Impressive 2021 For Rivalry Underpins 2022 Strategy And Goals
You may well be aware from the positive nature of our Rivalry review, that the company has become one of the significant players in the esports betting and sports betting industry over the course of the last three years.
CEO Steven Salz, in a letter to shareholders, expanded on the hugely positive twelve months for the Canadian-based sports and esports betting company and also gave a clear indication of the strategy and aims for the business in 2022 and beyond.
Significant Development For The Business In 2021
In the letter, Mr Salz explained how the business “aspires for every year to exceed the last” and then confirmed that 2021 had seen the strongest growth to date for Rivalry.
Some of the highlights of the company’s 2021 year included:
- Increasing revenue by more than 600% year-over-year to CA$8.9 million as of Q3 of 2021 on a year to date basis.
- Seen an increase in betting handle of over 180% through October 2021 to CA$66.1 million. This means that the company should have an annual betting handle rate of over $100m.
- Increased customer registrations to over 600,000 by the end of October 2021, which is up 250,000 from the 2020 year end figures.
- Become an industry leader in developing Massively Multiplater Online Gambling Games (MMOGG) with the release of Rushlane.
- Being granted a conditional sports bookmaker licence in Australia through the Northen Territory Racing Commission
- Applied to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to become a fully registered operator of internet gaming and sports betting in the province.
- Successfully floated on the TSX Venture Exchange on October 5th 2021.
However Mr Salz also made it clear that the significant growth experienced in 2021 was not the end of the company’s ambitions.
He explained that there will be significant investment in all key areas of the business in 2022, which will likely be more than the company has invested in 2019, 2020 and 2021 combined.
Strategic Reasons For Investment?
The letter also then expanded on the reasons why Mr Salz will be overseeing a significant investment in the business which included:
- Launching Rivalry in two new regulated markets in Australia and Ontario.
- Continuing the development of their own in-house products and proprietary technology which has driven Rivalry’s success.
- Additional MMOGG games to be released to complement Rushlane and offer gamers the chance to play and wager against each other in different types of game.
- A significant investment in content producing and social media profile enhancement to ensure that Rivalry remains a leading brand, particularly with those that utilise the Internet.
- To investigate the possibility of launching the Rivalry brand in different places around the world using the Isle of Man license to expand the reach of the company to a wider audience all around the globe.
- To expand capital markets to help increase awareness for investors.
Mr Salz reported that with CA$41.3 million in cash and no debt, the company is in a good financial state to move forward with the plans for 2022, given that this amount is several times the amount spent so far to build the business.
The letter concluded:
I have complete conviction in our team and strategy, which is now underpinned by the strongest balance sheet we have had since founding. We will continue to deliver, and in 2022 will demonstrate to the market what kind of pace we are capable of.
After the successes of 2021, it is intriguing to see Rivalry making every effort to cement itself as the go-to online bookmaker for Millenials and Gen.Z customers in particular and if their plans for 2022 are anything to go by, then that positive trend will only continue further this year.
Since: August 10, 2015
