Rivalry reports stable results for the third quarter, while undergoing significant change.
Rivalry, the Canadian sportsbook and iGaming operator, made many changes to its operation over the last few months. The company significantly reduced costs. Rivalry cut its headcount by 50% and three company executives took significant voluntary pay cuts over the past few months. It also raised needed capital. Just last week, the company announced it had closed on nearly $2 million in a private placement.
Rivalry also pre-released NUTZ, previously known as Rivalry Token, which generated $3 million in deferred revenue during the company’s third quarter. NUTZ is the cornerstone of Rivalry’s crypto-first and high value player (HVP) strategy, with a planned launch in early 2025.
The company’s transformation, however, did take a toll on the company’s Q3 2024 results. Betting handle for the third quarter was C$79.9 million, down from the second quarter’s handle of C$87.8 million and the first quarter’s C$94.7 million handle. Net revenue in Q3 came in at C$3 million, down from C$4.7 million in Q2.
“The immediate financial results of this high-conviction business evolution is that short-term net revenue is down, however we are beginning to go back on the offensive with a completely evolved product, brand, and marketing approach, as well as an operating footprint that presents a much smaller gap to profitability to close,” the company noted in its press release.
Sportsbook overhaul
During the quarter, Rivalry completed a major overhaul to its sportsbook, offering 40 new sports, embedded live streams, and simplified its interface. It also improved its casino interface and released Casino Races, a way for players to compete against one another.
Rivalry trimmed its marketing spend by roughly 30% compared to the same quarter last year. The company will be ramping its marketing efforts back up starting in December. And as it does, it has reason to be confident that it is on the right path.
“Despite this transitional net revenue impact, we are already observing high signal from our work: in just the two short months since we began to deploy the initial set of crypto and HVP-targeted product releases, our average net revenue per user has hit all-time record levels, increasing by 51% as compared to the 2024 year-to-date average, and by 70% as compared to the trailing three-year average,” the company stated.
