Entain makes £50 million bet on esports company

[The Buzz]

In case you missed it last week, Entain, formerly GVC Holdings, is investing £50 million in acquiring Unikrn, one of the leading esports betting firms. Entain plans to acquire Unikrn’s technology platform, products and team, citing a "lack of existing scale among skill-based wagering platforms."

From the Unikrn press release:

"Unikrn was built on the efforts of true believers," said Unikrn CEO and co-founder Karl Flores. "From the beginning, we knew that gaming is the future of entertainment and that, with special attention, wagering could give gamers and esports fans more excitement in their passion. We're proud of what we've built with our partners, investors and global team, and can't wait for Entain to empower us for round 2!"

Also last week, Unikrn announced it was terminating all affiliate agreements.

During Entain's Investor Day held on August 12th, the company estimated that the esports wagering and social casino-related markets could add an incremental $20bn+ in addressable markets by 2025.

Esports is a rapidly growing market and, with over 450m viewers, it is now established as a mainstream sport, particularly amongst the 18-35 demographic. Skill-based wagering for casual esports gamers is emerging, but existing operators lack scale providing Entain with a clear opportunity in a new area related to our core expertise.

There is also a clear opportunity in the casual mobile gaming market which has grown rapidly in recent years. Within this there are many different games categories a number of which, such as Social Casino, align with our own strategy, our core offering and our capabilities. High growth categories that can drive high levels of acquisition and engagement will further increase our flywheel effects enabling us to grow our customer base, increase retention and drive revenues.

Read more here: https://entaingroup.com/newsrelease/investor-day/

[ddm]

missed it? nope.
https://www.gpwa.org/forum/unikrn-te...ts-258209.html

[AndreyR]

How can you be so risky?) You can lose absolutely everything

[Pokerface]

Entain is growing extremely fast with acquisition of many programs.

[Jambo]

Since they decided to be 99% only active in regulated markets, they have bought various companies. It seems like it's far from over and more will follow.