Rivalry has belatedly released its financial results for Q1, and while the esports-first bookie says it’s proud of its progress, some of the company’s moves have proven controversial.
After months of speculation, the Toronto-based betting platform has finally revealed its performance during the first financial quarter of the year. Its greatest achievement is a predicted 58% reduction in operating costs compared to 2024. An increased net revenue of $1.3 million has also helped bring it closer to profitability. However, those improvements have come at the expense of making esports a lower priority. That leaves some worried that it could be alienating its original core audience.
The current trading price for Rivalry Corp. (RVLY.V) stands at $0.07 USD per share, far below its original launch price of $2.35. Share prices suffered an 80% decline last October and have never recovered out of penny stock territory.
(Image credit: Rivalry Corp.)
Investors seem ambivalent about the company’s numbers. Following the Q1 release, Rivalry’s stock briefly fell to just $0.04 in pre-market trading, but bounced back to its former price in regular trading on July 17.
While the company is inching closer to profitability, it’s still burning capital. The problem is, as it pivots more towards conventional bookmaking, it overlaps more heavily with other, better-established companies. Still, co-founder and CEO Steven Salz is optimistic about its long-term potential.
“This quarter marks the full emergence of Rivalry 2.0 – leaner, sharper, and structurally stronger… We’ve rebuilt the foundation of the business around high-efficiency acquisition, high-value users, and a proprietary product – and we’re already seeing the impact,” said Salz in the investor relations statement.
Is Rivalry still an esports betting site?
While Rivalry still touts esports as its primary focus, the company’s move toward traditional sports betting and casino options may be pushing away its esports-centric base.
Rivalry originally launched in 2018 as a dedicated esports betting site. It did not offer any traditional sports betting options, let alone casino games. That was seen as a bold move in a space full of traditional sports betting sites doing little to differentiate themselves and treating esports betting as an afterthought, if they offered it at all.
(Image credit: Rivalry Corp.)
Rivalry’s status as an esports-only betting site certainly differentiated it, but also put a ceiling on its potential user base. Multiple partnerships with events and influencers helped bolster its reputation, and the site quickly became a well-known name in competitive gaming.
Early users will recall that the original URL ended in .gg rather than .com, a reference to gamer slang meaning “good game.” It changed its domain extension to .com in 2019, seeking to establish its legitimacy in a space rife with unregulated competitors, many of which also use .gg or .bet extensions.
Its strategy continued to change in 2022 with the addition of traditional sports, coinciding with changes in Ontario’s gambling laws to allow for online sports betting. On one hand, the addition allowed esports bettors to place bets on traditional sports without needing to register with a separate operator. At the same time, it diluted the brand’s identity as an esports-first oddsmaker. Later the same year, the company began adding casino options, starting with a simple crash game before moving on to slots, wheels, and other standard fare.
There’s no doubt that these other verticals have historically been more profitable than esports betting. However, making the product more generic could have a negative impact on new player acquisition, especially given the saturation of the conventional sports betting market.
Rivalry’s identity appears to be converging with that of other gambling sites. Without the esports-first hook it once had, players may see no reason to pick Rivalry over a larger competitor. That means spending on bonuses, which can eat into the profits Rivalry is hoping to see from those more traditional verticals.
It’s worth noting that at the time of writing, none of Rivalry’s current bonuses apply to esports.
(Image credit: Rivalry Corp.)
There’s perhaps no clearer indication of Rivalry’s struggles than the multiple rounds of layoffs that began last year in 2024. That included 29 lost jobs in July and 28 more in October. While shakeups are expected in the gambling startup world, esports fans are more likely to be tuned in to the finer points of the industry compared to traditional sports fans.
The downsizing and loss of focus on esports may have slowed down customer acquisition for the website in 2025. Notably, Rivalry did not mention user acquisition anywhere in its Q1 release. Still, profits are paramount for publicly traded corporations. If the bookie is finally able to cross over into the black, that would potentially free its hands to attempt a comeback.