eSports betting firm Unikrn launches in the UK
eSports company Unikrn is launching in the UK, opening up its platform to British fans to watch and wager on video games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and League of Legends.
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European, Australian and Asian eSports fans will be able to bet on outcome of matches and overall winners of popular tournaments such as the Electronic Sports League and the ESEA League.
Unikrn has raised over $5m (£3.2m) from investors attracted to eSports' massive global audience of more than 70m people, and signed a global partnership deal with $5bn betting giant Tabcorp.
The Australian firm will help Unikrn "control the geographical areas where wagering is offered and will also handle all account identification processes".
Rahul Sood, Unikrn's chief executive who left a job as GM of Microsoft Ventures before founding the company, said he was attracted by the "sophisticated" UK betting market:
The UK is one of the most sophisticated sports betting markets in the world and there has been tremendous demand for safe wagering on eSports from consumers in that part of the world.
To celebrate our UK opening we have decided to make things more interesting by introducing a new betting market for the overall tournament winner.