Entain, the world’s leading gaming and sports betting provider, announced that it agreed to buy Seattle-based Unikrn, an esports betting website. However, both parties didn’t reveal the deal’s terms.
Unikrn was started in 2014 by celebrities Ashton Kutcher and Mark Cuban. People can wager on esports matches in games such as Counter-Strike or League of Legends, very much like traditional sports.
Entain, on the other hand, owns multiple brands in online betting and bingo companies, including Ladbrokes casino and Bwin. In 2020, the company handled over $16 billion through betting and now plans to employ over 24,000 employees in 20 offices across the globe.
The firm was created by Microsoft Venture manager Rahul Sood and industry veteran Karl Flores. Flores, who took over as CEO from Sood in 2020, will join Entain alongside Unikrn’s staff. As per the report by LinkedIn, the firm employs about 40 people at present.
Sood mentioned that the journey throughout the company was pretty good. He is pretty excited about the future of Entain and Unikrn.
According to Jette Nygaard- Andersen, there is an excellent opportunity in the future in the skilled-based esports betting industry. They are working on building a versatile platform that addresses this growing market.
As per the estimation by Entain, the esports betting and casino market will end up reaching $20 billion by the year 2025.
In the initial coin offering stage, Unikrn successfully obtained $31 million, but the company started facing some legal tussles. To resolve Securities and Exchange Commission accusations that it performed an initial coin offering unlawfully violating the laws falling under federal securities, Unikrn gave a fine of $6.1 million and was ordered to deactivate the UnikoinGold (UKG) Cryptocurrency earlier this year.
Unikrn was sued in 2018 for the violation of federal rules during its ICO.
In 2014, Unikrn raised $10 million in an equity transaction. Freelands Group, Advancit Capital, 500 Startups, and Binary Capital were among the other private investors.
