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#Beckham’s #Guild to kick off London IPO as #Esports flourish – SPONSOR: Esports Entertainment Group $GMBL $PENN $GAN $ESPO $AESE $EGLX.ca $BRAG.ca $FDM.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 12:06 PM on Wednesday, September 9th, 2020

SPONSOR: Esports Entertainment Group (GMBL:NASDAQ) Millions of people from around the world tune in to watch teams of video game players compete with each other. In first quarter 2020, YouTube reported 1.1 billion hours watched, an increase of 13% when compared to fourth quarter 2019. Wagering on Esports is projected to hit $23 BILLION this year although that number will likely be eclipsed due to the recent pandemic. Esports Entertainment Group is designed for the purpose of facilitating as much of this wagering as possible.  LEARN MORE.

Beckham’s Guild to kick off London IPO as esports flourish

  • David Beckham’s Guild Esports plans to list in London this year, making the former England soccer captain’s esports enterprise the first to go public in Britain.
  • Guild, which owns and develops esports teams, intends to raise 20 million pounds ($26 million) by listing around 40% of its shares, giving it a valuation of 50 million pounds, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

By Clara Denina and Tanishaa Nadkar

(Reuters) – David Beckham’s Guild Esports plans to list in London this year, making the former England soccer captain’s esports enterprise the first to go public in Britain.

Guild, which owns and develops esports teams, intends to raise 20 million pounds ($26 million) by listing around 40% of its shares, giving it a valuation of 50 million pounds, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Beckham was the founding shareholder of Guild, which said in a statement that that some esport tournaments were attracting a bigger audience than the Wimbledon tennis championship, cycling’s Tour de France and golf’s U.S. Open.

Globally the esports market generated $951 million in revenues in 2019 and 443 million viewers, games and esports analytics firm Newzoo estimates.

Guild is banking on the global influence and following of the former soccer star turned sports business entrepreneur to support its business.

Beckham has an undisclosed significant but minority stake in Guild and is expected to remain a shareholder in the London-based company, which said proceeds from the share placing will be used to recruit new players and invest in its brand.

Guild initially plans to build a coaching academy for teams of four esports disciplines including Rocket League, EA Sports’ FIFA and Fortnite.

It aims to have 20 players by the end of 2021 across its game formats. For now, it has one FIFA player and three Rocket League players.

Online gaming has skyrocketed during global coronavirus lockdowns, which halted live sports events.

The coronavirus crisis has also hit European listings, with volumes at their lowest in eight years in the first half of 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic doused investor sentiment.

Although there has since been a revival in new listings, this has mostly been in the United States and Asia.

The Hut Group, an online retailer of beauty and nutrition products, is expected to debut on the London public market in September, potentially the biggest IPO of a British company since 2013.

(Editing by Bernard Orr, Jason Neely and Alexander Smith)

Source: https://www.theguardian.pe.ca/sports/beckhams-guild-to-kick-off-london-ipo-as-esports-flourish-494633/

#Esports is the future of gaming – SPONSOR: Esports Entertainment Group $GMBL $PENN $GAN $ESPO $AESE $EGLX.ca $BRAG.ca $FDM.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 12:19 PM on Tuesday, September 8th, 2020

SPONSOR: Esports Entertainment Group (GMBL:NASDAQ) Millions of people from around the world tune in to watch teams of video game players compete with each other. In first quarter 2020, YouTube reported 1.1 billion hours watched, an increase of 13% when compared to fourth quarter 2019. Wagering on Esports is projected to hit $23 BILLION this year although that number will likely be eclipsed due to the recent pandemic. Esports Entertainment Group is designed for the purpose of facilitating as much of this wagering as possible.  LEARN MORE.

Esports is the future of gaming

  • If it is said that esports is the most growing industry worldwide these days then it is not wrong
  • It is because this industry has a high economic value and it attracts many young players

By Staff Report

If it is said that esports is going to replace the real sports anytime soon then it is not wrong. It may sound like a big statement being made without any evidence but there are many pieces of evidence to support it. People are all ready to be digitally connected and they are playing the games all over the internet by paying on their own.

Olympics will have virtual games:

It is expected that the Olympics committee is suggesting to make virtual games a part of their next tournament. That’s how not only many new games will have emerged but the concept of traditional play may also be changed. People will also love to move in those dimensions where they can experience a new environment. It seems true also because FIFA 18 also have registered above 60 online competitions then why not in the next Olympics.

Free games attract youngsters:

If casinos are checked, there exist many casinos that allow you to play free games even. The user can even practice the skills by playing these offline. The free games are a very unique idea in casinos. It is truly the best way for the company to earn money and it will benefit them in real meaning shortly. The Bestbonus offers many free benefits and awards which brings a lot of audience towards them. They divide the bonuses into kinds like through free spins and no deposit bonuses which makes people more excited to participate.

Esports is a rapidly growing industry:

If it is said that esports is the most growing industry worldwide these days then it is not wrong. It is because this industry has a high economic value and it attracts many young players. This trend is getting common because of the excessive usage of phone and availability of free spins like in best bonus. The mobile games and now the virtual reality games are almost combined and it shows the future of the gaming world. What will be the future of real-world games, nobody knows.

People consider it a sport:

It is important to know that how people perceive e-sport. Do they take it as a real sport? The answer would simply be Yes esports and e gaming has made its mark in the industry. It is not easy to differentiate between real sports and e-sport because traditional sports have quality men who call them sportsmen. But the people being part of e-sport can not claim to be sportsmen because they hardly do any workout to be fit enough.

The sportsmen criteria are different for both the sports:

People playing esports have different skills like the eye movement, their fine finger and hand skills through which they can make a correct decision at the right time. On the other hand, traditional sports require body workout and fitness to participate.

Money makes the difference:

In normal sport, people play, perform, win and get the reward. On the other hand, esports or gaming offers multiple awards for free initially to get the players by giving them bonuses. This is how people move towards esports even if they will have to pay to play because they know the benefits and rewards can also be claimed later on. Though it is always not necessary to pay to get some bonus as many sites offers to play without paying a single penny just like Bestbonus.

Source: https://mymmanews.com/esports-is-the-future-of-gaming/

DraftKings $DKNG surges 12% after Michael Jordan takes equity stake and special adviser role – SPONSOR: Esports Entertainment Group $GMBL $PENN $GAN $ESPO $AESE $EGLX.ca $BRAG.ca $FDM.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:11 AM on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020

SPONSOR: Esports Entertainment Group (GMBL:NASDAQ) Millions of people from around the world tune in to watch teams of video game players compete with each other. In first quarter 2020, YouTube reported 1.1 billion hours watched, an increase of 13% when compared to fourth quarter 2019. Wagering on Esports is projected to hit $23 BILLION this year although that number will likely be eclipsed due to the recent pandemic. Esports Entertainment Group is designed for the purpose of facilitating as much of this wagering as possible.  LEARN MORE.

DraftKings surges 12% after Michael Jordan takes equity stake and special adviser role

  • DraftKings surged as much as 12% on Wednesday after basketball legend Michael Jordan took an equity interest in the firm.
  • Jordan’s stake comes in exchange for “providing guidance and strategic advice” to the sports betting company, according to a press release.
  • The six-time NBA champion will advise DraftKings on a variety of topics including company strategy, development, diversity, equity, and marketing.

DraftKings shares rocketed as much as 12% on Wednesday after announcing basketball superstar Michael Jordan took an equity stake in the company. 

The six-time National Basketball Association champion took an equity interest in exchange for “providing guidance and strategic advice” to DraftKings’ board of directors, according to a Wednesday press release. The sports betting company plans to tap Jordan for input on company strategy, development, diversity, equity, and marketing activities.

“The strategic counsel and business acumen Michael brings to our board is invaluable, and I am excited to have him join our team,” CEO and co-founder Jason Robins said in the release.

Jordan’s role as a special advisor to DraftKing’s board of directors is effective immediately, the company said.  

DraftKings began trading publicly in April after merging with special-purpose acquisition company Diamond Eagle. Shares have since rallied as investors position for sports gambling to pick up as major leagues resume activity. 

The exposure to major sports in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic cuts both ways. While the start of the NBA and Major League Baseball seasons boosted shares, the stock tumbled as much as 13% on July 27 when a COVID outbreak halted several MLB games.

DraftKings closed at $36.93 per share on Tuesday, up 247% year-to-date.

Source: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/draftkings-stock-price-jumps-michael-jordan-equity-stake-special-advisor-2020-9-1029556547#

Esports Entertainment Group $GMBL – From #MichaelJordan to #Drake: The athletes and celebs who invested millions in esports in 2018 $ATVI $TTWO $GAME $EPY.ca $TCEHF

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 12:57 PM on Thursday, December 27th, 2018
SPONSOR: Esports Entertainment $GMBL – Esports audience is 350M, growing to 590M, Esports wagering is projected at $23 BILLION by 2020. The company has launched VIE.gg esports betting platform and has accelerated affiliate marketing agreements with an additional 42 Esports teams, bringing total to 176 Esports teams. Click here for more information
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  • In case you missed it, esports are big business now and competitive gamers spent 2018 continuing to capture the attention (and the money) of the traditional sports world.

Tom Huddleston Jr

Rapper Drake greets Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry following an NBA game in 2015. Dave Sandford | NBAE via Getty Images

In case you missed it, esports are big business now and competitive gamers spent 2018 continuing to capture the attention (and the money) of the traditional sports world.

The esports industry is on pace to bring in more than $900 million in revenue this year, and that number could reach as high as $2.4 billion by 2020, according to gaming research firm Newzoo. Competitive gaming has taken such a leap into the mainstream in recent years that even Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs is following the industry’s growth, with the firm recently predicting that, by 2022, the audience for esports will grow to 276 million people, putting it on par with the most popular traditional sports, including the NFL.

Unsurprisingly, the rapid growth of esports, and the vast amounts of money and exposure at stake, has attracted a great amount of interest from investors who want to get in on the action. Even before this year, several big names were already investing in esports companies and teams, including celebrities and athletes from traditional sports. Among them: Mark Cuban, NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, former MLB star Alex Rodriguez, high-profile NFL owners Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones, and celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Tony Robbins, and Jennifer Lopez.

Those athletes, team owners and celebrities helped pave the way for more big names to join the ranks of esports investors in 2018, when everyone from Michael Jordan to Drake was looking to pump more money into the industry.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest athletes and celebrities who invested in esports in 2018: Michael Jordan

Jordan is a basketball legend and the current principal owner of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets. With a fortune that Forbes estimates is worth nearly $1.7 billion, Jordan is an active investor in the worlds of sports and technology. He owns a minority stake in the MLB’s Miami Marlins and, in the past two years, he’s invested in tech startups like smart headphones company Muzik and Gigster, the online platform for freelance web designers.

In October, Jordan took his first leap into the world of esports by leading a group of investors that put $26 million into the competitive gaming company aXiomatic Gaming, which owns the popular esports organization Team Liquid. (Jordan isn’t even aXiomatic’s only NBA connection, as the company’s co-executive chairman is Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Wizards, one of the teams Jordan played for during his NBA career.)

Jordan called esports “a fast-growing, international industry” in a statement at the time of his investment. Drake

Drake gave away the entire $1 million budget for his new music video

The Canadian rapper (whose real name is Aubrey Graham) is not only a Grammy-winning and charts-topping recording artist, he’s now also the co-owner of an esports team. In October, Drake teamed up with Scooter Braun (the Hollywood manager who represents stars like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande) to invest an undisclosed amount of money in the esports organization 100 Thieves. With their investment, Drake and Braun also became co-owners of 100 Thieves, which fields esports teams that compete in games like “Call of Duty” and “League of Legends.”

Drake is no stranger to the gaming community, either. The rapper made waves in March, when he played “Fortnite” online with the massively popular gaming streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins — a live-streamed pairing that attracted more than 635,000 concurrent viewers on the Amazon-owned video game streaming platform Twitch. Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala

Golden State Warriors teammates Stephen Curry (L) and Andre Iguodala (R) high-five during a December 2018 game. Scott Cunningham | NBAE via Getty Images

Curry might be a two-time NBA MVP, but his Golden State Warriors teammate, Andre Iguodala, is the team’s star when it comes to investing in startups. Iguodala, who Fast Company referred to as “the NBA’s ambassador to Silicon Valley,” has invested in tech startups like direct-to-consumer mattress company Casper while introducing his teammates to Silicon Valley bigwigs like Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and venture capitalist Mary Meeker.

So, it’s no surprise that Iguodala and Curry both got involved in esports together for the first time in 2018. In July, the pair was part of a group that invested $37 million in the esports organization TSM, which was founded by 26-year-old gamer Andy Dinh and fields competitive gaming teams for games like “League of Legends” and “Fortnite.” Steve Young

Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young. Leon Halip | Getty Images

NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young was also in on the $37 million TSM investment alongside Curry and Iguodala. (TSM said part of the funding it raised in July will go toward building a new 15,000-to-20,000-square-foot esports facility in Los Angeles.) Young is a prolific investor among ex-athletes, as the former 49ers star is a managing director of private equity firm HGGC, which oversees over $4 billion in investments. Sean “Diddy” Combs

Sean Combs is a rapper, known variously as Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy, Puff and Puffy. He was born in Harlem and raised by his mother, a schoolteacher living in public housing. , and the family relocated to Mount Vernon, just outside of the Bronx.Combs attended Howard University in Washington ,  D.C, while simultaneously interning at Uptown Records in New York City. The internship won out, and he dropped out of college to focus on Uptown, where he was instrumental in developing such R&B artists Getty Images

The rapper formerly known as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy jumped aboard the esports trend in November, when Combs joined a group of investors that provided $30.5 million in funding to PlayVS. Based in Los Angeles, PlayVS is an esports league that partners with high schools around the US to create an infrastructure that allows high school students to represent their schools in esports competitions while trying to land some of the growing number of collegiate scholarships now available for competitive gamers. Combs served as an angel investor in the funding round for PlayVS.

The November fundraising round actually came on the heels of a $15 million investment in PlayVS that the esports league picked up in June from a group of investors that included the San Francisco 49ers, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, and professional athletes such as former NBA player Baron Davis and Los Angeles Chargers player Russell Okung. Kevin Durant

 Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors  Gregory Shamus via Getty 

Much like some of his Golden State Warriors teammates (Curry and Iguodala, above), Durant is an active investor in Silicon Valley startups. In fact, when Durant left Oklahoma City to sign with the Warriors in 2016, he also launched the Durant Company, his own personal startup for managing his tech industry investments, which include scooter company Lime and Postmates.

In February, Durant added an esports venture to his growing investment portfolio when he joined a group that invested $38 million in Vision Esports, an esports investment fund and management company co-founded by former NBA player and actor Rick Fox, MGM Resorts executive Chris Nordling, and the NHL’s San Jose Sharks minority owner Stratton Sclavos. Vision Esports owns the esports team Echo Fox as well as esports content creator Vision Entertainment and the video game record-tracking site Twin Galaxies. Other investors in Vision Esports include the New York Yankees, the St. Louis Cardinals, and Durant’s business partner, Rich Kleiman. Odell Beckham Jr.

Odell Beckham Jr. of the New York Giants Getty Images

The All-Pro New York Giants wide receiver also joined Durant in contributing to the $38 million fundraising round for Vision Esports in February. Beckham, who signed a record-breaking $95 million deal with the Giants in August, says he has been an avid gamer since childhood, and he even faced off against rapper A$AP Rocky in a marketing stunt for EA Sports’ “Fifa 19” recently.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/oracle/2018/12/19/2018-the-year-the-database-went-autonomous/#28e2762b6bdc