eSports
Esports Entertainment Group Reports Fiscal First Quarter 2021 Financial Results
Esports Entertainment Group, Inc., an esports and online gambling company, announced its financial results for the fiscal first quarter ended September 30, 2020, as well as an update on several key business initiatives.
Business Highlights
- Signed agreement to acquire Helix eSports and ggCircuit in deal valued at $43 Million
- Acquired Argyll Entertainment and its SportNation brand, adding Tier 1 gambling license covering UK and Ireland; Malta gaming license secured in May 2020
- Acquired assets of FLIP Sports, providing ownership and control of tech stack
- Acquired Esports Gaming League, with a history of partnerships that include Microsoft, Red Bull Arsenal FC, and Activision; subsequent to acquisition EGL announced first-of-their kind deals with LA Kings, LA Galaxy, and Philadelphia Union to be official esports tournament provider
- Partnered with Allied Esports as title sponsor of the VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series tournament; the two-week competition drew 1.7 million unique viewers and generated 1 million hours watched, making it the most-watched Legend Series event since tournament was created in 2017
- Expanded partnership with Dignitas, an esports asset of Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, securing naming rights to famed CS:GO team; partnership includes strategic digital and physical activations in New Jersey marketplace as core focus
- Partnered with Twin Rivers Gaming to launch VIE.gg wagering platform in New Jersey in calendar Q1 2021
- Working with the New Jersey Gaming Commission to launch pilot skill-based player-to-player wagering platform, LANduel
- Opened corporate office at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ
“We have achieved many significant milestones since uplisting to the NASDAQ in April,” commented Grant Johnson, CEO of Esports Entertainment Group. “The COVID-19 pandemic has absolutely accelerated the rapid growth of esports leading to mainstream broadcasts to national TV audiences on ESPN and Fox. These trends helped us set new record audience viewing stats with our partner Allied Esports for the globally recognized Legend Series, just one of many accomplishments during the quarter. We believe the successes achieved this year provide an extremely strong foundation for long-term growth while offering investors a true pure play opportunity in the burgeoning world of global esports.”
Johnson continued, “We have structured our business to deliver a diversified esports and online gambling company via three key business pillars and believe this multi-tiered approach provides investors broad exposure to two major trends, the rise of competitive gaming and the legalization of online gambling in the US.”
“As we look ahead, we believe the acquisitions we have made as well as those we plan to make, combined with a growing list of world-class partnerships, Esports Entertainment is in a great position to accelerate the monetization of our robust three pillar strategy,” concluded Johnson.
F1Q21 Financial Results
Revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2020 totaled $222,392, an increase of $222,392 over the $0 recorded for the three months ended September 30, 2019 (this includes only 2 months of contribution from Argyll because the deal closed on August 4th). The increase was primarily attributable to the acquisition of Argyll Entertainment as we are now revenue a generating company.
Post F1Q21, October has seen a significant uptick, with levels of turnover, Gross Gaming Revenue and Net Revenue returning to pre-COVID levels. Total handle was above $16 mil for the month of October and revenues for the month were above $600K.
Total operating expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2020 totaled $3.7 million, an increase from the $0.7m recorded for the three months ended September 30, 2019. The increase was primarily attributable to the increased payroll, stock compensation, marketing, legal and professional services fees related to increased business activity.
Total net loss for the three months ended September 30, 2020 was $1.8 million, driven principally by reduced revenues related to the measures taken post the regular UK Gambling Commission audit of Argyll Entertainment, partially offset by a change in fair market value of warrant liability of $2.1m.
As of September 30, 2020, the Company had total current assets of $10.4 million and total current liabilities of $8.2 million, resulting in working capital of $2.3 million. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $8.9 million and shareholders’ equity was $16.8 million at September 30, 2020.
Guidance
The Company reaffirms its guidance of $13 million in revenue in fiscal 2021 and $25 million in revenue in fiscal 2022 from its core Argyll and VIE platforms. On a proforma basis, including the acquisitions of Helix Esports and ggCircuit, the Company expects to report $42 million in revenue in fiscal 2022 with positive EBITDA of $2 million.
Fiscal First Quarter 2021 Conference Call
The Company will host a conference call today at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss its F1Q21 financial results. Participants may join the conference call by dialing 1-855-327-6837 (U.S. Toll-Free) or 1-631-891-4304 (International). A live webcast of the conference call will also be available at http://public.viavid.com/index.php?id=142485.
For those unable to participate in the conference call, a telephonic replay of the call will also be available shortly after the completion of the call, until 11:59 pm ET on Monday, November 30, 2020, by dialing 1-844-512-2921 (United States) or 1-412-317-6671 (International) and entering the replay pin number: 10011948.
eSports
Community Gaming Joins Forces with Moonton as Official Esports Partner for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
Community Gaming (CG), the leading esports platform for automated tournament payouts and sponsor of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’s professional league for the Latin America Region, MPL LATAM, now supports developing esports communities in Latin America in collaboration with Moonton.
This partnership is a significant boost to CG’s existing advantages associated with its grant program, a partner-backed initiative to provide organizers with economic resources based on the performance and growth of their local gaming communities. Tournament organizers can apply to receive platform support, prizes, in-game currency, items, and tournament professional assistance including “Tournament Mode,” a special setting on Mobile Legends: Bang Bang that grants organizers enhanced features, such as unlocking all available skins in the game for players to fully enjoy a complete and unique MLBB pro tournament experience.
Wei Xu, regional esports operation manager at Moonton, said: “We are excited to announce the partnership with Community Gaming. Community Gaming is the most accepted esports platform in our community in Latin America. We hope this partnership brings new experiences to the players.”
As MPL comes to its end this year, CG will also be collaborating with MLBB professional teams for a flash $4000 prize tournament set to enhance the visibility of the company’s services. This event marks a pivotal moment set to highlight CG’s preparedness to impact the professional MLBB scene.
Community Gaming and Moonton are no strangers to mutual cooperation. In the past both companies have partnered to develop the Dawn of Heroes Series, a set of events in 2021 and 2022 that offered qualifying slots to MLBB’s Signature Competition, Liga LATAM. The companies have also worked together on Peru’s University Tournament INTERU 2023 and currently Community Gaming hosts significant activity of MLBB Tournaments from over 12 countries on a monthly basis.
eSports
Esports player age verification should be simple
Despite the continuing professionalisation of esports, misconceptions about player age persist – particularly of underage pros playing in professional esports.
Back in 2021, the PandaScore whitepaper dug into the data around player age in professional esports and found that the average age of a pro player was just under 24 years old. By comparison, the same report noted that the average age for a men’s professional footballer was about 26 years old.
While there is no great gulf in player ages between esports and traditional sports, there’s more apprehension around this topic once there’s a keyboard or controller involved. There are good reasons behind this focus, but the truth is that a simple and straightforward product makes player age verification easy.
The reason behind the focus on player age
Compliance with player age requirements has been a particular concern as legalised sports and esports betting rolls out across the US. These are completely reasonable concerns, partly because of the state-by-state nature of American regulation, but also due to past compliance issues in the likes of ITF tennis.
Age compliance isn’t a challenge unique to esports. It does have younger players in the same way tennis does, so it’s a space that operators consider a potential risk area based on precedent. While it’s understandable to be vigilant about ensuring age compliance across your whole book, the reality in esports is it’s just like any other sport.
However, with this greater attention, it’s crucial for esports suppliers to have a simple, high-quality solution that is flexible for any jurisdiction – and not just treat it as a spreadsheet-based, tack-on service.
Importance in the US
It’s abundantly clear that if you want to ensure compliance in the US space, player age verification isn’t a nice to have, it’s an integral part of your product. Across each jurisdiction player age verification can vary – something we’ve seen in Europe as well such as Sweden’s rule that a match must have 60% of players over the age of 18 for an operator to offer match bets.
In sports, it’s fairly straightforward to implement but has been an oversight from sports data providers in the past. It’s quite easy to provide, it just requires collecting data from multiple, reputable sources outside of the match itself.
PandaScore has been collecting player age verification data since it was founded in 2017 to ensure compliance no matter the regulation, no matter the jurisdiction.
Embedding player age verification in your product
Ensuring age compliance was a founding principle for our product suite – we included it as a key datapoint in our API, which is the bedrock of our broader offering. Suppliers should have this embedded in their products, rather than an additional service.
PandaScore believes that offering player age verification as part of an API and integrated into your service means you can be more confident in your compliance not just for individual esports titles, but from match to match.
For us it’s simple: one of PandaScore’s founding principles is to not rely on only one single data source, but leverage multiple quality data sources that we can trust. We have a longstanding and highly developed process that guarantees a level of accuracy for player age verification that’s in line with regulation and gives operators the confidence that they’re compliant. Our practice of using multiple data sources means that double and triple-checking information to ensure player age compliance is in our nature.
With player age verification built into an API, operators can leverage the data to match the compliance needs of any given jurisdiction. This can be done by integrating player age data via the API, it can be included in their feed via our odds product with the flexibility to add exclusions where necessary, or if an operators wants it in a simper form, it can be done via request.
Player age verification might seem like a simple item, but is a compliance matter that’s essential to operating in a proper fashion. Noting the concerns and greater focus on player ages in esports, it’s something that’s important to get right: player age verification should be entrenched in esports products themselves to give operators the flexibility and simplicity that they need.
Author: Oliver Niner, Head of Sales at PandaScore.
eSports
CS2 Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024 SuperComputer: NaVi to bounce back after Blast Fall Final loss
Final: Natus Vincere (36.5%) to beat Team Vitality (28.1%)
Semifinal 1: Natus Vincere (52.6%) to beat MOUZ (16.3%)
Semifinal 2: Team Vitality (47.7%) to beat G2 Esports (18.7%)
Quarterfinal 1: G2 Esports (39.8%) to beat FaZe Clan (32.8%)
Quarterfinal 2: MOUZ (35.9%) to beat Eternal Fire (24.7%)
Group stage:
-
Natus Vincere – 48.7% to finish 1st; 17.0% to finish 2nd; 84.1% to make playoffs
-
Team Vitality – 40.8% to finish 1st; 17.4% to finish 2nd; 77.7% to make playoffs
-
G2 Esports – 19.3% to finish 1st; 20.4% to finish 2nd; 56.7% to make playoffs
-
MOUZ – 14.5% to finish 1st; 21.8% to finish 2nd; 53.0% to make playoffs
-
FaZe Clan – 13.9% to finish 1st; 21.0% to finish 2nd; 50.2% to make playoffs
-
Eternal Flame – 40.7% to finish 1st; 16.2% to finish 2nd; 40.7% to make playoffs
-
Liquid – 16.3% to finish 7-8th; 35.7% to make playoffs
-
Virtus.pro – 15.4% to finish 7-8th; 29.9% to make playoffs
-
Astralis – 28.9% to finish 9-12th; 31.5% to make playoffs
-
The MongolZ – 32.7% to finish 9-12th; 25.4% to make playoffs
-
Complexity – 34.3% to finish 9-12th; 21.2% to make playoffs
-
Heroic – 26.8% to finish 9-12th; 23.5% to make playoffs
-
paiN – 36.5% to finish 13-16th; 21.0% to make playoffs
-
FURIA – 36.4% to finish 13-16th; 20.9% to make playoffs
-
9z – 44.7% to finish 13-16th; 14.6% to make playoffs
-
Imperial – 49.1% to finish 13-16th; 13.9% to make playoffs
It has been quite the run for NaVi despite their loss with back to back grand finals in recent weeks but CSDB.gg’s predictive model suggests there will be no let up for the Ukrainian esports organisation.
G2 will also be looking to build more momentum in preparation for Majors season with NiKo on a quest to finally get over the line this year to win his first major title. Hopefully Rio won’t have to see a repeat of his reaction in the semifinals at BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 where he punched a hole in a table after losing out to Team Vitality in a key moment.
However, the hosts of Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024 may want to lockdown any nearby furniture and reinforce their desks if G2 are set for disappointment at the semifinals stage as predicted by the CSDB.gg SuperComputer.
A victory in Rio could be even more consequential for how the end of the year shapes up for the leading teams on the circuit. The Valve Global rankings have both teams close at the very top (NaVi at 1988 and G2 at 1953) meaning a win for either team could hand them a key advantage when it comes to who enters the Majors as top seed.
Back-to-back wins in T1 events for G2, should they prosper in Rio, would set the Berlin-based team on an incredible trajectory going into the winter months.
Meanwhile, Brazilian hopes for glory look slight according to the CSDB.gg SuperComputer with FURIA, the team co-owned by Neymar, having only been given a 20.9% chance of even making the playoffs.
They are the leading contenders to make an impact for the home crowd but there are other teams flying the flag for Brazil with paiN and Imperial also set to give it their best to give local fans something to cheer on.
In terms of forecasted matchups of note, G2 and FaZe Clan could offer up a fascinating encounter in the quarterfinals should both teams qualify, with each organisation rated as having a strong chance of making the semis with little to separate them should they meet.
How was the CSDB.gg CS2 Tournament SuperComputer created?
The CSDB.gg CS2 Tournament SuperComputer is a predictive model created using world ranking points, team quality ratings and performance trends. An element of randomness is also included in the model to avoid the best teams and players always winning, to reflect the fact that upsets can happen.
Every tournament is simulated 1,000 times with the results aggregated into a percentage rating of the chances teams or players have to achieve the predicted result.
-
Latest News5 days ago
Leading Brazilian Lottery Operator Grupo da Sorte Selects Optimove as CRM Marketing Solution to Accelerate Growth through Personalized Journey Orchestration
-
Latest News4 days ago
BetRivers Introduces PropPacks, an Innovative Feature for the NBA Season
-
Latest News3 days ago
ProntoPaga Transforms its Operating Model in Brazil to Ensure Risk-Free Transactions
-
Compliance Updates3 days ago
Brazilian Ministry of Finance and IBIA sign sports betting integrity agreement
-
Latest News2 days ago
Carnival Corporation & PLC Fleet Go “All-In” With Galaxy Gaming’s Galaxy Table Games Progressives
-
Latest News2 days ago
Brazilian Ministry of Finance and Sportradar Join Forces to Strengthen Integrity of Sports
-
Gambling in the USA1 day ago
Phoenix Link by Aristocrat Gaming Now Lighting Up Casino Floors
-
Latest News1 day ago
Panel on the benefits of regulation in the Mexican iGaming market