Rivalry co-founder and CEO Steven Salz said 2024 is “is poised to be one of our most ground-breaking,” with cryptocurrency among its core focuses for new product releases.

In a letter to shareholders accompanying the company’s Q1 results, Salz said the North American sports betting operator will “soon” reveal plans for a “crypto-enabled product set” that “lives on the internet of 2024.”

He said there is an audience of over 420 million crypto users worldwide “organically aligned with our audience and brand” to tap into, adding the company’s belief that “more than half of this audience globally is already wagering with crypto.”

“It will be Rivalry’s ability to understand, implement and adapt to this shift more rapidly than our peers that we expect to create first-mover advantages for us,” Salz said

“It is for that reason that our vision is now bolder than ever for what’s possible in the online gambling category.”

Salz also revealed that the success of Rivalry’s first-party games in engaging Gen Z “has unlocked a new commercial opportunity for Rivalry to license its IP, opening up another line of revenue for the business that has great potential for global scale.”

In its financial year 2023 report, Rivalry reported gross gaming revenue of CA$35.7m, up nine per cent year-on-year. Gross profit, meanwhile, rose by 66 per cent to $16.2m from $9.8m in 2022.

The casino segment was a “significant driver of growth” in 2023, the company said, with GGR of $6.4m up 92 per cent from 2022 and accounting for 52 per cent of the $423.2m total betting handle for the year, which was up overall by 82 per cent from 2022.

Rivalry also narrowed its loss in 2023 to $23.8m, down by 24 per cent and $7.3m from $31.1m in 2022.

It said its sports segment has proved to be a strong new revenue stream, growing by 60 per cent since FY22.

Gross gaming revenue for Rivalry in Q4 2023 was $6.5m, declining by 32 per cent from 2022. This was due to “less favourable sportsbook outcomes compared against an abnormally favourable result experienced in Q4 2022.”

“The company notes that gross gaming revenue as a percentage of betting handle was near the average achieved throughout FY23, highlighting the abnormally favourable margin outcome in the comparable quarter, Q4 2022,” it added.