Unikrn relaunches esports betting book in Brazil and Canada

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Sports betting startup Unikrn is relaunching its services today in Brazil and Canada (except Ontario). The company will offer an esports book for betting on the biggest events of the year, but Unikrn is expanding its functionality and focus to include a traditional bookmaker, casino games and skill-based betting.

Unikrn launch plans

For its relaunch, Unikrn revamped its existing services and selected specific markets to target.

Unikrn promotes three skills-based services on its platform. UMode allows players to bet on their own performance in the game against the house. Skill-based betting services similar to UMode are growing in popularity. Similarly, the Moneymatch mode will allow players to bet on their performance against a specific person, be it a friend or someone from a public lobby. Finally, players who link their in-game accounts will earn Unikrn rewards just for playing.

The company is also taking steps to ensure it always has content for players to bet on by expanding its Unikrn Virtual service.

These services were available before Unikrn suspended operations. However, that time was used to make major improvements under the hood. These inconspicuous choices were intentional according to Justin Dellario, CEO of Unikrn and General Manager of Esports at Entain, in an interview with GamesBeat.

The company also chose friendly markets to start with. Entain has a long history of operating in Canada and Brazil and both markets have strong esports fandoms.

Why restart?

Unikrn was one of the first players in sports betting and cryptocurrencies, launched eight years ago. Unfortunately, they were a bit too early. In 2017, it raised $31 million through an initial coin offering (ICO), but this sparked legal issues for the company.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has alleged that Unikrn failed to register its ICO. Eventually, the company settled the charges by paying a $6.1 million fine and deactivating its UnikoinGold token. According to an SEC statement, the fine represented "substantially all of Unikrn's assets" at the time.

However, the company did not close its doors. Eventually, Entain - one of the largest betting companies in the world - acquired Unikrn in August 2021. The betting company plans to leverage Entain's global scale and infrastructure and work experience with regulators to propel growth.

Dellario has confirmed that earning and maintaining player trust is a priority for the brand.

"Over the past year, the passionate team at Entain has worked closely with us to create a safe, accessible, secure, and compliant product that gamers can trust, even if they don't. have never placed a bet before," Dellario said.

Unikrn plans to expand into new regulated markets in 2023 and beyond.

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