Rivalry an internationally regulated sports betting and media company, announced its financial results for the three- and six-month periods ended June 30, 2023. Rivalry has also provided revenue guidance that the Company anticipates reaching profitability in the first half of next year. 

Betting handle for the three-month period ended June 30, 2023 was $112.2 million, an increase of $73.8 million or 192% from $38.4 million in Q2 2022, while reducing marketing spend 6% year-over-year.

Casino has helped offset historical esports seasonality slowdown in Q2, contributing toward revenue diversity and growth, adding $57.5 million in handle during the second quarter.

Revenue was $8.5 million in Q2 2023, a record result for a second quarter, representing an increase of $3.2 million or 60% from $5.3 million of revenue in Q2 2022.

Gross profit was $3.8 million in Q2 2023, an increase of $1.8 million or 86% from $2.1 million of gross profit in Q2 2022.

Net loss was $6.3 million for Q2 2023, a 1% increase from the net loss of $6.2 million in Q2 2022. A select number of low probability esports and sports outcomes, alongside unique behavioral betting habits from Gen Z users, caused increased margin volatility and negatively impacted revenue, which combined with several one-time expenses expanded the company’s net loss.

“In Q2 we delivered a nearly three-fold increase in handle year-over-year,” said Steven Salz, Co-Founder and CEO of Rivalry. “Increased marketing sophistication and enhancements to our core product have led to operational improvements, increased player wallet share, and a material year-over-year reduction in cost of customer acquisition, positioning us well in the coming quarters. The growing strength in these underlying fundamentals continues to validate Rivalry’s global brand leadership in esports betting, and more broadly, in delivering a world class online gambling experience for the next generation of fans.”

“Our position among young Millennial and Gen Z customers represents one of our greatest competitive advantages, but has also presented unique learnings regarding betting behaviors. Generally we experience higher margin volatility within the sportsbook among this demographic, which impacted revenue this quarter,” Salz added.

“That said, challenges like this come with our position at the bleeding edge of a demographic shift in online gambling, and it has also allowed Rivalry to learn more than other operators about what is needed to succeed among this coveted cohort. In the immediate term we have been tuning our operational initiatives to address normalizing margin and seeing early results. And to contextualize the upside potential of this work, at consistent industry average margins Rivalry would have been profitable in Q1 and Q2 this year against the betting handle we generated. With these ongoing adjustments being made based on our learnings, alongside the general benefits scaling handle through growth provides to margin, we expect to reduce volatility, positively impacting bottom-line results, and propelling us to profitability in the first half of next year.”