"We’re not closed to the idea that the metaverse could be a huge betting avenue" – Yogonet International

In an ever-growing technological market, Esports Technologies has been seeing an upward trend in their numbers and in expansion terms. After acquiring Aspire Globals B2C brands in December 2021, the company has seen great impact in its Q1 2022 numbers, amounting to $7 million in revenue.

In a video interview with Yogonet, Esports Technologies CEO, Aaron Speach spoke about the companys projects for 2022, new developments such as its e-sportsbook and new Chrome browser tool, which is expected to be launched next quarter, as it contemplates its potential entrance into the metaverse.

After Esports Technologies announced the acquisition of Aspire Globals B2C business, the company stated it intended to cross-sell esports wagering opportunities to increase esports revenue, player transactions and customers. So far, Aaron Speach considers they have seen significant progress in building their regulated esports product on the Aspire platform.

70% of the Aspire customers that we acquired are between 18 and 40 years old, which is exactly the target demographic we look for in an esports customer, the companys CEO explained, and further detailed that these customers are mostly located in Germany and the UK. We expect to launch in Q2 of this calendar year.

The acquisition also brought about improvement in the financial area, resulting in a FY22 Q1 report of $7 million released earlier this month, which Speach qualified as a massive improvement on the overall business.

He also underscored that what Esports Technologies can bring to the table that was not being accomplished by Aspire, is a focus on the B2C side business: Aspire was focused both on the B2B and B2C, and they agreed that this product in the hands of somebody dedicated to the consumer side of the business would benefit it greatly, and were seeing that today.

The deal also gave the company access to gaming licensing in regulated markets as well, including the UK, Germany, Ireland, Denmark and Malta. When talking about Esports Technologies approach and competitive advantages in each of these jurisdictions, and the investments planned for them, Speach explained: We actually brought over 14 employees that are extremely familiar with the Germany and UK market. So were going to be able to use their marketing acumen. But in Q2 of this calendar year, we expect to leverage esports in those regions. Were excited to also expand throughout more of Western Europe, including the Netherlands''.

When it comes to Aspire Globals B2B brands, Speach confirmed the company already has several synergies that they are using. GOGAWI, which is our unregulated esports product, is already fully moved over to the Aspire brands, and were actively marketing our launch throughout Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Were extremely excited that we were able to partner with Aspire on additional brands, and were excited to offer esports - and really one of the first esports products on Aspires BTO back-end provider, he explained. One of the key reasons why we did this acquisition was because we would be able to leverage Aspires B2B ability and operational ability on the casino and sportsbook side, and have a really tight relationship.

While the company harvests the benefits of the acquisition, Aaron Speach also referred to new products under development. One of them is the companys Electronic Sports Betting Exchange System, which is awaiting its patent approval.

Thats our hedgehog product, like Betfair, but focused on esports, so it will allow any customer to go on and set their own odds and their own prices on esports matches that they feel they can beat any provider thats out there. And this is huge for us from an odds and modeling perspective, which is one of our main products.

But it's also great for the consumer because if they feel like they have a beat on a match that maybe a sportsbook isn't providing, they're able to offer that market. From a B2B perspective, it also allows an exchange of knowledge and markets, and also the ability to lay off if youre a bigger provider where really there isnt an option right now, he explained.

Once approved, the system will be available in every regulated market where the company is allowed to do business, plus 140 unregulated markets as well, Speach added.

Esports Technologies does not stand still when it comes to expansion strategies, not only in territorial terms but in vertical diversification. The companys new affiliate platform has been contributing to such expansion. Its really allowed us to capture some of the major affiliates in esports, and considered if youre a serious B2C company, you should have your own affiliate platform. That way, you can manage everything without worrying about the dedicated software messing up or somebody not liking that certain software. You can keep everything managed in-house.

Global trends such as investments in immersive technologies and metaverse expansion are also on the companys radar. However, Speach stated that they are looking at different ideas and playing with the idea of different ways to use the metaverse for gambling. But we dont have any immediate action that were taking on the new idea of metaverse betting or what it could mean to have, like, a virtual casino.

Nevertheless, Esports Technologies CEO stated that the company is definitely not closed off to the idea that this could be a huge future betting avenue.

Even though there is no clear pathway for the company to enter the metaverse in the short term, the company has already confirmed its presence at real-life events this year, such as Sigma Dubai and ICE London. 2022 started off with the brand working on a new project that will launch in Q2.

I think our biggest product that were working on now, other than an e-sportsbook, would be our browser-based product. It is a Chrome extension that you download from our site and, just like you would any other Chrome extension that sits in your toolbar, and any time that youre on a web page with a video, we read the video. And if weve determined that that video is a sporting event going on, we take our data on feeds and we actually put an overlay on the video stream that youre watching so you can bet directly in stream.

This product will become available in all of the companys Esports products including unregulated market GOGAWI, which is about 140 jurisdictions, plus the regulated markets where the company operates in Western Europe.

Watch the full video interview with Esports Technologies CEO on our YouTube channel.

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"We're not closed to the idea that the metaverse could be a huge betting avenue" - Yogonet International