Unikrn Partners with MGM Resorts International to Host Esports Tournaments in LEVEL UP at MGM Grand Las Vegas Rahul Sood Follow Dec 18, 2017 · 3 min read

Today we’re announcing that Unikrn is joining the Las Vegas strip in an unprecedented partnership with the MGM Grand. This is a deal years in the making with major implications for gaming and the world of traditional brick-and-mortar tourism.

Las Vegas is one of America’s most-visited cities, and the MGM Grand was arguably the world’s first destination hotel, an idea that revolutionized travel and entertainment a few decades ago. We’re re-disrupting those industries by bringing esports tournaments and UnikoinGold into the casino world, where we’ll unearth a new demographic for MGM and a similarly new experience for the esports generation.

Yes, this also means that Unikrn will be the face of esports in one of the most-trafficked spots on the planet (and in the home of EVO, one of esports’ most foundational and longest-living events).

Soon, you’ll be able to pull into the LEVEL UP Lounge at the MGM Grand, across from the very popular Hakkasan Nightclub, and experience a wealth of gaming and casual esports experiences curated by Unikrn, including regular tournaments for players of variable skill levels, viewing parties, and sponsored prizes including a mix of cash, UnikoinGold and MGM Resorts Entertainment Experiences.

Although we’ve worked with casinos to bring in esports and gaming communities before, this outshines everything else. The Las Vegas Strip attracts millions of visitors from all over the world, and Unikrn will be hosting esports tournaments in one of its traffic centers.

The fact is, major casino groups are paying attention to esports, and Unikrn is the team the MGM Grand trusts to execute this transition.

And it couldn’t come a moment too soon. Young adults today lack an interest in slot machines and traditional gambling. You can reskin the same game with 1,000 different themes and the typical esports-aged fan will walk right by.

Our own staff of esports fanatics in our Las Vegas office notices that stagnation. One of our employees recently stayed in the city and told me that he walked past hundreds of slot machines looking for something to do after work. He ended going back to his room and played League of Legends on his laptop; the casinos didn’t earn a dime.

Obviously, traditional entertainment destinations have a lot of room to grow in appealing esports and gaming fans. MGM is leading the way with Unikrn by bringing regular esports tournaments to LEVEL UP.

This will be a spotlight partnership to keep an eye on; we’ll continue to see other leviathan brands engaging Unikrn to partner with us in various ways. We’ll see UnikoinGold as a method of prizepool allocation and Unikrn experiences becoming a status symbol in the world of modernized entertainment. We will introduce UnikoinSilver betting in the future with viewing parties and a number of other really fun experiences.

In addition to this news, we’re excited to announce that we’re making progress on more applications for UnikoinGold, including crypto betting. One of our longtime partners (and division of Tabcorp, a shareholder in Unikrn), Luxbet, doesn’t have the flexibility to jump into that future with us right now (in part due to the ongoing largest acquisition in their history). We have been planning this separation for a while because we cannot allow ourselves to become encumbered by rigidity as we reinvent a major industry.

This is why we acquired our own license in Malta and continue to work directly with regulators to help them find solutions in navigating the new world of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency regulations.

Our existing customers in Australia (and only Australia) will experience a temporary interruption in access to our real-money betting, but we’ll remain in the UK and re-emerge in Australia with expansion into 80% of Europe in 2018. This will involve a number of impressive new partnerships of which MGM Resorts is just the first showing.

We have more of our holiday giveaways coming this week to thank our loyal fans for a monumental 2017, so stay tuned to our social media accounts for more updates, including updates on winning some sweet year-end prizes. Also more updates to come this week!