More details revealed on OpTic Gaming betting venture
More details revealed on OpTic Gaming betting venture
Sharpr is a weekly newsletter covering the intersection of esports and betting
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As I alluded to last week, we’re in the midst of some exciting changes here. The first consisted of a well overdue design refresh of the site – new banners, wordmarks, icons, and more.
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Without further ado, let’s get into this week’s action ⚔️
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In this week’s edition of Sharpr…
More details revealed on OpTic Gaming betting venture.
Luckbox nets record betting handle in March, rescinds APAC acquisition offer.
Godsent has entered a partnership with Coolbet.
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More details revealed on OpTic Gaming betting venture
Bart Barden, the former EBET executive spearheading NextGen Wagering in partnership with OpTic Gaming on a suite of betting products, has revealed more about his vision for the company.
Sharpr broke the news in February that Barden and OpTic Gaming were raising $7.5M for NextGen Wagering, a “one-stop-shop for fans to wager on the events that matter to them.”
The company’s product suite would consist of a content arm led by OpTic, a first-party sportsbook, and a white-label solution for other esports teams and influencers.
The parties involved in the deal have remained silent on the matter since our report despite attempts to reach out for comment, until now.
In a LinkedIn Post, Barden says he’s “combined forces with one of the largest competitive gaming and content groups to deliver what the esports industry needs,” sharing a slide from the investor presentation Sharpr obtained in February.
On a recent podcast, Barden likened the opportunity in esports betting to the uprising of soccer bettors in an era where horse racing was the dominant segment.
“Do you double down on the horse racing bettor and make a better horse racing product because they are the most valuable bettor… or do you start to look after and go after the [soccer] bettor,” he said. “[Soccer bettors] were the rapidly growing audience, but they were younger and less valuable.”
Today, soccer is a leading betting product in Europe, accounting for up to 65% of the handle for some EU-based books, according to Barden. He says it’s only a matter of time before esports achieves the same.
“I’m trying to put together some things that take a really great audience and people who have already collected that audience such as [OpTic Gaming] and some of these esports teams that I’m working with and pairing it with a really good platform execution.”
Barden also shared that 91% of OpTic’s audience is between 18-41, of or close to the age requirement to legally bet in most countries, and noted that 50% of them have some type of betting account.
“We know they like to [bet], we just want to give them content they’re already watching to do it on.”
Barden says the company hopes to eventually partner with one of the big operators and bring them a new audience they’ve not been able to effectively market to.
It’s unclear whether or not NextGen Wagering has raised the $7.5M needed to successfully launch the company yet.
🦈 Sharpr Take: I can’t personally speak to anecdotes from the so-called horse racing era, but I can appreciate Barden’s points here about the esports audience representing an emerging opportunity in sports betting.
Recent data pins the average age of an esports fan at 26-years old. This cohort—which skews younger than the traditional target audience of incumbent operators—is now coming of age.
While considerably less valuable than mature audiences with more disposable income, the esports and gaming fan is poised to make up a dominant share of the consumer economy of the future where 90% of Gen Z consider themselves gamers or gaming enthusiasts.
To use the words of GRID CEO Moritz Maurer from a recent conference, capturing the esports generation means “future-proofing your business.”
As for NextGen Wagering, Barden’s comments confirm this project and partnership with OpTic Gaming (and potentially others) is moving forward.
The initial investor presentation noted the group was aiming to close its funding by April 30, a few weeks from today, in which we hope we’ll learn more about the deal, or maybe they’ll respond to our emails – whichever comes first.
Luckbox nets $3.7M betting handle in March, rescinds APAC acquisition offer
Luckbox has recorded a betting handle of $3.7M ($5M CAD) in March, setting a new monthly record for the company.
Luckbox’s March results mark the third consecutive month of record-setting betting handle for the company, up from $2M in February and $1.2M in January.
The company says the increase was driven primarily by an increase in active players, new markets, and player revenue.
Registered player accounts stand at 387K, up marginally from 350K in February.
Luckbox also revealed it would rescind its offer to acquire an unnamed Asia-Pacific iGaming platform. The company initially noted signing an LOI in November, but has decided not to proceed with the deal “after conducting the appropriate due diligence.”
🗞 In the news
1xBet has struck a partnership deal with Talon Esports.
Gamer Wager plans to expand its peer-to-peer esports betting app to the US and Europe.
Godsent has entered a partnership with Coolbet.
📈 By the numbers
Savvy Games Group has acquired mobile games studio Scopely for $4.9B.
Kansas set an all-time betting handle record of $206M in March.
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