Seattle sports fans may be able to place a legal bet on Russell Wilson’s pass completion rate during the Seahawks home opener this fall, but not from their favorite Pioneer Square barstool. Instead, they will have to travel to one of the state’s 29 tribal casinos. All forms of sports — including esports and excluding in-state collegiate athletics — are eligible for bets under the law, but it will be up to the tribes to negotiate with the state over the coming months about which sports will actually be offered. Industry insiders don’t expect esports to be part of the… Read More
“In the last few hours, our dream became real, and our company just became substantially more valuable.” That’s the title to a blog post published Monday describing the excitement from the folks at Unikrn. The Seattle startup was celebrating today after the Supreme Court ruled that a federal ban enacted in 1992 on sports betting is unconstitutional, allowing states to legalize sports betting and creating a flurry of business opportunity for companies like Unikrn. Founded in 2014, Unikrn runs an esports betting platform. The company is venture backed and also raised $31 million in an initial coin offering this past October for UnikoinGold, a cryptocurrency created by Unikrn that can… Read More
Seattle esports betting startup Unikrn continues to grow and today announced another acquisition. The company has swooped up Berlin-based ChallengeMe.GG, an esports matchmaking service and long-time tournament partner of Unikrn. Unikrn CEO Rahul Sood said it was a multi-million dollar acquisition and called it “one of the biggest deals of my career.” Unikrn said it will create the “first crypto gaming platform” with the acquisition. “This is going to be the platform we use to bring skill-based betting products to our users as well,” Sood said in a blog post. “Remember, Unikrn has patent-pending technology on placing crypto bets on… Read More
Unikrn is getting into brick-and-mortar on the Las Vegas Strip. The Seattle esports betting startup today announced a new deal with MGM Resorts International to host live video game tournaments on Friday and Saturday evenings next year inside the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The events will take place at Level Up, a new entertainment complex inside MGM that opened one year ago. Unikrn will create a “branded esports experience,” said CEO Rahul Sood, and host competitions for a variety of games like Street Fighter, Madden, NBA 2K, and more. Competitors will have a chance… Read More
Some big names are participating in Unikrn’s unique initial coin offering. The Seattle startup launched an initial coin offering, or ICO, this past Friday and has already raised $25 million, Unikrn CEO Rahul Sood told GeekWire. Unikrn is selling virtual tokens called UnikoinGold that can be used on its platform to bet on esports matches. Those tokens can be exchanged for other major cryptocurrencies, such as ethereum and bitcoin, which can then be exchanged for U.S. dollars. UnikoinGold is based on the ethereum blockchain, which is similar to Bitcoin, the largest digital currency that was trading up more than 7 percent on Monday despite… Read More
