Esports Ent. Group offloads Bethard for $10M, reaffirms commitment to esports
Sharpr is a weekly newsletter covering the intersection of esports and betting
Hi everyone, Cody here.
I’m back from Iceland and boy, what a place. My main takeaways are that Icelandic is a crazy-sounding language, black sand is cool but not all that it’s cracked out to be, and make sure to use Google Translate at the grocery store to avoid mistaking horse meat as steak.
Anyway, it’s great to be back in the saddle and reporting on several developments to surface over the last two weeks, including EEG’s sale of Bethard and with it, reaffirming its commitment to esports betting.
Let’s ride.
In this week’s edition of Sharpr…
Esports Entertainment Group offloads Bethard for $10M, reaffirms esports commitment.
RVEC adds gambling executive as advisor.
GRID and Oddin enter strategic data partnership.
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Esports Entertainment Group offloads Bethard for $10M, reaffirms commitment to esports
Esports Entertainment Group has agreed to sell its Malta and Sweden-licensed sportsbook subsidiary Bethard for $10M to an unnamed buyer as the company looks to scale down its business.
The sale arrives less than two years after EEG purchased the asset for $16.9M, taking an immediate $6.9M loss on the venture.
The buyer will pay $1.74M at closing, followed by an additional $6.9M of purchase consideration attributed to EEG’s release from payment of its contingent consideration liability, as well as assume further liabilities of $1.27M.
EEG says offloading Bethard will allow the company to focus on its online casino brand Lucky Dino.
Newly appointed EEG CEO Alex Igelman says the company remains firmly committed to its esports gambling and content operations – a deviation from its brash call to “aggressively” sell its esports assets in May.
The company soon followed up by selling its Helix eSports gaming centers and later folding its New Jersey-licensed esports betting platform Vie due to lackluster performance. EEG chose to retain its software-based esports assets, including ggCircuit and LANDuel (which has reportedly been taken offline due to a cease-and-desist from guess who), as well its tournament arm Esports Gaming League.
EEG’s share price currently sits at $3.68 following a reverse stock split exercised on Tuesday. As a result, every 100 shares of common stock was combined into one share, helping the company meet the minimum bid price requirements needed to avoid a Nasdaq delisting.
🦈 Sharpr Take: It’s interesting to see EEG’s latest messaging reiterating the importance of esports to its business model when the company was previously on-record saying it couldn’t “fully monetize” these assets.
Igleman’s press quote seems to suggest the company is shifting toward a more strictly B2B model related to its esports services, though it’s not entirely clear to me what value ggCircuit or EGL offers in that regard.
LANDuel was one of its most interesting products in my opinion, particularly how it was seen attracting a modest, younger-skewing audience (who probably wouldn’t have been in a casino otherwise) to the Hard Rock Atlantic City in March. However, that product has been notably absent from any of the company’s communications since receiving a rumored C&D from FanDuel.
RVEC adds gambling executive as advisor
The Esports Trade Association’s Regulated Video Game and Esports Committee has tapped attorney William J. Pascrell III as its latest advisor.
Parscrell is a well-known lobbyist with the Princeton Public Affairs Group and serves in advisory roles for gambling companies including Entain Foundation US and BETEGY.
He also helped lead a multi-year campaign to pass New Jersey’s Online Gaming Act in 2013.
His experience is said to lend itself to creating frameworks to support the “nationwide legalization of regulated esports wagering” and communicating with legislators and regulators.
The RVEC launched in March 2022 to help competitors, regulators, and bettors “have confidence in the safe operation of video game and esports wagering.” The group consists of esports and betting industry experts, including former New Jersey DGE executive Eric Weiss and G3 Esports CEO Anthony Gaud.
It serves a similar purpose to that of Nevada’s esports betting committee, except that the RVEC has more of a nationwide focus and is not officially attached to any local regulators.
The group has hosted at least one meeting that Sharpr is aware of that was attended by 15 different state regulatory agencies. From that meeting, Weiss shared that the interest in esports is “immense” and “most jurisdictions are ready to embrace this.”
GRID and Oddin enter strategic data partnership
GRID and Oddin have entered a strategic data partnership to power Oddin’s esports odds solutions with official data.
GRID will arm the supplier with official data feeds from its platform to support a variety of esports titles with “speed and accuracy.”
GRID has official and exclusive data partnerships with an array of companies, including Riot Games (Valorant), KRAFTON (PUBG), Pinnacle, and more.
Oddin has become a popular supplier for esports operators, including Betway, Sportsbet.io, and LOOT.BET, and received a license to operate in New Jersey last year.
GRID Chief Sales Officer Mikael Westerling says its partnership with Oddin feels “natural” given both companies emphasis on providing first-rate esports data.
🗞 In the news
Midnite recruits former Sky Bet product designer Lewis Bamber.
Challenger and StakeKings have partnered to host a Call of Duty influencer betting event.
PandaScore’s Head of Sales Oliver Niner says microbetting will make an impact on esports in 2023.
Executives from Rivalry*, GRID, and Oddin will speak on an esports betting panel at iGaming Next NYC in March.
📈 By the numbers
China reported $21B in esports revenue in 2022.
Approximately $700K worth of Counter-Strike skins have been stolen from trading site CSGOEXO.
DraftKings will trim $100M in costs throughout 2023 as profitability comes into focus.
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Reach me directly at luongomanagement@gmail.com 📩 or on Twitter 🐦
*Disclaimer: I am a full-time employee of Rivalry.