Rocket League developer slams real money eSports betting following Unikrn support

Rocket League developer Psyonix has slammed real money betting on its hit football-with-cars game following an announcement from eSports bookmaker Unikrn that it is to introduce the game to its platform.

In a statement Unikrn announced that it had successfully sought approval from Australian gambling regulators and will offers odds on the ongoing third season of the Rocket League Championship Series.

Responding to the news, Psyonix VP of publishing Jeremy Dunham told GameSpot: "Psyonix is not affiliated with Unikrn, nor do we support or endorse online betting for our game."

Unikrn CEO Rahul Sood responded in turn, saying: "We are not in any way associated with the publishers of Rocket League. However, we love the game, and like other titles on our sportsbook, we create odds and content on the pro matches and their top tier tournaments."

Unikrn only offers betting on eSports titles in the UK and Australia, and had not revealed whether Rocket League support will be coming to these shores as well as Australia.

The bookmaker allows users to safely bet on games including Overwatch, Dota 2, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Counter Strike: Global Offensive and League of Legends, which are among the biggest players in the booming eSports scene.

Yesterday (21 March) the BBC reported that the eSports business will generated in excess of £1bn globally by 2020, and double its audience to nearly 600 million people.

"It has the potential to become one of the top five sports in the world," said Peter Warman of esport analysts Newzoo.

Rocket League first launched in July 2017 on PS4 and PC, followed by an Xbox One version in February 2016. To date, the game has sold 10.5 million copies worldwide and has 29 million registered players.

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