SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Canadian sports betting and iGaming operator Rivalry is initiating a strategic review of its options to maximise long-term value.
The company has sought advisory services from XST Capital Group LLC, an online gaming-focused investment bank based in the Greater New York City area. Rivalry added that it has secured a loan of US$650,000 (£508,000/€558,000) to support its plans.
XST’s webpage lists the company’s specialties as M&A advisory, capital raising solutions, and general corporate strategy, hinting at possible future directions for Rivalry to follow.
“We have built a strong foundation in the online gaming sector, delivering an exceptional experience for our players while driving operational excellence,” said Steven Salz, Co-Founder and CEO of Rivalry.
“This review is a natural step in assessing how we can best create long-term value for our stakeholders while continuing to enhance our world-class gaming platform.”
A new era for the ‘Red Bull of the internet’
Founded in 2017 in Toronto, Rivalry is active in Canada’s only regulated multi-licence betting market, Ontario, as well as Australia, as well as in other international grey markets under an Isle of Man licence.
The firm has traditionally focused on esports betting and on engaging more digitally-native Gen Z and millennial customers with an often humorous marketing approach using influencers and based in internet culture.
Speaking to SBC News previously, CEO Salz has summarised the company’s marketing and branding ambitions as the firm aspiring to be the ‘Red Bull of the internet’.
This approach led to strong gains from Rivalry throughout 2021, 2022 and 2023 trading. Its Q3 2023 revenue, for example, was up 22% year-over-year, standing at $8.7m while its net loss continued to fall from previous quarters.
Last year saw a change in approach at the company, however, as it made its debut in the cryptocurrency space, seeing this move as presenting a new and innovative way for it to engage its Gen Z and millennial customerbase.
Salz would later tell SBC Leaders magazine that this move had its origins in his previous career in fintech. The company launched its own token, NUTZ, and in January this year began accepting Donald Trump’s $Trump coin as a means of payment.
However, while it is not explicitly linked to this new crypto-oriented approach, it is noticeable that Rivalry’s performance has begun to stagger in recent months. In contrast to 2023, Q3 2024 net revenue was down to $3m, with the figure for the nine months ending September 2024 down 8% YoY to $12.1m (2023: $11.1m).
“From the start of the third quarter through to the release of these results, we have undergone the most substantive evolution of our business since founding,” Salz said at the time.
“This work was done to better attune ourselves to an evolving online gambling market where cryptocurrency has become the global payment method of choice, and to align our offering with the experiential expectations of the players driving this industry-wide shift.”
The announcement of Rivalry evaluating its strategic direction has also come with what the firm’s Global Creative Director, Alexander Norlin, described on LinkedIn as a ‘round of layoffs’.
This has seen some notable departures from Rivalry, such as its long-time communications lead Cody Luongo, who was Senior Manager – Corporate Communications and Head of Communications at the firm during its biggest growth years.
“After 2.5 years at Rivalry my time as the company’s comms head has come to a bittersweet end,” Luongo wrote on LinkedIn.
“This was by all accounts a dream job where I got to carry out some of the best work of my career–helping shape a resonant narrative, fostering Rivalry’s reputation of innovation and excellence, and positioning them as the market leader in Gen Z / digital culture.
“Thanks Steven Salz for the opportunity and trust in me to literally just hold forward and kill it.”
Regarding Rivlary’s new strategic goals, continuing the ‘substantive evolution’ Salz states that the firm experienced during Q3 is likely a key goal. It is currently unclear where this evolution led to in Q4 2024 and Q1 2025 trading, as reports have not yet been published on the TSX-listed firm’s website.
