cryptocurrency wagering on video games in an absolutely legitimate way. The Las Vegas-based Unikrn is now officially a license holder listed on the website of the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission.
Until this week, the company was permitted to provide real-money betting on eSports only in the UK but with the new, comprehensive license, it would be able to offer its online products in most of Europe, parts of Latin America, and some Asian countries, including South Korea. Certain types of bets on eSports will also be available in regulated markets across the United States.
Unikrn users in countries where sports betting is legalized will be able to place bets on major competitions, championships, players, and teams. Whereas this offering could be found in most traditional sportsbooks, online or in betting shops, the new platform features one major difference. With the so-called “skilled-based” betting, users will also be allowed to bet on their own performance in games such as League of Legends, Fortnite, or Dota 2.
The wagering platform will make use Unikrn’s native cryptocurrency, UnikoinGold (UKG), which was launched last year. According to the official announcement, the Unikrn Jet is a wagering backend based on blockchain technology and can handle more than 9,000 bets per second. The company explains that Unikrn Jet is ready for immediate deployment for regulated crypto and fiat betting as it is already available in the play token economy of the platform.
Cryptocurrency Betting on Esports
For its large-scale eSports betting offering, Unikrn will be using a transaction engine by Bittrex. Its infrastructure will allow users to convert fiat or cryptocurrencies to UKG. Andrew Vouris, COO of the company, explains that the new platform will give eSports fans the freedom to bet in crypto or fiat and choose from pre-match or live wagering. Those who choose to use the UnikoinGold will receive various benefits, according to the company.
Betting on your own gameplay, however, is what draws a lot of attention to the new platform as such “skill-based bets” are not allowed in any other type of sports wagering. Players will be allowed to join Unikrn by verifying their location and age and connecting their game with the platform. It will, then, generate odds for each player that will be based on the user profile within the game itself, regardless of which it is, Fortnite, League of Legends, etc. After placing a bet on their upcoming gameplay, users can start playing and eventually, collect their winnings, if their performance was good.
Unikrn was launched in 2014 as a Rahul Sood’s startup but it raised more than $15 million from investors such as Mark Cuban, Elisabeth Murdoch, Ashton Kutcher, Guy O’Seary, Shari Redstone, Binary, Hyperspeed, Indicator Ventures, and Tabcorp.
