Esports Entertainment closes on its acquisition of Helix eSports and ggCircuit

Esports Entertainment Group Inc (NASDAQ:GMBL) has closed on its acquisition of Helix eSports LLC and ggCircuit LLC, significantly strengthen the company’s Play, Watch, Bet strategy.

In addition, CEO Grant Johnson said the company is gaining state-of-the-art esports entertainment centers, an esports-focused vertical enterprise software business, a best-in-class esports analytics platform, and a player-vs-player (P2P) skill-based wagering platform. 

“With the completed acquisition of Helix and ggCircuit, we have created the most diversified, US-listed esports entertainment asset in the entire ecosystem,” Johnson said in a statement. “Together with what we have already built, Esports Entertainment Group has unparalleled scale, and we are on our way to becoming a global industry leader.”

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The company said ggCircuit is a business-to-business (B2B) software company that provides cloud-based management for LAN centers, a tournament platform, and integrated wallet/point-of-sale solutions for enterprise customers. 

ggCircuit has over 1,000 connected locations and has worked with enterprises such as GameStop, Dell, Best Buy, and Lenovo as well as universities such as Ohio State, Syracuse, and North Carolina. Its ggLeap product has over 60 million hours of usage by over 2 million unique gamers on tens of thousands of public gaming screens inside centers worldwide.

Esports Entertainment said Helix eSports owns five esports centers, including two of the five largest centers in the US, where they deliver world-class customer service, esports programming, and gaming infrastructure. 

Helix offers a variety of experiences including casual play, competitive tournaments, STEM programming, high school leagues, large groups, and esports bootcamps — all with the goal of leveling the playing field in esports and providing equitable access to technology. Helix centers have become the destination for social and competitive gamers alike with monthly tournaments and unique experiences.

The company said Helix also owns Genji Analytics, an esports-proven, publisher-trusted analytics provider. Using sophisticated computer vision, natural language processing, and machine learning tools, Genji delivers cutting-edge broadcast optimization and talent scouting analytics. 

READ: Esports Entertainment Group announces $35M financing to help fund new acquisitions

Genji works with leading esports publishers and sports leagues, such as FIFA and the NBA 2K League, to power activities like combines, drafts, and data-driven business decisions. Genji has also launched products into Helix eSports Centers that create customized tournament experiences, leveraging both idle computing capacity and unique proprietary data sources. 

Esports Entertainment said revenue streams include platform sales to publishers and leagues with plans to expand to all competitive players looking to enhance their gameplay through analysis, fair competition, and roster optimization.

The company added that the acquisition also includes LANduel, Helix’s proprietary player-vs-player wagering platform, built-in Unity, that allows for skill-based wagering on third-party video games. LANduel’s consumer-facing application enforces strict four-factor authentication to ensure fair play and ID verification. LANduel also holds close relationships with several major game publishers to ensure events and wagering follow community guidelines. 

LANduel is currently working alongside the New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement on a pilot program. Once the model is proven at the Helix eSports locations, LANduel can easily be scaled to other centers throughout the US across the ggCircuit network, and eventually into the homes of gamers through ggCircuit’s proprietary at-home product suite.

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Story by ProactiveInvestors