Hilco Streambank is a company that specializes in the sale of intangible assets. It’s currently running a foreclosing auction on EBET B2C assets. This comes less than three year after the esports gambling operator purchased the Aspire Global business.
Hilco Streambank will accept bids until 30 July. The auction will take place on the next day. EBET operates seven igaming brands, including online casinos and sportsbooks.
Sale of rights will cover trademarks and domain names as well as copyrights and patents. Also included are customer data and transactional information, website front-end code, marketing service accounts, and contracts. There is also the option to be a plaintiff with a potential award of damages, and shareholdings in certain subsidiaries.
EBET has a number of brands, including Karamba, Hopa Casino, Griffon, BetTarget Generation VIP, Scratch2Cash, and Dansk 777.
The brands’ revenue for the twelve months ending 31 March 2024 was $21.0m ($16.5m/EUR19.5m). Around 18,400 players gamble on average across all brands every month with an average deposit of EUR127.
Richelle Kalnit, Hilco Streambank’s chief commercial officer, said that a buyer could tap into the rapidly expanding online gaming market, expand the success of brands by refocusing on certain markets and/or reentering them, reengaging a large database of players, optimising marketing and software operations, as well as focusing and/or reentering specific ones.
What happened at EBET?
This foreclosure sale occurs less than three year after EBET purchased the assets from Aspire Global. After completing the $75.9m acquisition in December 2021 as agreed upon a few weeks earlier, it was completed.
Esports Technologies – as the company was then known before it rebranded in May of the next year – said at the time that the agreement would enable it to access regulated Tier 1 markets. The company identified Great Britain, Germany, and Denmark as its target markets. Aspire’s licenses allowed it to access these countries.
EBET began to crack a few weeks after its rebrand. The operator’s “significant” measures to return to profitability following the Aspire acquisition were announced in August 2022.
The “profitability program” was designed to immediately produce positive EBITDA. EBET was already suffering heavy losses before the acquisition.
The plan’s most notable action was the 54% cut in total EBET employees and contractors. The business also said that it will “escalate” and “expand” its focus to igaming. Esports investments are being reduced.
Aspire is taken to court by EBET
EBET launched legal proceedings against Aspire a little over a year ago. EBET filed documents with a Nevada Court in December last year, making several accusations against Aspire.
Aspire, and its associated companies, lied about Aspire’s player account numbers. EBET says Aspire knowingly inflated the numbers to convince Ebet of its acquisition.
Alleged falsehoods also includes expenses and revenue. It is also possible to misrepresent operating costs to increase the top line annual revenue by approximately EUR65.0m. In this case, EBET accused Aspire also of violating the representations and warranties made in the agreement to purchase shares by giving EBET false information.
EBET also flagged Aspire’s efforts to obtain an online gambling licence in Germany. Aspire was alleged to have known it wouldn’t qualify for the German license. EBET claimed that Aspire missed a payment in the course of this process.
Btobet has also taken legal action in another case against Aspire. Aspire is accused of breaching obligations in a September 2020 special purchase contract. The case is about Aspire’s EUR20m purchase of Btobet.
Aspire was later acquired by NeoGames in a SEK4.3bn (PS344.1m/EUR402.3m/$423.5m) deal, with that combined business then snapped up by Aristocrat to form part of its new interactive arm.
