Flannery, formerly the VP of Brand Strategy at Huge, boasts an impressive portfolio with having worked with big names such as PlayStation, DraftKings, and Harley-Davidson.

Rivalry’s Co-Founder & CEO Steven Salz said Flannery’s addition to the team would continue their rapid growth, with his experience invaluable.

MORE: Rivalry.com review

“Very excited to welcome Grant Flannery as Global Head of Marketing at Rivalry.com,” he said.

“As our global presence continues to expand, enriching our team with top-tier talent becomes imperative.

“Grant’s diverse experience is just what we need to boost our unique marketing and creative strategies even further.”

Tasked with steering Rivalry’s global marketing, Flannery will be given the opportunity to better coordinate the marketing department with various sectors of the company, including its product, sportsbook, data, and customer relations arms.

Since its inception in 2016, Rivalry has rapidly climbed the ranks to become a top player among esports betting sites. Although the company recorded a loss of CAD $6.3m (￡3.67m) in the second quarter of 2023, there’s a silver lining on the horizon with Rivalry forecasting profitability by the first half of 2024.

This year has marked significant growth for the company. Rivalry broadened its wings, not just within the esports competitive sphere but also across various betting jurisdictions.

Key milestones include the unveiling of their esports betting app in Ontario and forging partnerships with the likes of Brazilian content group Tribo, Red Canids, and Grayhound Gaming.

Rivalry’s innovative marketing strategies haven’t gone unnoticed, with their quirky move of introducing a chicken mascot at major CS:GO events this year raising eyebrows.

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The group stage of SI 2023 will take place from February 7–11, followed by a day off on February 12. The playoffs will begin on February 13 and continue until February 15, followed by another day off on February 16.

The postseason will then pick back up on February 17, and the best-of-five championship match will take place on February 19. These latter three days will be open to the general public, and tickets are currently available for purchase.

After being moved to Paris, France, in 2021 and Stockholm, Sweden, in 2022, the Six Invitational will next year make its way back to its original home in Montréal. Ubisoft had intended for SI 2022 to take place in Montréal; however, renewed restrictions relating to COVID-19 in Quebec led the company to move the event to a different venue.

It is expected that the competition will adopt the same format as SI 2022, in which the 20 teams were divided into four groups. Every team participated in one best-of-three match against the other teams, with the following point distribution: three points for a 2-0 win, two points for a 2-1 win, and one point for a 1-2 loss.

Following this, the team that finished in first place in each group advanced to the second round of the upper bracket, while the teams that finished in second and third place advanced to the first round of the upper bracket. The teams that finished in fourth place moved into the lower bracket, while the teams that finished fifth were eliminated.

Every game in the playoffs was also a best-of-three, with the exception of the best-of-five championship match, which had no map edge. Instead of being required to veto one of the maps, the team competing in the top bracket was given the option to select one of the maps from which the process would begin.

Currently, eight teams have earned direct qualification for the Rainbow Six Siege tournament: XSET, DarkZero, Oxygen, and Astralis from North America; G2, Wolves Esports, and Rogue from Europe; and w7m esports from Brazil.

Starting on November 21, multiple prominent teams – including FaZe, FURIA, Team BDS, Soniqs, and Team Liquid – will compete in the J?nk?ping Major in an effort to secure a berth at the 2023 Six Invitational. The 20-team field at SI 2023 will be completed with the addition of four more teams via regional qualifiers.

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?The Call of Duty League made the announcement on Wednesday via its official Twitter page. The organizer also revealed that the Major V would be powered by Bell, a major sponsor of the Ultra.? ?

“Running it back in the 6IX,” the tweet read.

“We’re excited to announce the @TorontoUltra as the official host of Major V for the #CDL2023 season!”? ?

The Toronto Ultra also shared the news of the CDL returning to Toronto for the fifth major of the season on their Twitter page.? ?

The announcement comes days away from the official release of the 19th instalment of the Call of Duty series, Modern Warfare II.

The Ultra are buzzing to replicate the success of last year’s CDL event in Toronto. Many players described it as one of the best events they had ever participated in.?

?Although the venue for the event is yet to be revealed, the tournament is scheduled to run from May 25-28, 2023. The Canadian esports team have promised to share more information regarding the venue and ticketing in the coming weeks.?

?The 2023 CDL regular season will commence with the first major to be held in Raleigh, North Carolina, hosted by the league. The second major will be hosted by first-time hosts the Boston Breach, who will only be appearing in their second season in the league in 2023.? ?Major III will be held in Texas and hosted by OpTic Texas, and the New York Subliners will host the fourth major.? ?

After the four days in Toronto for the fifth major, the season will draw to a close with the Championship Weekend, which will be announced some time in the future. The location for the Championship Weekend has been rumored to yet again be Los Angeles, but as the season draws to a close, the venue will be confirmed.? ?

The 2023 CDL season will experience an early start — the earliest since the inception of the league across all its campaigns. Unlike the usual start of the season, which has come in January or February in previous years, the 2023 campaign will commence in the last month of 2022.? ?

2023 CDL Major schedule

?Major I (hosted by CDL)?
December 2-11: Online Qualifiers?
December 15-18: LAN Tournament? ?

Major II (hosted by Boston Breach)
?January 13-29: Online Qualifiers?
February 2-5: LAN Tournament?

?Major III (hosted by OpTic Texas)?
February 17 – March 5: Online Qualifiers?
March 9-12: LAN Tournament? ?

Major IV (hosted by New York Subliners)
?March 24 – April 9: Online Qualifiers?
April 13-16: LAN Tournament? ?

Major V (hosted by Toronto Ultra)
?May 5-21: Online Qualifiers
?May 25-28: LAN Tournament

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The merger will provide Tyrus the opportunity to collaborate more closely with influencers and bring its service to the forefront of Gen Z audiences. X1 will need to pay a total of US$350,000 (￡291,000) in cash and common shares to complete the acquisition.

“We’re excited to join the X1 family,” said Amanda Solomon, CEO of Tyrus.

“Our main focus with Tyrus is to be an industry disrupter by offering white glove services to our talent and diverse and inclusive roster of highly talented influencers who are enabling global brands to access and engage motivated Gen Z audiences.

“I’m supremely confident that joining X1 will take us to the next level and help us become an increasingly dominant player in this space.”

READ: BEST ESPORTS BETTING SITES IN CANADA

Tyrus is a well-established company that focuses on content creators, gamers, streamers, and influencers in the digital space. It collaborates with content creators in the gaming and lifestyle verticals to provide them with paid opportunities in their respective fields.

Tyrus’s roster includes over 50 creators. The company provides services in the areas of platform management, model management, social media management, video editing, and editing of short-form content, which enables content producers to devote more of their time and energy to producing new content.

“The Tyrus platform expertly bridges the gap between international brands and the gaming ecosystem,”?said Mark Elfenbein, CEO of X1.

“The addition of the Company to our portfolio, will help to establish X1 as an advertising sales organization with access to some of the most sought-after content creators in the video games category.”

Since 2017, Tyrus has formed partnerships with content creators in order to provide them with thorough administration of their YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, and other social media channels, as well as consulting on personal brand growth plans and management of partnership relationships.

On the other hand, in the field of esports operating companies, X1 Esports is a relatively new brand. The Canadian company owns the esports organization RixGG, which has its headquarters in the United Kingdom and participates in video games such as VALORANT, Rocket League, Fortnite, and League of Legends: Wild Rift.

RixGG had a lot of success in Wild Rift in 2022, as seen by the squad’s second-place performance at the EMEA Championship 2022 Season 1. The team came in 17th place at the Wild Rift Icons Global Championship that was held this year.

According to reports, the purchase price will be paid in instalments. There will be cash payments totaling US$150,000 that are due within sixty days of the closure, as well as the issue of 555,555 fully paid common shares in the capital of the company at a price of $0.45 per share. If Tyrus’s revenue for its first full year is greater than $1,750,000, the company has the choice of paying the bonus in the form of either cash or common shares.

The common shares that are included in the purchase price will be subject to a statutory wait period that will last four months and one day from the issue date. Additionally, they will come with a contractual resale constraint that will result in 25% of common shares being released 12 months after the deadline, and another 25% being released at six-month intervals afterward.

This is not the first time this year that an esports company has bought a talent management firm. In April of 2022, the North American esports organization XSET purchased the American talent management firm Astoic Management.? ?

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theScore was acquired by the Penn National Gaming group last August in a bid to expand its North American market share, which is largely made of their Barstool Sports operation.

After originally launching in New Jersey, theScore started accepting sports bets in three other states: Colorado, Iowa, and Indiana.

But from Wednesday June 15, theScore.Bet will no longer take any deposits or accept any bets from customers. The US bookie was acquired last year for a reported fee of $2.1 billion and stock acquisition by Penn National Gaming.

The recently announced, but not unexpected, move into Canada will see theScore (theScore.Bet esports review) position itself as a market leader in the newly regulated market.

The company already has a successful sports news and statistics app in the country, that has millions of users, which they will attempt to leverage to dominate the Canadian betting industry.

Notes about theScore.Bet US closure

• Betting will be completely stopped on June 15, to enable them to process all payouts before the due date of July 1.
• The only allowed activity is withdrawals
• All accumulated bets will be completed on or before July 1, and all NBA and NHL playoffs will be settled as always.
• Customers that have running bets that exceed the July 1 date will be communicated on the way forward.
• Any remaining funds in the customer’s account after July 1 will be settled via check and mailed to the customer’s address.
• For now, account transfer between theScore Bet and Barstool is not possible.

TheScore Bet Ontario’s Performance

Within the first month of betting operations in the Canadian province of Ontario, roughly 79% of sports bettors downloaded and used theScore’s app to place a bet in the newly regulated market.

Ontario online gaming downloads since the market regulation on April 4 can be seen as follows:

TheScore had a total of 50% of all sports betting app downloads, followed by Bet365 with 36% and MGM and Bet Rivers with 3% each. This clearly shows the position of theScore in the market.

Barstool versus theScore

theScore.Bet, since its launch in April in the Canadian province of Ontario, has registered tremendous success, it is currently topping the app download chart in the newly regulated market.

With the stop of operations in the United States, theScore will focus on driving its growth in Ontario and moving its innovative technological drive north of the U.S. border.

Barstool sportsbook will focus on the U.S market; this is a strategic move from Penn National Gaming. Presently, the Barstool online sportsbook is available in Pennsylvania,?Michigan, Colorado, Indiana, Colorado, Virginia, New Jersey, and Arizona.

Barstool has a huge fan base, and it’s not clear if theScore’s customers’ accounts will be integrated into the Barstool database, but from predictions, several of theScore’s customers will open a new betting account on Barstool.

Barstool will take the U.S market lead while theScore focus on retaining the market in Ontario.
The President and Chief Operating Officer of theScore, Benjie Levy, commented on the significance of both brands operating in two seperate markets and the opportunity it offers for the brands to explore and grow.

“With theScore Bet launched and thriving in Ontario, and as we approach a major undertaking this summer with the launch of our proprietary risk and trading service, the timing is right to focus our US efforts on marketing Barstool Sportsbook and our Canadian efforts on marketing theScore Bet,” he said.

“This move enables us to maximize the value of both brands through our organic media and gaming approach. Key to our strategy is integrating theScore media app with Barstool Sportsbook, which we’re currently working towards”

“Bringing together theScore’s powerful mobile sports media platform with Barstool Sportsbook in a unified ecosystem, supported by our in-house technology and custom integrations, will strengthen the overall U.S. product offering and broaden its reach.”

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GG Bet Latest Promotions

GG.Bet is giving all esports fans a great deposit bonus offer to celebrate the start of summer.

The top esports betting site is giving players with a registered email three different deposit bonuses, that you are eligible for during select dates.

The periods and bonus amounts at GG.Bet you are eligible for are:

GG.Bet bonus 1st period: 23.05.22-01.06.22 – 100% bonus up to $50
GG.Bet bonus 2nd period: 02.06.22-11.06.22 – 110% bonus up to $150
GG.Bet bonus 3nd period: 12.06.22-23.06.22 – 120% bonus up to $200

The Wagering requirements of the GG.Bet free bet offer for June, 2022 include that you must turn the bonus amount over at least 15 times greater than the bonus received.

This is a rather stringent wagering requirement, however we recommend still taking advantage of it and using it on a long shot or multi-bet.

The GG.Bet free bet bonuses for June can only be used when you have no real money left in your account.

New customers at GG.Bet are eligible for the GG.Bet sign up bonus, while another great opportunity exists surrounding the GG.Bet bonus code.

The announcement came on Friday, only two days after the North American organisation confirmed they had parted ways with Hyojong “Haksal” Kim, Min-soo “SeoMinSoo” Seo, Chung-hee “Stitch” Lee, Hyeon-Woo “JJANU” Choi, Sung-jun “SLIME” Kim, Jooseok “Twilight” Lee and Chan-hyung “Fissure” Baek.

Replacing them are Samir “Tsuna” Ikram, Alhumaidi “KSAA” Alruwaili, Carson “CarCar” First, and the former Second Wind trio of Abtin “ShRedLock” Shirvani, Randal “Roolf” Stark and Dalton “Dalton” Bennyhoff.

“We are excited to introduce this new team of Vancouver Titans who will represent us not only in league matches but also in our community,” said Tim Holloway, Director of Esports at Vancouver Titans.

“As a group they are excited to play for and engage with Titans fans in Vancouver and across the Pacific Northwest.”

The new roster will be led by Roolf, who was previously the captain of Second Wind. The flex support began his Overwatch esports career in June 2016 and has since played for Method, Cloud9, and the Los Angeles academy team, Gladiators Legion. Roolf also represented Canada at the Overwatch World Cup in 2016 and 2017, earning a second-place finish in the latter event.

Joining Roolf in the support position will be CarCar, who was most recently seen competing for Atlanta Reign’s academy team until the roster disbanded in late March.

In the tank role, Vancouver Titans will field the 18-year-old ShRedLock. During his time at Second Wind, he became known for his prowess on Orisa, Wrecking Ball, Winston and Reinhardt.

Standing next to the young Canadian will be KSAA, who recently played for Raspberry Racers in the European Overwatch Contenders league. He also appeared in Saudi Arabia’s qualifying campaign for the 2019 Overwatch World Cup, where he helped his nation reach the semi-finals of the preliminary stage.

Taking over the DPS roles are Dalton and Tsuna. Dalton was formerly a member of Toronto Esports and Gladiators Legion before he teamed up with Second Wind in January 2020. Tsuna has previously played for Young and Beautiful, British Hurricane and Paris Eternal’s academy team, who released all of their players last month.

Taking charge of the new Titans roster are head coach Steven “Flubby” Coronel and assistant coaches Ali “Pew” Anwar and Eric “Wheats” Perez, while Justin Hughes has signed on as assistant manager. All four were previously members of Second Wind.

Kubz, who joined Immortals Academy in October 2019, cited the team’s vision for the future and North American League of Legends culture as the main reasons for his departure. Fortunately for him, Immortals gladly complied with his request to be released from the organisation.

“Coming back to North America has been a wonderful opportunity for me to reconnect with people and forge new relationships, but it’s time for me to go back to Europe,” said Kubz in his Twitter post.

“During my time on OPT/IMT, I have had the chance to work primarily with domestic players and have had the food fortune to see many of the competition on the LCS Stage.”

Kubz also expressed gratitude for having a chance to experience the North American LoL scene and help academy members develop into world-class players. His ambitions are higher, however, and the next step is a move to the League of Legends European Championship (LEC).

The 25-year-old Canadian began his LoL coaching career with compLexity Gaming in March 2014, where he led the current SK Gaming Prime coach, Ram “Brokenshard” Djemal. Kubz later went on to coach CW Academy, Huma, Cloud9, Nerv, Fnatic (and their academy team), Giants Gaming and OpTic Academy before taking charge of the Immortals Academy team in October 2019.

Kubz did not see much success in his short time in North America. During his first year, Kubz led OpTic Academy to a ninth-place finish in the 2019 Spring Split and a seventh-place finish in the Summer Split. His journey at Immortals was just as abysmal, as they had to settle for a ninth-place finish in Spring 2020 despite winning six of their first eight matches.

Although his record as a head coach over the past two years isn’t all too inspiring, Kubz is still regarded one of the most skilful tacticians in the scene. Eight years of coaching experience should serve him well as he returns to Europe for the first time since leaving Giants in September 2018.

“This is my 8th full year coaching, I am proud of everything I have accomplished so far and I am looking forward to focusing on results and trying my best to win, something I haven’t had the chance to do since 2018,” said Kubz.

The veteran gaffer hinted that he might already have a position waiting for him in Europe, although no official announcements have been made in that regard.

Shortly after the first details about the FPS project surfaced, VALORANT was billed as one of the most anticipated game releases of 2020 despite the fact not a lot was known about it.

Leaks started to surface earlier this year, followed by an official trailer that unveiled the gameplay and mechanics of VALORANT. The 5v5 character-based tactical shooter features both the class abilities seen in Overwatch and the strategy, gameplay and economy system of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

By combining the best of both worlds under the supervision of Riot Games, VALORANT is tipped to be a huge success. Many avid gamers have already announced that they will be transitioning to the new title in the hope of launching professional esports careers.

Initial rumours suggested VALORANT would not be released until Q4 of 2020 or even in 2021, while beta was said to go online sometime later this year. It seems the COVID-19 outbreak has forced Riot Games to put their foot on the gas and rush the development of the “next big thing in the FPS genre” while much of the world’s population is homebound.

The closed beta for VALORANT is set to launch on April 7, but only for players in Europe, Canada, United States, Russia and Turkey. There are, however, plans to roll out the beta for more regions, although Riot claim they are currently working on some logistical issues caused by the coronavirus crisis.

“Our plan was to bring the VALORANT Closed Beta to as many players around the world as quickly as possible, but the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted those plans,” VALORANT Executive Producer Anna Donlon said.

“For now, we have to focus on the regions where we feel most ready, with more regions following in the months to come.”

Riot Games have not disclosed how long the beta period will last, stating that they “want to keep closed beta as short as we can while getting additional regions online” and that they will reevaluate their decision based on feedback from players.

Any progress made during beta will not carry over to launch, but Riot are offering players who buy VALORANT points during the testing phase a +20% bonus once the game launches.

Details about VALORANT beta:

– Launch date and time: Tuesday, April 7 at 2pm CET/6am PST

– How to get access*:
1. Register for a Riot account
2. Link Riot account to a Twitch account
3. Watch specific VALORANT closed beta streams highlighted on Twitch
(* there will be a limited number of invites sent out)

– Eligible regions for the beta: USA, Europe, Canada, Russia, Turkey.

– Progress in beta does not transfer over to the launch

– VALORANT points bought during beta will carry over to launch with an added 20% bonus.

– Beta will release only for PC users

Founded in 1997 in Victoria, British Columbia, as a Quake clan, Evil Geniuses have established themselves as one of the most recognisable names in the esports industry, fielding players in Call of Duty, CS:GO, Dota 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Rocket League, League of Legends, Fortnite, World of Warcraft, Super Smash Bros., and several other fighting games. Of all those teams, EG are best known for their output in Dota 2, Call of Duty and CS:GO.

Going forward, Evil Geniuses teams will drop their long-time logo, which combines the letters E and G, for a more ominous, text-based version with a large ‘V’ as the centrepiece.

The new logo surfaced late last week alongside the unveiling of the new jerseys which will be worn by EG’s players. The updated kits are emblazoned with the new visual identity of the organisation alongside the logos of EG’s sponsors: Monster Energy, Xfinity, Twitch, Razer, FVBET, AMD and NEEDforSEAT.

Evil Geniuses were acquired by PEAK6 Investments LCC in May 2019 in a move that saw Nicole LaPointe Jameson installed as CEO. That has triggered a series of significant changes within the organisation, including the decision to purchase the entire NRG CS:GO roster in September after seven years away from Counter-Strike esports. EG will also end their five-year hiatus from League of Legends esports in 2020 after buying out Echo Fox’s slot in the LoL Championship Series (LCS).

Evil Geniuses are not the only major esports group to update their branding in recent times. NRG Esports, Complexity Gaming, Excel Esports, MAD Lions, and even the Electronic Sports League (ESL) will all step into the New Year with new looks.