Entain winds up Unikrn in curiously abrupt ending
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Hi everyone, Cody here with some news breaking from the weekend.
Entain has unveiled it will bring player activity on Unikrn to a grinding halt. The news sees a curiously abrupt ending to the betting platform which launched with big aspirations less than a year ago.
Let’s dig into what we know.
Entain winds up Unikrn in curiously abrupt ending
A report from over the weekend claiming Entain would wind down operations of its esports betting brand Unikrn has since been confirmed.
Rumblings of the news first arrived on Saturday when an email outlining Entain’s plans for Unikrn was obtained by Esports Bets.
A spokesperson for the company has confirmed that Entain is “repositioning” its esports offering and will be “scaling back” its direct-to-consumer offering with Unikrn.
Unikrn will bring player deposits and wagering to a halt, and registered customers will begin receiving notifications about account closures.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Entain said the following: “This is to ensure that our business is structured as effectively as possible, and so that we can best deliver on our strategy and growth plans. Unikrn has developed an industry-leading offer around esports betting and we see significant opportunities to leverage these capabilities through our existing global brands.”
Entain has also committed to returning remaining balances to respective account holders as well as honoring “all existing agreements and commissions owed to partners on players at the point of closure,” per the email obtained by Esports Bets.
🔎 Between the lines: Unikrn’s undoing was equally as puzzling as it was sudden.
This week kicks off the two biggest esports events of the calendar year: The League of Legends World Championship and Dota 2’s The International.
These two tournaments are effectively the Super Bowls of esports, and the betting activity driven by them is correspondingly worthwhile.
For Entain to cut the lights off right before esports operators’ biggest month of the year is somewhat of a head-scratcher, and to what I could only equate as a sportsbook deciding to close its doors at the start of football season.
More on the part about this news being sudden and unexpected.
The company signed a global, multi-year partnership with esports organizer BLAST in March – a notable deal that was sure to give the operator’s brand a big boost over the duration of the agreement. The company had also recently inked deals with Team Liquid and Gamers Club in March and September, respectively. Unikrn even went through a rebrand last month to punch-up its logo.
That’s all to say that Unikrn was far from idle these past several months, which has made this news feel even more abrupt. There was no indication on the outside that suggested Entain had any plans to shelve Unikrn less than a year after launching the company it acquired for £50M in 2021.
On the other hand, Unikrn’s performance remains a bit of a question mark, though the move to wind up its customer-facing betting operations may tell us all we need to know.
The news arrives a few days after Real Luck Group revealed it would suspend betting on its esports sportsbook Luckbox.
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Great work as always, Cody!