Atari launches cryptocurrency casino in a virtual Vegas City

Atari launched its cryptocurrency casino on Thursday night, in partnership with Decentral Games.

The virtual launch party was headed by DJ, record producer, and electronic musician Dillon Francis. He was one of the people behind the special NFTs auctioned off during the event, as he teamed up with visual artist MERDA to create three NFTs, inspired by Gerald the Piñata.

The NFTs were auctioned off on OpenSea and other platforms during the launch party on Thursday. One featured a “3D Pixel Gerald,” which sold for 6.42 ether (ETH), the equivalent of $17,788.

Moreover, Francis performed a DJ set via live stream in the Casino Quarter of Vegas City on Decentraland. Atari lauded the musician’s performance on Twitter, stating they had “broke[n] every record” with the launch party.

The virtual launch party began with a doubled prize pool. A tweet posted on the official account for Atari Token (ATRI) confirmed as much, less than four hours before the launch party began. This made the prize pool total at $20,000.

Were you one of the 3500 people who turned up for the @DillonFrancis live set, celebrating the @decentralgames @atari Casino launch? An amazing event for the metaverse! Here's to many more... pic.twitter.com/i2BpaLwvBM

— Decentraland (@decentraland) April 29, 2021

Las month, Atari announced its partnership with Decentral Games to launch a casino, a platform on which users can play casino games using cryptocurrencies. Reports indicate that the casino is a 3D virtual platform, operating on the Ethereum blockchain via Decentraland (MANA).

While the Atari Casino features a 20-parcel estate, situated in the Casino Quarter of Vegas City on Decentraland, they have plans to take on the real Vegas too. In the form of the world’s first Atari-themed hotel, set to open in Las Vegas in 2022.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Atari would press on into the crypto space with the formation of a blockchain division, 'Atari Blockchain'. Frédéric Chesnais, then the CEO of Atari, stepped down from his position to head up the Blockchain division.