Vegas gets e-sports arena in effort to attract millennials


              n this Feb. 18, 2017, photo, Teams compete against each other playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive during the Dreamhack Masters e-sports tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. A permanent 15,000 square-foot e-sports facility is scheduled to open in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
n this Feb. 18, 2017, photo, Teams compete against each other playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive during the Dreamhack Masters e-sports tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. A permanent 15,000 square-foot e-sports facility is scheduled to open in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A 200-seat arena for competitive video gaming is Las Vegas' newest effort to attract millennials. The e-sports venue housing dozens of game consoles is slated to open Friday, when it hosts a $50,000-prize-pool Halo World Championship qualifier.

Seth Schorr is a member of the board of directors of Millennial Esports, the company behind the arena. He says Las Vegas needs to keep reinventing itself "to remain relevant to the up-and-coming generation."

The arena is downtown, within walking distance of various hotel-casinos.

Las Vegas casinos have invested in numerous non-gaming amenities to attract the elusive millennials. They include rooms featuring bunk beds for the travelers who don't want to spend a minute apart and a lounge with foosball and air hockey.

Upcoming Events