wanyoo-plans-to-extend-esports-center-franchise-business-to-more-countries

Wanyoo Plans to Extend eSports Center Franchise Business to More Countries

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Wanyoo is going to develop its eSports center franchise business in Italy, Germany, France and Japan. It now owns more than 1000 stores across China, America, UK, Australia, Singapore and Canada.

Wanyoo started its very first internet café in Shanghai in 1998. To make offline internet entertainment space more enjoyable for game players around the world, Wanyoo evolved internet café to eSports center. Rather than simply provide internet services in a café, the idea of eSports center is to provide e-sports players a complex of video games, food and beverage, games-related events and a social space. By the end of 2020, Wanyoo eSports centers have serviced more than 40 million players globally.

Through Wanyoo’s global partners and players, it continues to exert its international influence by actively cooperates with eSports teams, international and domestic tournaments and video game publishers. The two well-known esports teams IG and 4AM have been endorsing Wanyoo for years. Wanyoo also achieved partnership with PGI.S.2021. In 2019, Wanyoo Gaming Center became the exclusive partner of LOL NATIONAL NETBAR LEAGUE CHINA. The same year, Wanyoo held the first international Wanyoo eSports center league covered Wanyoo players from New York, London, Singapore and so on. Wanyoo and its stores also value local partnerships. In the UK, Wanyoo sponsored the LOL tournament of CSSA UK 2019. In Canada, the Wanyoo eSports center assisted local college to establish esports team.

In addition to where Wanyoo comes from, there are 12 Wanyoo eSports centers in America, Britain, Canada, Australia and Singapore. These stores endeavour to provide local game lovers the most enjoyable playing space. In the next 3 years, Wanyoo plans to run 50 stores outside of China in total.

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Paradise Co Appoints Choi Sung-wook as its New CEO

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South Korean casino operator Paradise Co has appointed Choi Sung-wook as its new CEO. He will join the board having served most recently as CEO of the Paradise casino in Busan and replace Park Byung-ryong on an initial two-year term.

The company currently operates four foreigner-only casinos in the nation; Paradise City, Paradise Walkerhill, Busan Casino and Jeju Grand. The latter reported a loss of $100m in 2020, as international travel bans in place throughout most of the year proved detrimental.

Half of Korea’s 16 foreigner-only casinos are located on the island of Jeju, and between them saw a 65% year-on-year revenue drop to KRW69.30bn ($61.5m).

Choi will have much to contend with in his new role, but can take a small amount of solace from the recent announcement that Korean casino operators will not have to make obligatory sales tax payments for at least 12 months.

The reprieve will be a welcome one in the short term, but either the opening of all venues to locals or a drop in international travel restrictions will be necessary for the market to return to a profitable state.

psg-esports-extends-its-partnership-with-betway

PSG Esports Extends its Partnership with Betway

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PSG Esports, the gaming division of French football club Paris Saint-Germain, has extended and expanded its partnership with Betway Group.

The agreement sees Betway designated as the Main Partner for PSG.LGD, for at least 1 year. Betway will also join PSG Esports’ wider operations as Official Betting Partner.

The partnership is amongst the most significant to date in the Esports sector. It is also a continuation of the existing successful collaboration between PSG.LGD and Betway, which kicked off in 2018.

“We are thrilled to extend and expand upon our existing partnership with Betway, who has been an excellent supporter of our Esports efforts and the PSG.LGD team in particular for nearly 2 years now. Through our existing relationship, Betway has proven itself to be an organization that really understands the gaming community, and together we are looking forward to innovating and delivering truly unique and exclusive experiences to our fans together,” Fabien Allègre, Paris Saint-Germain’s Director of Brand Diversification, who oversees the Club’s Esports operations, said.

“We’re delighted to renew our partnership with PSG.LGD’s legendary DOTA 2 team. Our relationship has gone from strength to strength and it’s been a very successful sponsorship for us. We’re now very excited to be able to take it to the next level,” Paul Adkins, Operations and Marketing Director at Betway, said.

india’s-first-ever-one-stop-online-esports-platform-ultimate-battle-is-now-on-google-play-store

India’s first-ever one-stop online esports platform Ultimate Battle is now on Google Play Store

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Ultimate Battle, India’s first-ever one-stop online Esports platform is now available on Google PlayStore for the Android users. The freshly launched app of the platform will facilitate easier connectivity and accessibility for users and leverage the power of the mobile-first ecosystem of the country.

According to a joint report published by the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association and the consulting firm KPMG, by 2022, India’s smartphone base will reach 820 million active users. This clearly highlights the ability of mobile gaming to push a wider audience from India’s still untapped markets towards esports. Esports especially in rural India saw a huge boost because of the digitalization penetration most youngsters have access to mobile.

In India, around 90% of gamers as per market estimation use mobile devices. The Ultimate Battle App will provide gamers with a convenient way to participate in esports events and stay connected to the gaming community on the go. To meet the needs of gamers, the app will also include a content segment with the most recent gaming news as well as other gameplay-related content. It is a small app and do not use lot of data or resources.

Commenting on the launch of the app, Tarun Gupta, Founder Ultimate Battle said, “Ultimate Battle was created keeping in mind a mix of all sorts of gamers and their taste in various games. We wanted to provide the easiest accessibility to our users. Now, with the launch of the app, people can experience the same 360 degree experience while being on the move. We intend on bring in similar features in the future for the IOS users as well and make this a truly holistic esports platform, for everyone to access and play on.”

With instant alerts and match announcements, as well as easy access to the gaming network, the Ultimate Battle App can aid in coordinated gameplay. Users can play for free on Ultimate Battle and win prizes as well as gain recognition in the gaming community. Players have multiple opportunities to showcase their skills with various avenues of engagement such as Daily Tournaments, challenges, and Leaderboard events, which helps bud new talent for the Indian esports scene. The app currently has popular esports titles like Call of Duty, Garena Free Fire, Valorant, FIFA20, CS: GO, DOTA2, Fortnite including Chess, which has topped gamer’s preferences.

nagasaki-says-ban-on-stakeholders-participating-in-other-japan-ir-bids-is-an-“original”-nagasaki-rule

Nagasaki Says Ban on Stakeholders Participating in Other Japan IR bids is an “Original” Nagasaki Rule

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Nagasaki prefecture has defended its stance on not allowing anyone holding a minimum 5% stake in the local IR bid to bid on other locations, by saying it was an original rule.

Nagasaki prefecture recently narrowed down its possible IR partners to three operators: Casinos Austria International Japan, the Niki & Chyau Fwu (Parkview) Group and the Oshidori Consortium. The Nagasaki government then issued a statement saying, “After submission of second round evaluation documents in June 2021, any investing company that will hold a 5% or more share of the applicant group’s Special Purpose Company cannot be an investing company for another concurrent bid in a different IR development and operation public tender in Japan.”

The 5% rule by Nagasaki prefecture was based on unprecedented advice from legal counsel and other parties employed for the request for proposal and other processes.

Meanwhile, Yokohama prefecture, which is also bidding for one of Japan’s IR spots, is facing difficulty with anti-IR groups and a lack of a concise plan. However, the Yokohama City Council approved its annual budget for IR development expenses, including JPY360m ($3.3m) for IR promotion. Those opposing the IR argued that citizen consent should be obtained before moving forward.

team-vitality-announces-call-of-duty-mobile-roster

TEAM VITALITY ANNOUNCES CALL OF DUTY MOBILE ROSTER

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Leading global esports organisation, Team Vitality, is pleased to announce its first ever CALL OF DUTY MOBILE (CoDM) roster as a part of its commitment to esports in India. The new team, led by Arav “MonK” Narang, includes an all-Indian roster of Armaan “Moonscope” Dharni, Priyank “DEATH” Birajdar, Akshan “Argon” Madhani, Samartha Ganesh “JOKOs” Ghadge, and Samruddha “SAMS” Ghadge. The team will be coached by veteran CoD player Harnoor “Toxy” Mutneja. They will also be managed by content creator Melson “mello” Miranda.

Team Vitality’s CALL OF DUTY MOBILE (CoDM) roster comprises a balanced mix of well-established esports players, as well as rising talent. Team captain and in-game-lead, MonK, is considered to be one of the best fraggers in India. Moonscope has been voted as the second-best sniper in the world and referred to as ‘the sniping king of India’. JOKOs and SAMs are the ‘infamous CoDM twins’ who achieved a ton of success over the last 4 months. JOKOs was the highest fragger in the LOCO India Cup with over 155 kills. Argon and Death have also both been dominating the Indian esports scene during the last few months.

CEO of Team Vitality, Nicolas Maurer, speaking on the occasion said, “Our aim in India was to start an esports team that would have its own unique identity while imbibing core Team Vitality values. We are very happy with the roster as they have the right skills, as well as potential to be no. 1 team, and eagerly look forward to making our mark in a brand-new category. While we will fully support them during every step of their progress, we’re sure tons of additional support for the team will come via our fans – from India and the world over. The CALL OF DUTY MOBILE team is the first step towards the expansion of our presence beyond Europe, and in line with our vision of conquering the esports world. It’s also a very nice way to resonate with the Vitality history which started with the Call of Duty franchise back in 2013.”

Also staying true to their mission of finding talent at a grassroots level, Team Vitality in parallel is planning a PAN-India Talent Hunt to find and train new talent across multiple rosters that the organisation intends to form in the country.

Amit Jain, Principal of the Rewired.gg, venture fund that has invested €34 million into Team Vitality, commented, “I’m delighted with our progress of having a team consisting of esports talent from diverse parts of the country. That said, there’s still a huge untapped base of talent who we feel deserve the chance to showcase their skills and represent Team Vitality. So while I’m personally extremely excited for the team who I’m confident will take on the world and make India proud, we will continue to explore opportunities to find aspirational talent to help create life-changing opportunities for them.”

Randall Fernandez, General Manager, Team Vitality India, added, “While there’s a lot of excitement about Team Vitality’s first all-Indian esports roster, performance wise this also translates to an incredible amount of pressure on us to be “en par” with our other teams in Europe. We in India and Paris will not compromise on any aspect in the players’ overall training, physical and mental fitness, comfort and nutrition, be their extended family and support them in every way possible. I’m confident our team will very soon become the best in India.”

Team Vitality will now officially field ten esports teams across ten titles as it fosters a culture of competitive excellence. In 2020, the organisation celebrated nine titles won and a total of 8 MVP awards across its competing games.

 

tax-revenue-from-cambodia’s-casino-sector-drops-53%-in-2020

Tax Revenue from Cambodia’s Casino Sector Drops 53% in 2020

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Cambodia Ministry of Economy and Finance Deputy Director Ros Phirun has revealed that tax revenues collected from Cambodia’s casino industry fell about 53% in 2020.

Tax revenues had been about US$85 million for the full year 2019, but this number plummeted to US$40 million in 2020.

“As we’re all too well aware, the Covid-19 epidemic began in late 2019 and persists to this day. It’s pulverized all economic sectors, and the casino industry has sustained a crippling blow as well. Practically all of our casinos ceased operation in 2020, with only just seven or eight left scrambling to keep their businesses afloat. That’s why our revenue collection has dropped so much,” Ros Phirun said.

All of the kingdom’s casinos had been ordered to suspend operations between April and August last year as a measure to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s August 2019 decision to ban online gambling by the end of that year is also cited as a contributing factor to the sharp decline in tax revenues.

three-groups-qualify-to-enter-next-phase-of-nagasaki-ir-process

Three Groups Qualify to Enter Next Phase of Nagasaki IR Process

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Nagasaki has revealed that three IR operator candidates have qualified to proceed to the next round of the prefecture’s Request for Proposal process.

Nagasaki announced in late January that it received five responses to its Request for Proposal for an integrated resort to be located at the Huis Ten Bosch site in Sasebo city. All five applicants subsequently qualified to proceed to the first selection round which began on March 1.

With those five now being cut to three, Current Group and One Kyushu are the two parties to have missed out. Those who qualified are Oshidori International, Casinos Austria and the NIKI Group. They will now enter a competitive dialogue with the prefecture and city around implementation agreements, which will be followed by a survey on the integrity and eligibility of each candidate to be conducted by an independent research firm.

The deadline for submitting secondary examination documents is set for June with the final successful candidate expected to be named by around August.

tvbet-takes-over-asia-with-4-new-games

TVBET Takes Over Asia With 4 New Games

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Live games provider TVBET has announced the launch of 4 new games for the Asian market! The company recently integrated four brand new games to the site of their local partner Supernowa. The exciting new titles are Andar Bahar, Teen Patti, 32 Cards and 7Up 7Down. These fantastic new games promise to be engaging and interesting for bettors not only in Asia, but all over the world.

B2B provider TVBET recently created a suite of games especially for the Asian gaming market. These titles were created specifically at the request of TVBET’s Asian partner Supernowa and now, the exciting new games are finally available on the operator’s website. The mechanics of the games are already familiar to the Asian market and it will not be difficult to understand the rules.

TVBET takes a strategic approach to game development and analyzes what will be interesting for players in a particular region. However, the simplicity and novelty of new games will also appeal to a global audience, ensuring that they will be popular all over the world. The list of new products by TVBET includes the following games:

● Andar Bahar — a simple game with two special sections, ANDAR and BAHAR. First, the presenter draws a single card – the Joker – and places it in a specially designated space. She then draws additional cards one by one, placing them alternately into the ANDAR and BAHAR sections. The goal of the game is to find a card of the same value as the joker.

● Teen Patti — this is played between two conditional players. After shuffling the deck, the presenter alternately deals three cards for each player. The object of the game is simply to collect a stronger hand than the opponent.

● 32 Cards — this game is played with a non-standard deck of 32 cards – there are no cards from Ace to five. The game is played between four conditional players (Player 8, Player 9, Player 10, Player 11). The player’s number refers to that player’s individual starting point. After the shuffle, the presenter deals one card to each player. The value of this card is added to the initial number of points (8, 9, 10 or 11). The player who collects the most points wins.

● 7UP 7DOWN — this game uses eight 52-card decks at the same time. The presenter carefully shuffles these eight decks together, after which they are placed in a shoe. The presenter then begins to draw cards. The aim is to guess which card will be drawn. Will it be a card with a value greater than seven, below seven or the seven card itself?

Partners can already check out these fantastic new games on Supernowa’s website. TVBET will provide more information on further new games soon. This partnership represents a big step for the provider, in terms of increasing its global reach and developing entertaining new products for particular markets. All four games promise to be successful and exciting, which will allow TVBET to strengthen its position in the igaming space.

nazara-technologies-limited-initial-public-offer-to-open-on-march-17,-2021

Nazara Technologies Limited Initial Public Offer to open on March 17, 2021

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Nazara Technologies Limited, the leading India based diversified gaming and sports media platform with presence in India and across emerging and developed global markets such as Africa and North America, and offerings across the interactive gaming, eSports and gamified early learning ecosystems including World Cricket Championship (WCC) and CarromClash in mobile games, Kiddopia in gamified early learning, Nodwin and Sportskeeda in eSports and eSports media, and Halaplay and Qunami in skill-based, fantasy and trivia games, will open the initial public offer of equity shares of face value of ₹4 each (“Equity Shares” and such initial public offer, the “Offer”) on  March 17, 2021. The Offer will close on March 19, 2021. The Price Band of the Offer has been fixed at ₹1,100 to ₹1,101 per Equity Share.

The Offer comprises initial public offering of up to 5,294,392 equity shares of face value of ₹4 each (“Equity Shares”) of Nazara Technologies Limited (“Company” or “Issuer”), through an offer for sale of by the selling shareholders, comprising of up to 1,267,435 equity shares by IIFL Special Opportunities Fund, up to 1,036,286 equity shares by IIFL Special Opportunities Fund – Series 4, up to 873,989 equity shares by IIFL Special Opportunities Fund – Series 5, up to 816,804 equity shares by IIFL Special Opportunities Fund – Series 2, up to 691,900 equity shares by Mitter Infotech LLP (the “Promoter Selling Shareholder”), up to 393,349 equity shares by IIFL Special Opportunities Fund – Series 3, (IIFL Special Opportunities Fund, IIFL Special Opportunities Fund – Series 4, IIFL Special Opportunities Fund – Series 5, IIFL Special Opportunities Fund – Series 2 and IIFL Special Opportunities Fund – Series 3 together, referred to as the “Investor Selling Shareholders”), up to 150,000 equity shares by Good Game Investment Trust, up to 25,000 equity shares by Seedfund 2 International, up to 23,725 equity shares by Porush Jain, up to 14,959 equity shares by Azimuth Investments Limited and up to 945 equity shares by Seedfund 2 India (Good Game Investment Trust, Seedfund 2 International, Porush Jain, Azimuth Investments Limited and Seedfund 2 India together, referred to as the “Other Selling Shareholders, and together with the Promoter Selling Shareholder and the Investor Selling Shareholders, referred to as the “Selling Shareholders”). This offer includes a reservation aggregating up to ₹20 million for purchase by eligible employees (the “Employee Reservation Portion”). The offer less the employee reservation portion is hereinafter referred to as the “Net Offer”. The Company, the Promoter Selling Shareholder and the Investor Selling Shareholders in consultation with the BRLMs, may offer a discount of up to 10.00% to the Offer Price (₹110 per share) to Eligible Employees Bidding in the Employee Reservation Portion (“Employee Discount”).

Bids can be made for a minimum of 13 Equity Shares and in multiples of 13 Equity Shares thereafter.

The Offer is being made through the Book Building Process, in terms of Rule 19(2)(b) of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957, as amended (“SCRR”) read with Regulation 31 of the SEBI ICDR Regulations and in compliance with Regulation 6(2) of the SEBI ICDR Regulations wherein not less than 75% of the Net Offer shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to Qualified Institutional Buyers (“QIBs”) (the “QIB Portion”), provided that our Company, the Promoter Selling Shareholder and the Investor Selling Shareholders in consultation with the BRLMs may allocate up to 60% of the QIB Portion to Anchor Investors on a discretionary basis. In the event of under-subscription, or non-allocation in the Anchor Investor Portion, the balance Equity Shares shall be added to the QIB Portion. One-third of the Anchor Investor Portion shall be reserved for domestic Mutual Funds, subject to valid Bids being received from the domestic Mutual Funds at or above the Anchor Investor Allocation

Price. 5% of the QIB Portion (excluding the Anchor Investor Portion) shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to Mutual Funds only, and the remainder of the QIB Portion shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to all QIB Bidders (other than Anchor Investors), including Mutual Funds, subject to valid Bids being received at or above the Offer Price. However, if the aggregate demand from Mutual Funds is less than 5% of the QIB Portion, the balance Equity Shares available for allocation in the Mutual Fund Portion will be added to the remaining QIB Portion for proportionate allocation to QIBs.

Further, not more than 15% of the Net Offer shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to Non-Institutional Bidders and not more than 10% of the Net Offer shall be available for allocation to RIBs in accordance with the SEBI ICDR Regulations, subject to valid Bids being received from them at or above the Offer Price. Further, Equity Shares will be allocated on a proportionate basis to Eligible Employees applying under the Employee Reservation Portion, subject to valid Bids received from them at or above the Offer Price. All Bidders (except Anchor Investors) are required to mandatorily utilise the Application Supported by Blocked Amount (“ASBA”) process providing details of their respective bank account (including UPI ID for RIBs using UPI Mechanism), in which the corresponding Bid Amounts will be blocked by the SCSBs or the Sponsor Bank, as applicable. Anchor Investors are not permitted to participate in the Offer through the ASBA process.

ICICI Securities Limited, IIFL Securities Limited (in compliance with the proviso to Regulation 21A of the SEBI (Merchant Bankers) Regulations, 1992, IIFL Securities Limited will be involved only in marketing of the Offer), Jefferies India Private Limited and Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Private Limited are the Book Running Lead Managers to the Offer.