eSports
Rivalry Issues 2022 Business Update
Triple-Digit Growth in 2021 and a Fortified Balance Sheet Sets the Stage for Rivalry to Continue Redefining Next Gen Betting and Entertainment in 2022
Rivalry Corp. (the “Company” or “Rivalry”) (TSXV: RVLY) (FSE: 9VK), an internationally regulated sports betting and media company, today issued a letter to shareholders summarizing recent progress and outlining strategic priorities for 2022. The full text of the letter follows. All dollar figures are quoted in Canadian dollars.
Rivalry Corp. 2022 Business Update
To our Shareholders,
At Rivalry Corp. (“Rivalry” or the “Company”) we aspire for every year to exceed the last, and in 2021, our third full year of operating, we did just that. We delivered our strongest growth to date.
Since launch, we have demonstrated discipline and execution. Some highlights:
- Created the most engaged esports betting brand globally1;
- Increased revenue more than 600% year-over-year (YoY) to $8.9M as of our most recent reported quarter (Q3 2021) on a year-to-date (YTD) basis;
- Grew betting handle2 over 180% YoY to $66.1M through October 2021 on a YTD basis, with an implied annual run rate as of the last reported quarter (Q3 2021) of nearly $100M;
- Customer registrations increased to approximately 600,000 through October 2021 on a YTD basis, up from 350,000 as at 2020 year-end;
- Customer acquisition costs remain significantly below market and deliver profitable unit economics3;
- Developed all of our technology in house;
- Pioneered a new gaming category of Massive Multiplayer Online Gambling Games (MMOGG) with our proprietary title Rushlane;
- Conditionally granted a sports bookmaker licence in Australia from the Northern Territory Racing Commission (Australia) (the “NTRC”);
- Submitted an application to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (the “AGCO”) to become a fully registered operator of internet gaming and sports betting in Ontario;
- Commenced trading via direct listing on the TSX Venture Exchange on October 5, 2021.
Our ambition does not end there. We are confident 2022 will be another record year of accomplishments. The investment we will be making in all key areas of the business will likely exceed the past three years combined. This sets 2022 up for a multitude of material catalysts:
- Anticipated launch in two new regulated markets, Australia and Ontario;
- Innovative product releases, demonstrating the power and scalability of our proprietary technology;
- New originally developed games to complement Rushlane and our MMOGG category;
- New content and media to continue positioning Rivalry as a market-leading brand at the forefront of internet culture;
- Launch in new geographies under our existing Isle of Man licence to provide continuous user growth and brand reach across the globe; and
- Expand our capital markets presence to increase investor awareness.
Backing this effort is a fortified balance sheet with approximately $41.3 million of cash and no debt as at our most recently reported quarter (Q3 2021), a figure several times the amount we spent to build the entire business.
We are executing against a generational opportunity, and our vision is clear:
- Become the leader in next-gen sports betting and entertainment globally.
- Have the most engaged brand and portfolio of IP (games, content, creators, and more) that is revered and trusted.
We expect that success on these key priorities will make Rivalry transportable into new categories beyond betting. Why? Because we have a loyal user base and a foundation of trust with under 30’s in a regulated framework, fully KYC’d, with funded wallets, who are deeply engaged in our universe.
Rivalry was born through the mutual passion we share with our target audience: gaming and internet culture. At approximately 40% of the global population4, Gen Z and young Millennials, my generation and much of the team represent the largest generational cohort in history. We grew up interfaced with the internet, and view gaming as the sport of the internet. Through that lens, we have shaped Rivalry as a brand that is deeply woven into the fabric of this emerging internet culture that is reshaping multiple consumer industries, in addition to sports betting.
I’m confident Rivalry as a company, and a collection of talented individuals understands better than any of our peers how to navigate and participate in this culture. It is an inevitable generational tidal wave that we are focusing all our efforts on acquiring, retaining, and entertaining.
The growth and market leadership advantages we have created are a product of our disciplined execution on hundreds of large and small details that we deliver as a simple and cohesive user experience. This is how we are building brand equity with long-term sustainable value.
We measure our success on these efforts in revenue growth and margin expansion, healthy customer acquisition metrics, profitable unit economics, and deepening brand engagement.
In 2022 we are committed to expanding our brand leadership not just in next-gen sports betting globally, but in entertainment in this rapidly evolving internet culture that we are part of. It’s my belief that this intersection we live in, and the demographic we are serving, represents one of the biggest opportunities of the coming decade.
I have complete conviction in our team and strategy, which is now underpinned by the strongest balance sheet we have had since the founding. We will continue to deliver, and 2022 will demonstrate to the market what kind of pace we are capable of.
I wish everyone a successful and healthy year.
Steven Salz
Co-Founder & CEO
Rivalry Corp.
________________________
1 Source: Twitonomy, Social Blade, Rival IQ
2 The Company defines “Betting Handle” or “Handle” as the total dollar value accepted in wagers, adjusted for cancellations and corrections.
3 Source: Multiple EU public sportsbook filings
4 Source: United Nations
eSports
Influencers, Content and eSports: Unleashing the Power of Dynamic Strategies in the eSports Ecosystem
The sports betting industry is undergoing significant growth worldwide with restrictions loosening and new markets emerging. New opportunities create fierce competition among sportsbooks, and this has led to them devising increasingly expensive and aggressive advertising campaigns.
Public figures and influencers have become a popular go-to for sportsbooks promotions, such as Michael Jordan partnering with DraftKings or Jamie Foxx with BetMGM. Big names are costly, and sportsbooks haven’t realised the ad spend used on these campaigns is going to waste. Without the right precautions in place, up to 22% of ad spend is lost to fraud according to Juniper Research.
The big budgets behind high-profile brand campaigns need to translate into real user engagement. To achieve this, sportsbooks must ensure their digital channels are optimised to capture the surge in interest these campaigns generate. Without proper management, this potential can be lost to inefficiencies like invalid traffic, diluting the impact of their investments.
Ad Budgets Going to Waste
In today’s competitive landscape, sportsbooks need to make every click count. In 2023 alone, The American Gaming Association estimated that over $1.9 billion was spent on advertising campaigns in the US. With such a large amount of spend in play, it’s crucial that sportsbooks see as big a Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) as possible.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns are vital for sportsbook growth but can be disrupted by invalid traffic (IVT). IVT includes both malicious activity, like fraudulent bots, and unintentional actions, such as users repeatedly clicking on ads without intent to convert. These interactions inflate impressions and skew campaign performance data, leading to higher customer acquisition costs (CACs) and inefficient allocation of ad spend. Effectively managing IVT ensures that ad budgets drive genuine engagement and measurable growth.
Investing into influencers and celebrities also forces sportsbooks to bid on brand keywords to prevent their competitors stealing potential users searching for them. Up to 29% of PPC budgets are spent on this bidding according to Wordstream. As competition for brand keywords increases, PPC budgets are depleted without generating any new net revenue.
As campaigns become more expensive than ever, sportsbooks can’t afford to let profits fall to ad fraud. Instead of cutting budgets, sportsbooks should focus on analysing their campaign strategy.
Problematic Navigational Traffic
Navigational traffic is also presenting a significant challenge to sportsbooks alongside ad fraud. Navigational traffic refers to existing customers clicking on branded keywords to log into their accounts. While this seems convenient and harmless enough, this behaviour drastically inflates CACs. Like ad fraud, this can skew the effectiveness of PPC campaigns. By utilising paid search results instead of organic links to navigate to the site, costs are driven up without contributing to new user acquisition.
In addition to the challenges posed by navigational traffic and ad fraud, the competitive landscape for first-time depositors intensifies the need for strategic bidding on Google search. Brands investing heavily in influencers or sponsorships of major sporting events to generate awareness and drive potential users to search for them. However, without securing top placements in paid search results, these prospective customers may be intercepted by competitors before reaching the organic search listings. This creates a critical juncture where the effectiveness of a brand campaign hinges on converting that intent-driven traffic into first-time depositors, ensuring marketing spend achieves its goal of meaningful user acquisition.
First-time depositors are a critical metric for sportsbooks, and this issue directly impacts the cost efficiency of acquiring them. High CACs make marketing budgets less effective, reducing overall ROI.
Shoring Up Your Defences
Before launching costly ad campaigns, sportsbooks should adopt a multi-faceted approach to address ad fraud. IVT typically goes unnoticed, so to prevent this sportsbooks should monitor and analyse their campaign traffic for any suspicious activity. It is possible to identify IVT by looking out for signs such as irregular spikes in traffic from unknown locations or high pageviews. Fraudulent traffic can then by highlighted and removed.
The advancement of technology has made ad fraud more difficult to identify, and legacy fraud tools fail to detect IVT. They don’t analyse traffic at the impression level or consider the context of the business advertising. Sportsbooks can leverage ad-verification platforms to compensate for this. This allows sportsbooks to analyse and report suspicious traffic in real-time. Fraud can then be blocked before it has a chance to harm budgets.
Sportsbooks can also deploy tactics to reduce the impact of navigational traffic on CACs. Methods include encouraging existing customers to use mobile apps or direct bookmarks to log into their accounts instead of paid search campaigns. This decreases their reliance on PPC campaigns for navigation and protects budgets.
Keeping Profits in Sportsbooks’ Hands
Influencer and celebrity campaigns have proven to be a popular and useful tool in reeling new users and profits. However, if sportsbooks don’t have the essential precautions in place, they risk losing these profits to advertising fraud.
To make the most of their advertising efforts, sportsbooks need to prioritise their traffic. Implementing sophisticated tools to analyse traffic and filter out fraud will allow sportsbooks to protect their interests and focus on driving future growth. This way, they can secure their position in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Written by: Chad Kinlay, Chief Marketing Officer, TrafficGuard
A driven, open-minded, creative senior marketer with a strong sense of dedication and commitment. With over 15 years of progressive international experience in marketing and communications management, Kinlay has a credible history of commercial success.
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.
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