Latest News
Tundra Esports’ award-winning gaming creative director, Danny Lopez, launches new creative studio
Story Mode, a London-based creative studio specialising in youth culture-driven content, is pleased to announce its official launch today. Founded by Danny Lopez, who has a decade of experience delivering video content and creative strategy for world-renowned brands, Story Mode will focus on making authentic, engaging and entertaining content to elevate brand identities, and is already boasting clientele such as Bukayo Saka and Jesse Lingard.
Utilising Lopez’s expertise in the creative and content space, Story Mode will elevate brands, pro players, athletes, musicians and content creators from across the world with a high level of quality content, while also enabling brands to genuinely and regularly connect with elusive youth audiences. Story Mode will focus on five key pillars: Content, Creative, Social Media, Events and Consulting, to create an all-encompassing brand package to ensure their clients stand out. Campaigns will offer multiple touch points needed to grow audiences with key fans through social media to wider brand exposure through live activations.
Current Story Mode clients include England international footballer Bukayo Saka, where Story Mode produced his long-awaited TikTok channel launch, JLingz Esports, the organisation headed up by former Manchester United player Jesse Lingard, Middle-Eastern organisation Falcon Esports and London-based Tundra Esports. Story Mode will continue to grow its network of clientele, spanning across esports organisations, leagues and tournament operators, personal branding for players and creators, mainstream sports, media and entertainment, and corporate brands.
With a decade of experience creating and producing esports, gaming and youth culture entertainment content, Danny Lopez specialises in brand management, strategy, creative, merchandise, social media and content. Beginning his esports career at esports organisation Fnatic as Creative Director in 2015, Danny continued to explore the world of creativity in esports working with publishers and tournament organisers including Riot Games and FACEIT, before heading to North America to work with Immortals and NYXL on the Blizzard Overwatch League. Danny was responsible for generating the brand identity for the David Beckham co-owned sports organisation Guild Esports, which led to him being nominated for Esports Creative of the Year at the 2021 Esports Awards.
More recently as Director of Marketing and Content at Tundra Esports, Lopez oversaw all marketing verticals including social media, content creators and ambassadors, and brand partnership activations. He also produced and directed the Platinum Viddy award-winning music video for Outplayed – the world’s first grime gaming anthem by P Money, featuring international footballer Virgil van Dijk, as well as producing all video content for Tundra’s DOTA 2, Fortnite and Rocket League rosters.
Managing Director of Story Mode, Danny Lopez commented: “We saw a huge gap in the EU market for creative that truly spoke the language of youth culture. At Tundra, we received so many inquiries from brands and personalities asking how we pulled off our own content, we decided to fill the void and build a business around it. Authentic storytelling is something that can be difficult to navigate, but we believe we’ve mastered it at Story Mode.”
Executive Chairman Carleton Curtis also commented: “With the emergence of youth-native platforms such as TikTok, it’s more important than ever to speak authentically and connect with communities in ways that delight and inspire. Story Mode has already established itself as a pioneer in the esports space and will continue bridging the gap between gaming, culture and entertainment. Story Mode will also help individual personalities build their own brands online, and we believe our products will be something others will imitate, but never replicate.”
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Gambling in the USA
Kambi Group plc extends Mohegan partnership with on-property sports betting agreement in Pennsylvania
Kambi Group plc (“Kambi”), the world’s trusted sports betting partner, has agreed a long-term on-property sportsbook partnership with Mohegan to provide its award-winning sportsbook at two retail locations in the state of Pennsylvania.
The partnership will see Mohegan utilise Kambi’s cutting-edge retail sportsbook offering across more than 20 kiosks in sportsbook locations at Mohegan Pennsylvania and Mohegan Pennsylvania at Lehigh Valley Race and Sportsbook.
The deal further strengthens Kambi’s relationship with Mohegan, which already utilises Kambi’s suite of sports betting products at ilani in Washington, as well as online and on-property in the Canadian province of Ontario at Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara.
Kristian Nylén, Kambi CEO and Co-founder, said: “With several successful partnerships with Mohegan already in place, we are pleased to agree this new partnership as we continue to build on our strong relationship.
“This latest deal further reinforces Kambi’s position as the sportsbook provider of choice for tribes across North America, and we look forward to our ongoing collaboration with Mohegan.”
Tony Carlucci, President & GM of Mohegan Pennsylvania, said: “Mohegan Pennsylvania is excited to continue utilising the same Kambi technology platform that existed under our Kindred partnership, which will help to create a seamless process as the Sportsbook at Mohegan Pennsylvania fully rebrands later this Spring.”
Blockchain
JuicyBet Launches Its Innovative GambleFi Platform
JuicyBet, a Web3 startup, announced the launch of its GambleFi platform. This platform combines finance technology and gambling via blockchain to create unique opportunities and experiences for users. The company strives to revolutionize the principles of the online betting industry and the interaction between platforms and users in this market.
What is GambleFi?
GambleFi uses blockchain technology to ensure the fairness and transparency of games and betting outcomes and for players to get their share of the platform’s earnings and participate in its governance and day-to-day by holding its tokens.
How JuicyBet works
JuicyBet fully utilizes blockchain technology to establish a new ecosystem that has never been seen in the gambling industry. It is centered around user participation and transparency while providing gambling thrills and quality entertainment.
All game records on the platform are kept in a public blockchain, while a set of smart contracts automates gaming outcomes and payouts and provides for the platform governance via the DAO model. This reduces fraud risks and operational costs, making JuicyBet a more efficient platform.
However, the platform’s main feature is the unprecedented level of user engagement via the platform’s native tokens.
- First, the tokens provide access to betting.
- Second, token holders get their share of the platform’s profit.
- Third, token holders can vote on key decisions on the platform’s development in JuicyBet DAO.
- And finally, DAO participants can also perform the role of oracles for bets and earn rewards.
In other words, JuicyBet doesn’t try to be just another gambling platform. It establishes a new ecosystem where users are in control of the platform and bets and are the beneficiaries of the platform.
In addition, JuicyBet offers additional earning opportunities, such as Double Farming and staking for token holders.
JuicyBet has already been noticed by users and investors – the platform’s 3-month turnover has exceeded $1,5 million, according to on-chain data available via Dune, and multiple centralized exchanges and launchpads have listed it.
Latest News
Rivalry Announces 2023 Annual Letter to Shareholders and Filing of 2023 Annual Financial Statements
Rivalry Corp. (the “Company” or “Rivalry”) (TSXV: RVLY) (OTCQX: RVLCF) (FSE: 9VK), the leading sportsbook and iGaming operator for Gen Z, is pleased to announce its 2023 annual letter to shareholders and the filing of its financial results for the three (3) and 12-month period ended December 31, 2023. All dollar figures are quoted in Canadian dollars.
2023 Annual Letter to Shareholders
To our Shareholders,
This time last year I spoke about Rivalry’s evolution from a market leader in esports to a diversified Company setting the standard for Gen Z betting entertainment broadly.
Today, we have a business with revenue distribution across casino, sports, and esports betting, growing market share in new geographies, with increased velocity in core regions, and the strongest customer KPIs in Rivalry’s history.
In 2023, Rivalry recorded $423.2 million in betting handle1, up 82% from the previous year. Similarly, gross gaming revenue2 and net revenue both saw 34% and 66% respective increases, while the introduction of higher margin products released in H2 such as Same Game Combos and Quick Combos are continuing to improve overall sportsbook hold and guide Rivalry closer to profitability.
Our deepened product suite now includes fantasy, additional sports coverage, and new proprietary casino games. All of which are uniquely driving growth among a targeted customer segment and widening our opportunity set in 2024 and beyond – from a 60% increase in traditional sports betting to a burgeoning B2B game vertical. The potential for how far our brand can go is just beginning to unfold.
The year ahead is rife with new, innovative product releases arriving in Q2 and continuing throughout 2024. We are doubling down on core growth opportunities in sports that resonate with our audience, such as basketball and soccer. Further, we are building on a successful casino segment which already represents 50% of our business, enhancing variety, depth, and accessibility, as well as developing new original games which blur the lines between betting and entertainment. We are in the process of additional geographic expansion, and pursuing new licenses to broaden our total addressable market, positioning Rivalry to own the Gen Z gambling opportunity globally.
While Rivalry’s operations have expanded into new high-growth verticals, our north star has remained the same: to define the future of online gambling for a generation born on the internet.
Online gambling in 2024 is radically different than it was just six years ago when Rivalry launched. In that time we’ve seen gaming and internet culture reshape how consumers engage with technology. That shift is broadening the definition of gambling, where product design is influenced by video games, or it exists fully embedded within social apps like Telegram, where content creators are the new affiliates, and much more.
Over the same period, the rise of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology has introduced a new level of speed, access, and security to web-based consumer experiences. Industry estimates now put crypto wagers at up to one quarter of global betting handle3, with 30% year-over-year growth in 20244, and showing no signs of slowing down.
The development of this ecosystem has commercially unlocked online gambling unlike anything since its first transition from land to online many years ago. It has brought in a new global audience, and enriched the customer experience from end-to-end.
Alongside the growth of this technology has emerged new methods of gambling, taking wallet share from more traditional forms at an accelerated rate. The shift in consumer behavior and the signal from our users is clear – interactive, volatile, and crypto-infused product experiences will set the precedent for how the next generation gambles online.
Rivalry, with a brand steeped in internet culture and living at the intersection of this digital economic renaissance, is well-positioned to access this growth opportunity. There is high overlap between Gen Z, gamers, gamblers, and a fast-growing audience of over 420 million crypto users worldwide5 organically aligned with our audience and brand. And we believe that more than half of this audience globally is already wagering with crypto.
It will be Rivalry’s ability to understand, implement, and adapt to this shift more rapidly than our peers that we expect to create first-mover advantages for us. It is for that reason that our vision is now bolder than ever for what’s possible in the online gambling category.
Soon, we will reveal plans for a crypto-enabled product set to enhance alignment between Rivalry and its users, increase network effects, and generally deliver a consumer experience that lives on the internet of 2024.
To that effect, the success of our first-party games and their ability to acquire and engage a captive audience of Gen Z bettors online has validated our original game development strategy amongst industry peers. This has unlocked a new commercial opportunity for Rivalry to license its IP, opening up another line of revenue for the business that has great potential for global scale.
The year ahead is poised to be one of our most ground-breaking, with a myriad of innovative product releases across all of Rivalry’s verticals, adding more dimension to our business, operations, and addressable audience, and building on our competitive moat as the market leader in Gen Z betting entertainment.
We look forward to sharing more details about these upcoming initiatives, the opportunities they will unlock for our Company, and delivering on our promise to create long-term shareholder value and reach profitability. Thank you all for your continued support.
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