Press Releases
Rivalry Issues 2024 Business Update
Rivalry Corp. (the “Company” or “Rivalry”) (TSXV: RVLY) (OTCQX: RVLCF) (FSE: 9VK), the leading sportsbook and iGaming operator for Millennials and Gen Z, today issued a letter to shareholders summarizing recent progress and outlining strategic priorities for 2024. The full text of the letter follows. All dollar figures are quoted in Canadian dollars.
Rivalry Corp. 2024 Business Update
To our Shareholders,
Rivalry is defining the future of online gambling for a generation born on the internet.
Our aspiration is to set the standard for what is possible in this category, and to be market leaders in the inevitable generational shift that is underway.
We exited 2023 as a substantially diversified company, both geographically and across our product suite, with the strongest customer KPIs in our history.1 Our esports expertise no longer solely defines us, and our rapid ascent in other segments such as traditional sports, casino, and fantasy outlines the increasingly widening opportunity set we’re realizing as a result of our unrivaled demographic understanding.
Rivalry’s brand has become a bridge to Gen Z experiences. We’ve proven we can acquire, engage, and retain this demographic in gambling products under our umbrella. The value we’re beginning to unlock from this cannot be overstated.
The potential for how far our brand can go is just beginning to unfold. And it is why 2024 is setting up to be a year of significant growth, powered by our relentless pursuit to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience to a digitally native demographic that we can delight better than anyone else.
What we have built is only made possible by a world-class team excelling at their craft. One that is unafraid to push against the long-standing industry status quo. This high standard has made Rivalry a gravitational center for talent and breeding ground for innovation that we believe is unmatched in the online gambling industry.
This is the engine building operating leverage for Rivalry, enabling us to deliver on growth while maintaining financial discipline, leading us to profitability.
Having taken significant strides toward our vision in 2023, we now enter 2024 hungry for more. In this letter we will highlight some of our achievements last year and share what shareholders can look forward to in 2024.
2023 Highlights
We’re proud of our accomplishments last year:
Maintained growth momentum, with year-to-date reported betting handle increasing 127% to $338.1 million, revenue increasing 70% to $29.2 million, and gross profit up 175% to $13.2 million through Q3 2023 compared to the first nine months of 2022, while marketing spend decreased by 8%.
Proved our Gen Z demographic thesis by leading from the front with gaming and internet culture while diversifying below, with casino growing to nearly 50% of total wagers, followed by esports, and then sports.
Achieved record high customer KPIs, including all-time high average handle per customer, average revenue per user, and record low cost of customer acquisition, demonstrating the operating leverage which compounds with scale.1
Reached key product innovation milestones, including the release of an industry-first same-game parlay product for esports, supporting an improved sportsbook product mix and enhanced margin profile.
Debuted our iOS mobile app in Ontario, contributing to a 400%+ year-over-year increase in betting handle in the province in Q3 2023.
Rapidly scaled our casino offering with new features, games, and mobile functionality.
Developed and launched our second-ever original game, Cash & Dash, which has already become one of the most popular and highest-grossing casino titles on our platform.
Continued marketing excellence and expanded creator network with over 100 brand partners and 90M+ aggregate followers, creating reliable consumer touch points to engage our core audience and enabling us to drive growth without the use of excessive bonus and promotional offers.
A Generational Brand in Online Gambling Delivering Tangible Business Results
There are generational cycles in technology where new products rise up to serve an emerging customer in a way legacy companies did not. In the online betting space, we believe Rivalry is that company.
It’s reflected in a product suite that looks like nothing else in this category – one that is intrinsically entertaining, culturally relevant, and always evolving. It’s reflected in a brand strategically positioned at the intersection of gaming and internet culture with marketing that spreads globally through unignorable creative work. It’s seen in a company that deliberately stands out in a sea of sameness with a customer base averaging a decade younger than our peers.2
Everything we put out into the world is intentionally-designed to resonate with our target audience. Customers, interested brand partners, and various other stakeholders have come to view Rivalry as a proven onramp to interactive and entertaining experiences broadly, which is opening up exciting possibilities for the Company to expand.
In 2023, this enabled us to launch a standalone NBA fantasy app called Rivalry Ultimate Fan, which is acquiring new users, cross-selling them, and further engaging existing ones in our product universe.
The value being created from our original game IP is also materializing rapidly. Four months after launching our latest first-party game Cash & Dash, it has become the fifth most-played game on our platform and among the top ten highest-grossing titles by revenue.
In roughly a year’s time, casino has grown to nearly 50% of betting handle, growing 141% year-over-year in Q3 2023 without cannibalizing player wallet share. Casino.exe, our custom-built platform, has represented a key part of our success in this segment by differentiating Rivalry’s casino offering from the others out there.
The connective thread between these things is a highly-nuanced understanding of Gen Z’s consumer behaviors, its connectivity to gaming and internet culture, and our ability to transform it into a successful product experience that is well-differentiated from the pack.
Together, this creates a generational brand in online gambling delivering tangible business results, and one where the possibilities of its products, marketing, and brand are limitless.
Rivalry in 2024 and Beyond
We are committed to pursuing strategic and well-measured investments in key areas of our business, positioning Rivalry for sustained growth throughout 2024 and beyond. Our objectives are designed to maintain and accelerate our momentum towards profitability. Initiatives and catalysts anticipated to drive results in 2024 include:
Operating leverage and profitability: Continued cost management to balance profitability with growth by doubling down on proven marketing tactics which deliver business operating leverage and position Rivalry for long-term success.
New original games: Releasing more first-party games in 2024 which blur the lines between gaming, betting, and entertainment to meaningfully engage a digitally native audience.
Casino B2B opportunities. Our original casino games have demonstrated their ability to engage an under-30 demographic and drive revenue; we believe this will open up B2B licensing opportunities and create a new revenue stream for our business.
Product innovation: New proprietary releases and enhancements to the current product suite across sportsbook, casino, and more, including those which drive usage of higher-margin verticals and increase overall player engagement.
Player value focus: Strengthening innovative player retention initiatives through gamification and loyalty programs that not only increase player satisfaction and compound user value, but contribute to the profoundly unique experience of betting on Rivalry.
Geographic expansion: Growing our Total Addressable Market by entering new markets.
Traditional sports expansion: Investing further in the traditional sports segment, which has increased on Rivalry by 60% since 2022, demonstrating the success of our brand among Gen Z broadly and enabling us to continue broadening our TAM.
Our multi-year track record of triple-digit growth amidst decreasing year-over-year marketing spend is a testament to the execution of our team, business model, and brand leadership among Gen Z. We have unparalleled demographic expertise, a product innovation engine delivering results, unforgettable marketing, and an immensely talented team.
Our vision for online betting is challenging conventional norms in a long-standing industry. We are disruptors, stepping on nicely manicured lawns by seeing the future of online gambling and creating it. The next generation is just getting started on their customer journey, and we are poised to own it.
We have conviction in our one-of-one strategy in this industry and will continue pushing it forward at every opportunity.
As we step into 2024, our enthusiasm is at a high to showcase the same operational excellence that has set us apart in a fiercely competitive industry.
With that, I wish everyone a happy, successful, and healthy year.
Steven Salz
Co-Founder & CEO
Rivalry Corp.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements
This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws (“forward-looking statements”). All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as “anticipate”, “achieve”, “could”, “believe”, “plan”, “intend”, “objective”, “continuous”, “ongoing”, “estimate”, “outlook”, “expect”, “project” and similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes or that certain events or conditions “may” or “will” occur. These statements are only predictions.
Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management of the Company at the date the statements are made based on information then available to the Company. Various factors and assumptions are applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to and involve a number of known and unknown, variables, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, which may cause the Company’s actual performance and results to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include regulatory or political change such as changes in applicable laws and regulations; the ability to obtain and maintain required licenses; the esports and sports betting industry being a heavily regulated industry; the complex and evolving regulatory environment for the online gaming and online gambling industry; the success of esports and other betting products are not guaranteed; changes in public perception of the esports and online gambling industry; failure to retain or add customers; the Company having a limited operating history; negative cash flow from operations; operational risks; cybersecurity risks; reliance on management; reliance on third parties and third-party networks; exchange rate risks; risks related to cryptocurrency transactions; risk of intellectual property infringement or invalid claims; the effect of capital market conditions and other factors on capital availability; competition, including from more established or better financed competitors; and general economic, market and business conditions. For additional risks, please see the Company’s annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2022 and other disclosure documents available on SEDAR+ website.
No assurance can be given that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.
Source: Rivalry Corp.
George Weaver
Weaver and Ward target more Royal Ascot glory via the Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes at Gulfstream Park
Trainer George Weaver will send Easy Life to Gulfstream Park this Saturday for her career debut in the $125,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies with the hope that the filly, owned by R A Hill Stable, BlackRidge Stables LLC and SGV Thoroughbreds, is destined for a future on turf.
“We don’t know if she is turf or dirt to be perfectly honest with you, but we’re going to ask her to turf to see if she can run at Royal Ascot,” Weaver said.
The Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies will co-headline Saturday’s Gulfstream card with the $125,000 Royal Palm Juvenile. The winners of both five-furlong turf stakes for 2-year-olds will each earn an automatic entry into one of six juvenile stakes during the Royal Ascot meeting (June 16-20) at Ascot Racecourse and a $25,000 equine travel stipend.
Weaver has enjoyed considerable success in Gulfstream’s Royal Palm stakes since their inception in 2023, when he saddled Crimson Advocate for a Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies victory and No Nay Mets for a win in the Royal Palm Juvenile. Crimson Advocate went on to capture the Queen Mary (G2) at Ascot Racecourse. No Nay Mets ran off the board in the Norfolk (G2).
“It’s a very, very hard place to win. It’s some of the best racing in the world that you can get. It’s not only great racing, it’s a great social scene, a great atmosphere,” said Weaver, who won the Royal Palm Juvenile last year with Sandal’s Song, who went on to finish third in the Norfolk at Royal Ascot. “When you’re there you feel like you’re participating in something special.”
Easy Life, a daughter of 2022 Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) winner Life is Good, was purchased out of the OBS March sale for $300,000.
“She came out of the 2-year-old sale and had a nice breeze over there. She’s got some speed and we’ve been having a little progress with her since we got her,” said Weaver, who will also be represented at Gulfstream Saturday by Automatic Press in the Royal Palm Juvenile.
J.G. Torrealba has the mount on the filly who is priced at 6-1 on the morning line.
Joker’s Chic, trained by Wesley Ward, enters the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies with one-race experience, however disappointing her fourth-place finish may have been. The Twin Oaks Bloodstock LLC’s daughter of Practical Joke had trained sharply in preparation for her debut, particularly at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream Park’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County.
“She had a work at Palm Meadows on March 15 on turf. Joel Rosario breezed her. We sent her off behind two very nice fillies – two, three lengths behind – and she sat back there and she just eased out and went rolling by them,’ Ward recalled. “It was a very impressive workout.”
Joker’s Chic, a $200,000 purchase at the 2025 Keeneland September sale, prompted the early pace on her debut in a 4 ½-furlong maiden test over Keeneland’s main track before fading to fourth under Irad Ortiz Jr.
“When she ran, I was pretty confident with her. She broke and Irad had her in a beautiful position, but she didn’t make that explosive move she made at Palm Meadows,” Ward said. “I told the owner, ‘This must be a grass filly.’ If she runs back to her work at Palm Meadows, she’s going to be double tough to beat.”
Joao Moreira was named to ride Joker’s Chic at the time of entry but was unable to be released from commitments in Hong Kong. Joe Bravo will replace the international star aboard the Ward trainee, who is rated at 6-1 on the morning line.
Dew Sweepers’ Pot’s Right has been installed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite in a field of nine fillies on the strength of her debut victory at Keeneland. The daughter of Bolt d’Oro overcame a slow start to rally for a 1 ½-length debut victory in a 4 ½-furlong maiden test on dirt.
The Phillip Antonacci-trained filly returned to Palm Meadows to become acquainted with turf during a four-furlong breeze last Friday.
Luis Saez will ride Pot’s Right for the first time on Saturday.
Arindel’s Boots, an impressive 3 ½-length winner of her 4 ½-furlong debut at Gulfstream April 16, is rated second on the morning-line for her turf debut in the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies. The homebred daughter of Brethren, who debuted for trainer Jorge Delgado, will make her first start since being transferred to Carlos David.
Samy Camacho has the return call on Boots.
Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse will be represented by D.J. Stable LLC’s Pros and Cons and Gary Barber’s Sass Sass, in the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies. Pros and Cons, a $375,000 son of Triple Crown champion Justify, and Sass Sass, a homebred daughter of War of Will, will both make their debuts on Saturday.
Edwin Gonzalez has the call on Pros and Cons, while Martin Chuan will ride Sass Sass.
Mark B. Davis’s Dee Snook, an Irish-bred daughter of Sioux Nation trained by Doug O’Neill, and John Franklin and Diane Franklin’s Mo Town Foxy Brown, a Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained daughter of Mo Town, are entered to make their respective debuts.
Leonel Reyes has the mount on Dee Snook, while Nick Juarez has the call on Mo Town Foxy Brown.
Teresa and David Palmer’s Liberty Rings enters the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies off a rallying third-place finish, beaten by a half-length, on her debut on dirt at Gulfstream on April 19.
Miguel Vasquez has the return mount on the Nicholas Palmer-trained daughter of Awesome Slew.
Key takeaways from the Royal Palm>
- Winners of Gulfstream Park’s Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes (fillies’ and colts’ contests) receive free entry & travel stipends to any of Royal Ascot’s two-year-old races (six to choose from).
- Now in its fourth year, Gulfstream Park’s Royal Palm Juvenile Series started with a bang in 2023’s fillies’ division when Crimson Advocate landed a rare transatlantic double, before 2024 Juvenile victor Gabaldon finished second in the Windsor Castle Stakes.
- Five of the six Royal Palm winners have subsequently taken up their Royal Ascot engagements (with Lennilu and Sandal’s Song flying the flag by both recording third-placed finishes in 2025).
- Crimson Advocate was also subsequently bought by Wathnan Racing, rehomed in the UK, before going on to win last year’s Duke of Cambridge Stakes, demonstrating the long-term prospects of these juveniles.
The post Weaver and Ward target more Royal Ascot glory via the Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes at Gulfstream Park appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
Real-money casual puzzle tournament startup says an EU private investor backed the April 2026 round.
EasyWin, a U.S.-based real-money gaming startup, said it has closed its second seed funding round at a $20 million valuation. The company announced the round in April 2026 and said it was backed by a private investor from the European Union.
The company previously closed its first seed round in December 2025 at a $15.5 million valuation. That round included funding from Velo Partners, Vladimir Nikolsky and several private angel investors.
EasyWin was founded by Ivan Leshkevich, a former executive at mobile game publisher and developer Mamboo Entertainment. The startup, which currently has a team of eight, says it has built a global tournament platform for casual puzzle games with cash prizes and operates across major markets.
Since launching in 2025, EasyWin reported 25% month-over-month growth in user spending and a 4.9 average user rating. It also said it has expanded into 12 countries with localized legal opinions and payment infrastructure, received PayPal approval for its MCC, and completed payments-stack integrations with global providers.
The company also said it has obtained GLI certification “confirming compliance with U.S. regulations for skill-based gaming products.” Leshkevich said: “In the long term, we aim to become a leading global skill-based gaming platform. To achieve this, we focus on a strong product USP and new AI-based dev tools.”
The post EasyWin closes second seed round at $20m valuation appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
U.S.-based real-money gaming startup says the round was backed by a private investor from the European Union.
EasyWin, a Delaware-based real-money gaming startup, said it has closed its second seed funding round at a $20 million valuation in April 2026. The company said the round was backed by a private investor from the European Union.
The announcement follows EasyWin’s first seed round, which the company said closed in December 2025 at a $15.5 million valuation. EasyWin said that round included funding from Velo Partners, Vladimir Nikolsky and several private angel investors.
Founded by Ivan Leshkevich, a former executive at mobile game publisher and developer Mamboo Entertainment, EasyWin said it has built a global tournament platform for casual puzzle games with cash prizes. The company said it operates across major markets with a team of eight people.
EasyWin said that since launching in 2025 it has delivered 25% month-over-month growth in user spending and maintains a 4.9 average user rating. The company also said it has expanded into 12 countries with localized legal opinions and payment infrastructure.
On product and compliance milestones, EasyWin said it received PayPal approval for its MCC and completed full integration of its payments stack with leading global providers. The company also said it has obtained GLI certification from an independent testing agency, which it said confirms compliance with U.S. regulations for skill-based gaming products.
“In the long term, we aim to become a leading global skill-based gaming platform,” said Ivan Leshkevich, founder of EasyWin. “To achieve this, we focus on a strong product USP and new AI-based dev tools.”
The post EasyWin closes second seed round at $20m valuation appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
-
Africa7 days agoBetConstruct AI to present World Cup 2026 sportsbook offer at iGaming Afrika
-
apuestas7 days ago
Brasil: gobierno prohíbe los mercados de predicción, avanzan las reformas de integridad y crece el debate publicitario
-
Aviator7 days ago
Brazil betting sector roundup: government bans prediction markets, integrity reforms advance, ad debate grows
-
iGaming7 days ago
Inspired launches three new iGaming slots in the UK and Malta
-
apuestas6 days ago
Brasil: gobierno prohíbe los mercados de predicción, avanzan las reformas de integridad y crece el debate publicitario
-
Latest News7 days ago
In-App Creatives in iGaming: How to Lower CPI and Scale Campaigns with Moloco Ads
-
Latest News7 days ago
5 Platform Features That Only an Operator Would Have Built: Kanggiten’s Perspective
-
iGaming7 days ago
In-App Creatives in iGaming: How to Lower CPI and Scale Campaigns with Moloco Ads
