Well-known British esports broadcaster Paul “ReDeYe” Chaloner has called for better education around esports betting.
Earlier this year, Paul became an advisor for Luckbox – an esports betting site preparing to launch later this year – and was speaking as part of his role.
It’s probably fair to say that esports and gambling haven’t had the best of relationships in the past, with reports of underage gambling, the skin betting scandals, the UK Gambling Commission showing concerns around that, and well, honestly bookmakers could probably be doing a better job with their esportsbooks.
Paul believes there is a lack of understanding in the esports community about the risks of gambling and he’ll be working with Luckbox to help change that.
He said: “We can educate them along the way – that’s the key part for me. I don’t want to see underage gambling and I don’t want to see irresponsible gambling.
“I want people to be educated so they understand what they’re doing and the risks involved. And I think we can do that together with Luckbox.”
“I’m not anti-gambling, never have been – I think gambling has a place and it needs to be done responsibly.”
Paul Chaloner
Luckbox has promised to comply with gambling jurisdiction and says it wants to ‘do things right’.
Paul added: “For me, I’m not anti-gambling, never have been and I think gambling has a place and it needs to be done responsibly.
“I think that we’ve had far too many problems with gambling, both underage gambling and illegal gambling in esports over the years.
“It’s always been my belief that we shouldn’t condone that and we should actively go out there and get rid of that.
“Until now, I haven’t felt there is a company I could work with that shares those core beliefs and those same values that would actively go out of their way to not only produce a great product but to look at the flaws in esports and tackle them head-on.
‘No one has really cracked esports betting’
Paul says, until now, no one has really cracked esports betting.
He said: “I think we’ve had some attempts to do esports betting. The traditional companies have looked at it in a very similar way to sports perhaps but they haven’t looked at it as deeply as I would like.
“And in terms of doing something for esports people, with the way that we consume our media and watch the games, some of it has been very simplistic.
“Yes I can bet on this team beating this team, but there is nothing else, there is nothing around it.
“I can’t join in socially around it, I can’t discuss anything about it with anyone other than my social media feeds. It’s very difficult to be social about it, and obviously Luckbox can change that.
“Luckbox comes to a point where it does offer those things, does offer some social scaling and allows people to bet in a safe environment, which again means they can be sociable about it.”
You can see more in Paul’s interview, conducted by UK esports caster Tom “Tridd” Underwood:
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
