It was revealed over the weekend that Team Bliss had acquired fellow Aussie outfit The Chiefs Esports Club, in a move that will increase the exposure of both on the international stage.

While the two teams will merge and share resources, both will continue to operate as individual brands, keeping both Team Bliss and The Chiefs names active.

“We couldn’t be more excited about what this merger means for the future of Oceanic esports,” Chief Operating Officer of Team Bliss Brendan Harms said.

More: Esports betting in Australia

“By merging the strengths of two premier organisations, our goal is to make a more substantial mark on the global scene and provide Oceanic esports enthusiasts a formidable team to support.

“Collaborating with the exceptional management team from Chiefs to contribute to the broader OCE industry is indeed a realised dream.”

What is surprising about the merger, is that Team Bliss is the newer entity, having only launched in 2019 while their more senior partner began in 2014 and has had more success globally.

Team Bliss has steadily built its name on the regional esports scene, especially with notable successes in PUBG and Rainbow Six: Siege. By 2023, the team marked its presence in the League of Legends Circuit Oceania (LCO).

On the other hand, The Chiefs’ League of Legends squad clinched victory at the LCO Split 2 in June.

Both teams said discussions about the merger had been ongoing and that they had nurtured a professional relationship over the past year. Their collaboration was evident when they jointly worked with Logitech G for the debut of the Logitech G Pro X2 headset.

While the details of the acquisition remain undisclosed, both parties mentioned that future plans regarding teams or titles to compete in are still under discussion.

In the wake of the merger, Nick Bobir, who held the dual roles of Managing Director for The Chiefs and CEO of ICON ESPORTS (which had acquired The Chiefs in 2021), has resigned.

To ensure a smooth transition, Chris Smith, founder of Business in Games and BIGR AI, has stepped in as an advisor. He aims to provide insights for commercialisation and drive growth over the next two years. Additionally, Mat Jessep from Game Legal will collaborate with the newly merged entity to guarantee its flourishing future.

Australia has a thriving esports scene, including all esports betting sites, featuring markets on Team Bliss and The Chiefs Esports.

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Flannery, formerly the VP of Brand Strategy at Huge, boasts an impressive portfolio with having worked with big names such as PlayStation, DraftKings, and Harley-Davidson.

Rivalry’s Co-Founder & CEO Steven Salz said Flannery’s addition to the team would continue their rapid growth, with his experience invaluable.

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“Very excited to welcome Grant Flannery as Global Head of Marketing at Rivalry.com,” he said.

“As our global presence continues to expand, enriching our team with top-tier talent becomes imperative.

“Grant’s diverse experience is just what we need to boost our unique marketing and creative strategies even further.”

Tasked with steering Rivalry’s global marketing, Flannery will be given the opportunity to better coordinate the marketing department with various sectors of the company, including its product, sportsbook, data, and customer relations arms.

Since its inception in 2016, Rivalry has rapidly climbed the ranks to become a top player among esports betting sites. Although the company recorded a loss of CAD $6.3m (￡3.67m) in the second quarter of 2023, there’s a silver lining on the horizon with Rivalry forecasting profitability by the first half of 2024.

This year has marked significant growth for the company. Rivalry broadened its wings, not just within the esports competitive sphere but also across various betting jurisdictions.

Key milestones include the unveiling of their esports betting app in Ontario and forging partnerships with the likes of Brazilian content group Tribo, Red Canids, and Grayhound Gaming.

Rivalry’s innovative marketing strategies haven’t gone unnoticed, with their quirky move of introducing a chicken mascot at major CS:GO events this year raising eyebrows.

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The bill would be centred around video games that feature ‘loot boxes‘ that players gamble to win virtual assets, with or without the use of real money.

If this bill is to be passed by parliament, it would regulate game classifications and require all games that feature loot boxes be clearly labelled and carry R18+ classification.

“The R18+ classification would align with the fact that you must be 18 to legally gamble,” Wilkie said, in his address to parliament on Monday.

“One mother then told me about her then 17-year-old son spending three and a half thousand dollars in just eight weeks on loot boxes.

“Now almost 24, her son still spends money on the in-game platform, Steam — at times haemorrhaging hundreds of dollars a day.

“The family, she says, has been through hell.”

Wilkie then went onto quote the lady further by adding that she believes “the brain of a gamer is similar to that of a heroin addict, it’s no different, it’s a dopamine hit”.

Once Wilkie started to address the speaker and the rest of parliament, he added that he does not want to see our children groomed into gambling by these loot boxes.

“Speaker, clearly we cannot continue to let our children to be groomed to future gambling in this way,” he said.

“No wonder governments around the world are beginning to wise up and take action, with loot boxes already banned in several countries around the world as pressure rises for regulation in many others.”

The other countries that Wilkie refers to include Belgium and the Netherlands, which now have blanket bans on any video game that contains loot boxes.

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?The RMR tournament was organized to filter teams participating in the IEM CS:GO Major and will take place simultaneously in three separate regions: Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

While the Americas RMR tournament was initially organized to be held in either North or South America, ESL reportedly switched to Sweden after considering a number of factors.?

ESL Senior Vice President of Product Ulrich Schulze revealed the decision to use Sweden as the tournament venue was related to visa issues.

In previous events, the problem of delayed visas or full-on non-issuance of visas has caused several teams to drop out of games and organizations to make last-minute changes to their plans.? ?

After being quizzed on Twitter concerning ESL’s decision, Schulze said: “We had planned to host it in the US until a few weeks ago but had to move it when it became clear that due to current waiting times for visa appointments, many SA players would not get visa in time, so we had to resort to a location that would work on short notice.”?

?The ESL executive also revealed they were fully aware of how important it was to conduct events in the regions where the teams were located, and they initially planned to do so.

“But ultimately, it is more important that all teams can qualify for the Major and are not hindered by visa issues,” he said.

https://twitter.com/theflyingdj/status/1562370672420163584?t=GWzLtaxJdBgqYR3u_s4INA&s=19? ?

The RMR events in the different regions will reportedly run from October 4 to October 9, contrary to the concluded PGL Antwerp CS:GO Major that ran sequentially.

Electronic Sports Leaguer also revealed the locations and dates for each event on August 23.?

?The events across the regions will reportedly host over 50 CS:GO teams vying for the 24 spots in the IEM Rio Major.

Malta and Australia were chosen as the venues for the European and Asia-Pacific RMR events, respectively.

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This collaboration will have both parties launch a lineup of educational live streams featuring League of Legends streamer Drew “Midbeast” Timbs and LCO interviewer Athena “kittwy” Jiang.

Other skilled players, such as Alex Glenn, a former professional rugby league player and Aiden “Ayekay” Hiko, a member of the Chiefs, will also be participating in the show. In addition, there will be a live tour of the Chiefs Country Club provided during the course of the broadcast’s four-hour duration.

According to Chiefs’ CEO Nick Bobir, the entire organisation is very excited about the upcoming show and said working with “Maccas” was always productive.

“Plus, having the opportunity to bring incredible talent like Kitty and Midbeast together, as well as have them streaming live from the house is an awesome opportunity,” he said.

“I’m excited to see how they stack up against our League of Legends roster.”

Due to this partnership, fans from all over the region, who tune in to the streams will have the opportunity to win a wide variety of prizes, including merchandise that is exclusive to the collaboration between McDonald’s and, the Chiefs, which will be unveiled on the day the show begins.

The broadcast will start at 11 a.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) on Sunday, August 21. It can be seen on Midbeast’s Twitch channel.

For some time now, McDonald’s has been working to expand its presence in the world of esports. A couple of months ago, the quick-service food company collaborated with Nicecactus to host a series of FIFA22 tournaments in six different nations located in the MENA region.

Recently, an agreement to collaborate on a variety of activations was reached between the Australian esports organization and the shopping center company Westfield. This agreement is spanned for a period of two years. McDonald’s Australia has now joined the organization as its sixth partner, following in the footsteps of Westfield, the battery manufacturer Energizer, the skincare brand L’Oréal Paris Men Expert, and the gaming chair firm AndaSeat,

The Chiefs have also created resourceful partnerships with the likes of Optus, the telecommunications company and esports organisation, JLINGZ Esports.

The Australian esports organization is regarded as one of the most prestigious esports clubs in Oceania, and it fields teams competing in games like League of Legends, Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege and Halo Infinite.

The Chiefs’ League of Legends team competes in the LCO, which is the highest tier of League of Legends competition in Oceania.

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RMIT University, as it is also known, has a large campus in the Melbourne CBD and is well-known internationally for providing excellent vocational and professional education, research methods, and other programs.

With this partnership, the two parties will work together to establish the RMIT Futures Series. This will be a college esports circuit in which the organization will host free-to-play events for a variety of different games.

Marc Edwards, CEO of ORDER, spoke on the deal: “We are proud to be partnering with RMIT, who have long led the way in forward thinking and innovation.”

“Through this partnership, we have a strong opportunity to showcase new pathways and opportunities while assisting RMIT to connect with prospective students across the channels they are most familiar with.”

Students will have access to an RMIT Community Discord server, where they will be able to cast their votes for the games that will be featured in the Futures Series. Consideration is being given to popular games like Rocket League, Fortnite, and Apex Legends.

ORDER will assist competitors by providing access to a variety of games, peripherals, and hardware, among other things. According to RMIT, it is now hosting a huge esports-focused Discord group with over 3,000 members, which demonstrates that there is tremendous interest in the sector in Melbourne.

This partnership will bring massive exposure to ORDER, as RMIT University welcomes over 80,000 new students each year, including about 34,347 students from other countries who study onshore or offshore. Some of the university’s well-known graduates include Jim Stynes, a well-known footballer and philanthropist; James Wan, a writer and film director; Lydia Lassila, an Olympic gold medalist; Charles Billich, a well-known Australian artist; and Felix Colgrave, an animator.

ORDER is not unfamiliar with the process of running tournaments. During the month of February, the organization collaborated with the governments of both Australia and Victoria to launch a Rocket League tournament that would take place in Dubai during Expo 2020.

RMIT has joined the list as ORDER’s sixth official partner, following in the footsteps of the sportswear brand Puma; Dell’s gaming brand, Alienware; Logitech, a manufacturer of gaming wares; and Optus, an Australian telecommunications provider. The most recent change is that the group is now working together with a mental health group called The Man Cave.

The Futures Series is scheduled to begin on August 14 and continue through October 6. The titles are yet to be determined.

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??Rivalry is aimed at making esports more fun and exciting by providing top-notch content and a competitive platform. The company also aims to provide customers with a unique betting experience, which is why it created a betting academy for new customers and publishes esports-related news.

Rivalry’s Co-Founder and CEO, Steven Salz, expressed his excitement about the company being able to serve the Australian esports betting market.

?“We are very excited to bring Rivalry to our customers in Australia,” Salz said.

“We take a very different approach than other traditional betting operators, and have been particularly successful among Gen Z and young Millennials across the globe.

?“We are very eager to start building our brand equity in Australia through a series of innovative activations and campaigns as we ramp up services throughout the remainder of 2022. As we do everywhere, servicing and helping to grow the esports and gaming community will be a priority for us.”

Rivalry received a sports bookmaker license from the Northern Territory Racing Commission in February this year and carried out its first betting services in Australia last week. The sports bookmaker license grants Rivalry the right to offer major esports and traditional sports betting throughout Australia.

?In addition to the traditional sports services, customers are also permitted to place bets on esports games such as Call of Duty, Dota 2, League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Overwatch, and much more.

?The move in Australia followed after Rivalry launched its online sportsbook services in Ontario, Canada, which officially opened its regulated online gambling market on April 4.

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?Ex-FURY haven’t achieved much of late – they’re 0-2 after two rounds of play, with defeats against ORDER (0-2) and Hazard Esports (0-2). However, while their record is poor, Joshua “bandit” Peck and his crew played well against ORDER two weeks back and came close to winning one map against Hazard Esports (14-16 on Inferno) at the start of the month.

VERTEX are 3-2 from their last five, including two ESEA fixtures – a 0-2 defeat against ORDER and a 2-0 sweep of yellow. So while VERTEX have looked better than ex-FURY, their performances don’t justify the offered CS:GO betting odds.

Even though VERTEX won this bout (2-0) at the end of October, they needed overtime on Mirage (19-16) and had to win the second half on Nuke with 10-4 to edge out a 16-13 win. So it doesn’t make much sense for ex-FURY to be priced at +909.

A smaller position on ex-FURY to cause an upset offers solid value, but we’re satisfied with the betting odds we’re getting on the outsiders with a map advantage.

?Kanga Esports and Dynasty Esports Club aren’t expected to win this tournament and so far, neither have managed to prove otherwise. Kanga are 1-2, while Dynasty are 2-1 after three weeks of action.

Still, the esports bookmakers believe that Dynasty have a much better chance of winning, which might seem fair, but we disagree with the price. Kanga are 1-4 across their last five, but their four defeats came against Paradox Esports, LookingForOrg, VERTEX Esports Club, and FURY. Meanwhile, Dynasty’s only two wins of their last five (2-3) came against Alke and Sylyx (now yellow).

There isn’t a lot to separate these two teams talent-wise, and it would make much more sense to see them priced closer to even money. Dynasty are rightly the favourites, but -120.48 on Kanga with a map handicap is too good to pass on.

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?Kanga have yet to play an official match, so they’re somewhat of an enigma; however, we saw their core compete at LPL Challenger League 2021 Season 2 in August under Simplicity, when Daniel “DANZ” Whitfield and co. placed third. Lese Esports have made some roster changes of late, but like Kanga, their core has participated in the LPL Challenger League and finished as runners-up.

Despite their past success, Lese Esports enter this match as underdogs, which makes sense considering they lost against DANZ’s crew in July (1-2), with 16-6 on Inferno, 11-16 on Overpass, and 3-16 on Mirage.

At this level of play, betting on the favourites is rarely a wise option; however, it’s tough to trust the underdogs, who are fresh off a 0-2 defeat against Alke. Kanga Esports to win is a safe bet, but we’ll take a shot on the favourites with a map handicap.
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?Caught off Guard are the reigning LPL Challenger League Season 3 champions and clear betting favourites for this bout. However, while CoG have had their highs, they have slumped to some very low lows, namely last month, when they finished the ESEA’s 38th season of Premier Division in 13th-14th place.

We haven’t seen much from MIRACLE RUN (renamed to Collateral), and while they have done enough to qualify for this tournament, they only had to beat DoMilk (2-0) during the qualifiers last month.

Caught off Guard are a much better team on paper, but they are struggling with their form. On the other side, MIRACLE RUN field a few solid pieces which might lack synergy but have the individual talent to pull off clutch plays.

MIRACLE RUN likely won’t win, but they should be able to cause some damage, and at +162, it’s tough to pass on betting on the outsiders with a map advantage.

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?After losing their entire team in November, Legacy Esports rebuilt their roster with local talent who have yet to impress three weeks into LoL Circuit Oceania (LCO) Split 1. In eight games played, Legacy’s only two wins have come against ORDER and MAMMOTH.

Gravitas enter the penultimate week of LCO Split 1 on a six-game losing streak that commenced right after their narrow victory against Legacy in February. That form might suggest that Legacy should claim a revenge win on Tuesday, but the quality gap between these two sides is not nearly as big as the odds imply.

Gravitas have been holding on well in most of their games but seem unable to snowball their leads, which has cost them a couple of wins. That said, it’s not like Legacy are much more effective in closing down games, so you have to take Gravitas at higher odds.

?There is no denying that ORDER (4-4) have been doing much better than MAMMOTH (1-7) this split. MAMMOTH’s poor early-game is their biggest weakness, as it is extremely difficult to fight back from behind in the current meta. ORDER have thrown away leads a couple of times this split, but they rarely drop the ball against weaker sides.

Betting on ORDER makes little to no sense to us at this price, especially in such a volatile league. Instead, we like the favourites to secure the first blood, which they have done in 75% of their games so far, largely thanks to their aggressive jungler William “Vengeance” Blackmore.

?These teams last met in February when PEACE needed just south of 42 minutes to seal the deal with 19-13 in kills and a 5.8k gold lead. Both sides have since played six games and won four, both losing only to Pentanet.gg and Dire Wolves.

One thing to take away from Chiefs Esports Club’s performances this season is that they either completely dominate their opponents or lose very badly; there seems to be in-between with this squad. PEACE are very different in that they rarely pick up commanding wins, but they also rarely lose with huge margins.

Due to their 50/50 playstyle and the fact that they are comparable with PEACE quality-wise, Chiefs should have a legitimate chance to win here. The only thing that slightly concerns us is Matthew Lionel “Mboma” Desa’s champions pool, which doesn’t include meta ADC champions such as Kai’sa and Jinx. That said, he has a good vacuum pick into meta ADCs in Hemierdinger, which he can use to shut down PEACE’s main win condition.

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