Throughout history there are have been races contested between countries and territories for everything from resources to riches.
These days the battles being fought have nothing to do with gold, oil, or arable land, and everything to do with data and the acquisition of online players and customers.
US towns and cities who were at first a little slow to cotton on to this trend have now begun to play catch-up.
Here are just some of the ones which are doing a great job of doing just that, making them prime places for online gaming start-ups and enterprises to base their respective operations.
Online gaming is being taken to the next level by towns and cities such as the ones mentioned in this article
Nevada – Las Vegas
Nevada has long been a state that is synonymous with gaming, although for decades it was mainly the live games offered by the Las Vegas strip’s casino resorts that made all the running in that regard.
These days, of course, those same gaming houses are being given a run for their money by online gaming operators, with the state having opened the doors to online gaming all the way back in 2013.
This means that everything from blackjack, to slots, to roulette, can all be played at online casinos where the likes of sign-up bonuses and enticing free spins bonuses give most online operators an edge over land-based gaming resorts. However, Nevada is not just all about casino games, with the state also setting itself up to be one of the major tech hubs in the US.
Each year the state hosts the Consumer Electronics Show which brings together the great and the good of the tech world. Allied to this, Nevada also plays host to a huge Tesla battery factory, as well as some of the most groundbreaking solar farms on the planet.
For all these reasons and so many more, Las Vegas is now one of the go-to places in the US, and indeed the world, for online gaming startups that want to break from the norm of Silicon Valley or expensive cities like New York or LA. It is perhaps for this reason that Esports are also beginning to gain a foothold in what is known as The Silver State, with multiple Esports arenas opening their doors to the public in recent years.
Las Vegas and the wider state of Nevada are busy welcoming as many tech and gaming start-ups as possible at the start of the new decade, as the region goes about trying to stay relevant
Idaho – Boise
This part of the US usually sees tech and game development talent swiftly move to urban hubs like Portland or Seattle, but with people leaving cities in droves in search of green spaces and cleaner air, places like Boise are becoming ever more popular, with young companies that are happy to do the bulk of their business remotely anyway.
With Boise State University already making moves to greatly increase the number of computer science graduates it churns out, there is a deep talent pool waiting to be tapped by new start-up companies that are looking to scale quickly.
All of this good work is clearly paying off, with Boise-based start-ups getting off the ground faster than ever before.
Florida and Tennessee – Sarasota, Chattanooga, and Melbourne
As trends shift and change rapidly in the online sphere, so too do the attributes that new companies from the world of tech look for when they go about choosing a new home.
Gone are the days of needing shiny sky rises with expensive lease or rental costs, and in are super-fast internet connections and the local services required to make the most of them.
Small towns that are leading the way in that regard are Sarasota in Florida, Melbourne also in Florida, and Chattanooga in Tennessee, all of which boast world beating internet connection speeds, while only having a fraction of the size of the populations of major US cities.
This trend may well see a long-term exodus from major urban centers, as fledgling businesses prioritize things other than packed commutes and overbooked restaurants.