Crypto casino Stake’s debut esports tournament hit by forfeit as prediction markets scramble

When a crypto casino decides to host its first major esports tournament, you’d hope the teams actually show up. Atputies, a Latvian Counter-Strike 2 squad, forfeited their opening match against Team Liquid at the Stake Pulse Beat I tournament on August 1, creating an awkward situation for the prediction markets that had already taken bets on the outcome. The forfeit happened due to scheduling conflicts tied to Team Liquid’s commitments in the BLAST Bounty Playoffs. In a tournament designed to showcase the intersection of crypto betting and competitive gaming, having a match end before it begins is, well, not the showcase anyone had in mind. A $60,000 tournament with crypto-sized ambitions Stake Pulse Beat I is the inaugural esports event produced by Stake, the crypto casino platform. The tournament, held in Stockholm from July 31 to August 5, features a $60,000 prize pool and pits top-tier CS2 teams against each other in a group stage format. Dedicated contracts for individual match outcomes were hosted on platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, turning each round of Counter-Strike into a tradeable financial instrument. For the Atputies vs. Team Liquid match, prediction markets had p...