Real Luck Group offering the chance to get into esports betting at level-one

One of the few pure-play names in the esports betting market Luckbox subsidiary offers legal, real-money betting, live streams and statistics on 13 esports on desktop and mobile Isle of Man gaming licence, one of the best from a player-protection perspective What Real Luck Goup does: Real Luck Group Ltd (CVE:LUCK)  (OTCQB:LUKEF) which trades as Luckbox, offers legal, real-money betting, live streams and statistics on 13 esports on desktop and mobile and is one of the first movers in the esports betting market and one of the few pure-play names. Luckbox was built from scratch by a team led by ex-chief executive Quentin Martin, a former top-ranking professional cardplayer and esports gamer in the UK and Canada. He and two ex-colleagues from Canada’s Pokerstars together co-founded Luckbox in 2018 and soft-launched a live product in spring 2019. The esports betting website and app are licensed by the Isle of Man, which from a player-protection perspective is one of the best gaming licences in the world, and currently accepts customers from about 80 territories globally. With Generation Z more likely to watch computer games than traditional sports, esports is becoming ever more mainstream and even before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was predicted to be facing the highest growth potential of any sport. Luckbox has seen first-hand the spike in players moving from betting on sports to betting on esports in 2020 and has managed to lock up around 75% of its customer gains. Real Luck Group listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange In December 2020, which followed on from a CA$6mln funding round from investors in the summer of that year. How is it doing: Since listing at the end of 2020, Real Luck Group has been very active, not least in the board room. On May 7, the company announced that Thomas Rosander, formerly its chief customer officer, had been promoted to be chief executive officer of the company and also to its board of directors. Rosander replaced Quentin Martin who the company said voluntarily stepped down as both chief executive officer and a director. Prior to joining the company on February 8, 2021, Rosander - an experienced igaming executive - held positions as chief executive officer of Dunder Casino, chief product officer at Mr Green Online Casino (acquired by William Hill in 2019), and section head Business Intelligence at bwin (acquired by Entain, formerly GVC Holdings, in 2016). He was also engagement director and business intelligence director at global game developer Electronic Arts. In January, Real Luck had unveiled a flurry of other leadership additions that followed on from its merger with Elephant Hill Capital Inc the previous month. The company named Ran Kaspi as its new CFO. The former CFO of drone safety company ParaZero Ltd, Kaspi has also served as finance director of Global-e, a European provider of international e-commerce solutions. He also brings substantial online gaming experience following almost six years at 888.com, an online casino and poker company, where he led the economic and performance team.   Real Luck also added three new independent directors to its board:  Drew Green, CEO of custom men’s dress clothes company Indochino, will serve as Real Luck's chairman; Maruf Raza, the national director of public companies at the accountancy firm MNP LLP; and  Lloyd Melnick, general manager at VGW Holdings Ltd and non-executive director at Blackstone-owned Murka Games. The company also named Jo-Anne Archibald as its new corporate secretary. And on February 22, the company said it had appointed Nevzat Ucar as its new head of content. Before joining Real Luck, Ucar served as head of content for Red Bull and has also held roles as head of video and broadcast for Riot Games and art director for FOX International Channels. Real Luck also moved to add significantly to its coffers in February via an oversubscribed offering of 14,837,317 special warrants at a price of $1.20 each for aggregate gross proceeds of about C$17.8 million. The fund-rise had been tripled from its original size due to strong investor demand. The group said the net proceeds of the offering were expected to be used for working capital and general corporate purposes. On May 3, the company revealed that it had ended fiscal 2020 with over C$3.8 million in cash following its oversubscribed financing and public listing on the TSX Venture Exchange.  On the operational front, on February 3, the company revealed that it had expanded its partnership with B2B software company EveryMatrix Ltd to add a sports betting functionality to its Luckbox platform ahead of the 2021 Super Bowl weekend.  The betting specialist said the agreement would allow Luckbox to expand its reach to over 105 traditional sports, while each month, players will be able to enjoy 85,000 pre-match events, 70,000 live events, and 450 types of bets, as well as key features, including bet builder and cash out. Then on February 19, Real Luck revealed that it had signed agreements with four leading payment processing partners, Skrill, NETELLER, ecoPayz, and Trustly, allowing it to will offer a broad range of payment options, including Visa, Mastercard, ApplePay, and Google Pay, to customers in more than 100 countries worldwide.  Skrill and NETELLER are part of the Paysafe Group, a leading integrated payments platform, while ecoPayz is an FCA regulated global payment solutions provider based in London, and Trustly is a global leader in online banking payments. In March, the company announced the launch of its new affiliate programme with Income Access, Paysafe Group's marketing technology and services provider. Luckbox's affiliate programme is expected to leverage Income Access platform's reporting features to make data-based marketing decisions to promote its products more effectively.    And on April 19, Real Luck announced the addition of wagering on VALORANT, a 5v5 first-person shooter game developed by Riot Games that launched in 2020, to its award-winning platform, increasing Luckbox's offering of esports betting types to 14. It said wagering on the game includes markets on Match winner, Correct Score, Maps Handicap, Total Maps, Round Handicap, and Total Rounds.  Luckbox visitors also can watch live streams of competitive VALORANT matches, as well as get up-to-date stats and team rosters. On April 22, Real Luck said it “welcomed” the announcement by the International Olympic Committee to launch the Olympic Virtual Series (OVS). The new gaming series is the first Olympic-licensed event for physical and non-physical virtual sports. The OVS will run just ahead of the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games, from May 13 to June 23, 2021. The Tokyo Games are set to start on July 23. Real Luck has also welcomed a number of new gaming initiatives over the past few months. On April 23,  the company applauded the passing of Bill C-218 (The Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act) by the Canada House of Commons, a move that moves the country closer to legal sports betting. Bill C-218, which would make it legal to bet on a single sports or athletics event, now moves to the Senate for reading and adoption.  Another piece of legislation, Bill C-13, was previously introduced by the federal government and would also legalize single-event sports betting by modifying the federal Criminal Code. In February, Real Luck had applauded support for single-event wagering in Canada from Alberta's Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis regulator. The company also said it had previously submitted an application to join the Canadian Gaming Association, in anticipation of the legalization. And Real Luck also welcomed news that gambling apps will be available for download in the Google Play Store in 15 additional countries, starting on March 1. In-app gambling is currently available through the Google Play Store in Brazil, France, Ireland, and the UK. On April 5, the company said it had received approval to trade on the OTCQB Venture Market from that date under the symbol 'LUKEF'. Real Luck's commons shares continue trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "LUCK". And on May 3, the company revealed that it had received DTC Eligibility for its US shares. Inflection points: Legalization of single-event sports betting federally in Canada Boost to in-app gambling from Google Play initiative Further payment processing partners What the boss says: In a statement commenting on his appointment, new Real Luck Group CEO Thomas Rosander said: "I am thrilled to be taking over as CEO and look forward to leading the Company as we scale the business. We have a talented and experienced team here at Luckbox, and I am confident that we can build on the excellent work done so far under Quentin's leadership to make Luckbox a world-leading esports betting destination." Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com