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Entain Drops €59 Million on Esports Betting Company Unikrn
By Shane Addinall Aug 14, 2021 IndustryiGaming giant Entain acquire Washington-based esports betting and entertainment company Unikrn for €58.8 million in a bid to cement their position in the burgeoning esports and social casino market.It seems that plans for online casino and sports betting expansions and mergers are not only hot in the US right now with Entain announcing that it has acquired esports betting company Unikrn for €59 million.
Unikrn CEO and co-founder, Karl Flores, said of the deal:
“Unikrn was built on the efforts of true believers. 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 two!”
According to a statement by Entain, they believe that esports betting and social-casino gaming will easily reach a market value of more than €17 billion by 2025. With that future in mind, the decision to acquire Unikrn makes a lot of sense, and it opens the door to Entain pursuing further deals soon that will strengthen their position in these markets over the two to three years.
Right Person, Right Time
To show their commitment to the further development of what the founders of Unikrn have already achieved Entain announced the appointment of Justin Dellario, as the new Head of Esports. He is well-known and highly respected in the esports and live video arena thanks to his time as VP of Content and Esports for online streaming behemoth Twitch.
Jette Nygaard-Andersen, Entain CEO, said:
“One exciting opportunity is the growing esports skill-based wagering market. We are building the first scalable platform to address this market and I am delighted that Justin Dellario is joining us to lead our growth in this new area.”
Speaking to Esports.gg Dellario said:
“I couldn’t be more excited to embark on this next chapter of my esports career with Entain. The opportunity to continue working at the intersection of media and interactive entertainment while building infrastructure for esports is everything I’m passionate about. I look forward to sharing more in the months to come.”
Dellario, who officially left Twitch on July 23rd, has been quiet on his personal social media about his new position opting rather to retweet, posts by esports channels that mention the deal and his involvement in it.
Buy Today, Shut Down Tomorrow?
In addition to the internal culture change that is inevitable with any deal of this size, there will also be some short terms changes that may leave punters uneasy. Specifically, the fact that the company is ceasing operations immediately with all withdrawals to be processed by September 12th.
Their notice to existing Unikrn customers simply stated that in order for the sale to move forward, and for the “required restructuring” to take place the business will be offline for the foreseeable future.
The current thinking is that this time will be used not only to streamline internal processes and to get the right Entain people in place to drive their directives but to also lay the foundation for the evolution of Unikrn into a leading “scalable platform” developed specifically for the emerging “esports skill-based wagering market”.
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