Q&A: Luckbox CEO on esports’ exponential rise and branching out into B2B

Seemingly, the only way is up for esports operator Luckbox after recording a 500% increase in betting volume since March and raising C$5m in funding ahead of its public listing. For CEO and former pro gamer Quentin Martin, who stepped up from COO in February, there are exciting times ahead.

“It’s going to be a hell of ride,” says Martin as he takes time out of reviewing dozens of CVs to fill his growing senior leadership team to talk to EGR Technology. With launch on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) pencilled in for September and plans to branch into a B2B product offering, it appears to be a hectic H2 2020 for the firm.

Martin explains how the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a perfect storm for Luckbox, how he is settling into his new role atop the company and what esports betting may look like when things eventually return to ‘normal’.

EGR Technology: You recorded a 500% in betting volume since March – you’ve already described H1 as “incredible” – was Covid-19 really the perfect storm for Luckbox in terms of growth?

Quentin Martin (QM): While the pandemic obviously isn’t a good thing, it has been very good for the books. I think the perfect storm analogy works because we were ready for it. Our product was right and ready to go out to market.

Everything was just about ready to go because of our brand position; we had strengthened our gambling background with a licence. It was perfect timing, with the perfect product in the perfect place. With Covid-19 sending people home and cancelling sporting events, esports handled that well. It was quite explosive.

EGR Technology: You made the jump from COO to CEO back in February, how have you found the new role?

QM: I was brought on at the beginning by the two founders to bring operational expertise experience from the gambling space, coupled with my personal background from the gaming space as a pro gamer to get everything up and running. As it accelerated, it was just natural. Our CEO at the time had ambition to take the company so far then step back and allow it to grow.

It’s a learning curve too. You think as COO you’ve got a lot of experience already, but it is a slightly different kettle of fish when you’re calling the shots. It’s more responsibility than power and you have to be the key decision maker.

EGR Technology: You raised C$5m in funding ahead of your IPO, does this represent a validation of esports in the sports betting world?

QM: It absolutely does show a validation of esports in that it shows the growth and the potential. One of my favourite statistics about esports is that 18 to 25-year-olds watch more video games than traditional sports. If you take that stat and accelerate 60 years, that’s the growth of esports until there are 80-year-olds playing against each other in retirement homes.

There has always been that long-term aspect of it but also the human condition to betting by having some skin in the game and the same thing is true for esports. There is no fundamental difference, at the heart of it it’s a competition between professionals that you’re watching for fun and you want to enhance that.

EGR Technology: When do you plan to launch officially on the TSX? And what do you hope to achieve when you do eventually go live?

QM: First thing is I need to take a holiday! We should be live in September and we’re working full speed ahead and things are looking good.

We will be one of the world’s few esports betting companies that will be publicly traded and we hope we can expand, both organically and through M&A, to become the home of esports betting and be the number one player in the space.

We hope to pull off our first M&A within the first three to six months, we most likely will launch a B2B product and at the same time inject capital into our existing B2C product. We are also keen to get involved in the esports odds space as that is the only part of the esports betting value chain that we don’t currently do in-house.

We want to hit these milestones and cement the gains we benefited from during the lockdown.

EGR Technology: How is the search going to fill those lucrative spots in your senior leadership team? Any names you can mention?

QM: No names just yet but I’ve got about 20 CVs open on my screen right now. I’ve always found in business that people are everything and that hiring is one of the most challenging and enjoyable things to do.

It’s not something that you rush into, especially for such key roles where you’re really building, not only friends and advisors, but the people that you’re surrounded with and will be pivotal for tough decisions going forward.

I hope to have some of those roles filled before we list but if I haven’t found superstars that I think are the right fit for the company then we’ll wait.

EGR Technology: Are there plans for more market penetrations in the future? For example, in the US, Asia or Africa?

QM: The US is its own fantastically devilish kettle of fish. It is a huge prize with a massive esports audience. I think one of the reasons we are keen on B2B is to address that market, it is detrimentally expensive to do it on a B2C angle given our size right now so B2B would be the approach.

We also hope to announce within the next two years a couple of additional gambling licences for territorial expansion.

EGR Technology: Finally, where do you expect to see esports betting this time next year? Is this a flash in the pan or is there some sticking power?

QM: We’ve seen an incredible level of growth, but we’ve also seen it sustain. We’ve managed to sustain those gains we made during the pandemic and retain players. We weren’t getting 60-year-old football fans turning to esports, but it was people with an affiliation to esports who thought it was an interesting thing and wanted to try it. I think the pandemic has accelerated esports a few years into the future.

Not to sound pessimistic, but there could be places around the world that could be heading for a second lockdown, which I would expect to be beneficial to the business.

More likely, I think we are going to see esports continue to grow. If you think about it, the esports audience is 18-36 and every single year that goes past, just through people getting older, you’re gaining a minimum of 5% growth in audience – it is inevitable. That is going to play more of a key role to the traditional gambling companies that will look to esports as an acquisition channel.