SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Entain’s esports betting platform unikrn has been relaunched one year after purchase, securing market entry in Brazil and Canada.
Going live in South America’s largest country and all Canadian provinces except Ontario, the esportsbook plans to embark on expansion in additional regulated markets throughout 2023.
The brand will offer its flagship esports betting markets, as well as traditional sports wagering and online casino gaming, to its customers as Entain moves forward with its own growth strategy.
Justin Dellario, CEO of unikrn and Managing Director of Esports at Entain, said: “Over the past year, the passionate team at Entain has worked closely with us to create a safe, accessible, secure and compliant product that players can trust – even if they’ve never placed a bet before.
“The launch of unikrn in both Brazil and Canada is the first step as we introduce a video games and esports betting platform that truly puts a new generation of players and their passions first.”
Unikrn made its market debut eight years ago before being acquired by Entain, the FTSE100 global gambling group, in August 2021 in pursuit of a strengthened foothold in the growing esports betting space.
The purchase was accompanied by the appointment of Dellario as Esports MD and CEO of unikrn, who joined the company from the gaming streaming platform Twitch.
Commenting at the time of the acquisition, Jette Nygaard-Anderson, Entain CEO, identified esports as a ‘skill-based gaming market’ which poses an ‘exciting opportunity’, with the sector projected to reach a value of over $20bn by 2025.
“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,” she remarked.
Since its acquisition by Entain, unikrn has undergone extensive redevelopment and transformation, including a ‘new look-and-feel’, an updated interface enabling multiple betting options and an around-the-clock esports streaming service.
The group will go live in Brazil and Canada, offering its seven core unikrn products of an esportsbook, sportsbook, casino, virtual, moneymatch, UMode and the Rewards bonus programme.
Functioning as more alternative products to the conventional sports/esportsbook, casino and virtual betting offerings, unikrn moneymatch operates as a ‘community match-making tool’ for esports with a wagering element, whilst UMode allows players to ‘bet on their skills’ to win rewards.
