Sony's new patent is for a eSports betting service that could accept Bitcoins

Sony maybe working on a system that lets users bet on eSports using bitcoin or in-game items

A listing on PatentScope (via IGN India) suggests that Sony maybe working on a system that lets people bet real money or bitcoin or even in-game items on eSports.

Sony filed the patent in 2019 and it appears to suggest the existence of a system that lets viewers of eSports competitions bet on the outcome of matches in real-time. These competitions can range from PUBG tournaments or fighting game tournaments like EVO which Sony recently bought.

The patent shows off a overlay that viewers will have access to during the livestreamed events and will be used to place bets. These bets also seem to accept non-traditional forms of currency, "Wagers may be pecuniary, e.g., money or bitcoin, or may be non-pecuniary, e.g., game assets, digital rights, and virtual currency."

The odds will be decided by a machine learning algorithm and will take into account play history of the players, their head-on performance and performances in matches held in the tournament so far.

Sony will also expand this system beyond PlayStation as the patent states, “game consoles such as Sony PlayStation or a game console made by Microsoft or Nintendo or other manufacturer virtual reality (VR) headsets, augmented reality (AR) headsets, portable televisions (e.g. smart TVs, Internet-enabled TVs), portable computers such as laptops and tablet computers, and other mobile devices including smart phones.”