German Formula E driver Daniel Abt has lost his seat with Audi’s official factory team after cheating in the Formula E Race at Home Challenge. 

In a clear illustration of the dangers of traditional sportspeople not taking esports seriously, two-time Formula E race winner Daniel Abt has lost his seat with Audi’s official team after organising a “prank” that backfired. 

Launched in response to the suspension of the 2019-2020 Formula E season due to the COVID-19 crisis, the rFactor 2-based Formula E Race at Home Challenge, is part of a fundraising partnership with UNICEF. 

Abt is a well-known driver in Formula E, having started all 62 races since its 2014 Beijing launch. He initially drove for his family’s racing team, Abt Sportsline, but entered a partnership with German car manufacturer Audi in July 2017, joining its official factory team. 

The controversy involved the fifth stint of the Race at Home Challenge, when Abt came up with the idea of getting a top sim driver to race in his place, to “prank” the other drivers, and then create content around the drama. 

In the event, Austrian sim racer Lorenz “Lozbert” Hörzing masqueraded as Abt, and drove well, before crashing with Stoffel Vandoorne while fighting for the lead, eventually finishing third. The high standard of driving and good finishing position caused other drivers to suspect foul play, and organisers soon found “Abt” had used a different IP address than usual. 

Abt released a video statement explaining and apologising for his actions, 

“This is a game, a simulation, but it has nothing to do with motor racing, with what I usually do. Of course, they attempted to make it realistic, but it definitely is anything but what a real Formula E car is – how it drives, how it feels. Also, races are unrealistic. That became evident for everyone in the first [race at home challenge] race by what happened on track. Accidents happened en masse, everybody drove as they pleased, and the game had bugs.

“To be honest, I believe from an outside perspective it was not what constitutes a real Formula E race, the essence of professional racing. Our intention going into the races was primarily to entertain the fans at home rather than racing for results.”

“I can understand that we took it too far with our idea. In retrospect, we did not think about the seriousness and consequences of this and made an enormous mistake. I stand by my mistake and accept the consequences for what I’ve done and want to emphasize that I’m relieved that the sim racings guys haven’t been dragged into the scandal too much. It’s my responsibility and I’ll bear it.”

Although the series is for entertainment purposes only, with no points or prize money being awarded, and Abt admitted the “prank” immediately, Audi has taken a dim view of Abt’s shenanigans, and kicked him off the team. 

In a statement Audi explained:

“Daniel Abt, after six years and 63 races, will no longer drive for Audi in Formula E. He has been part of our Formula E team since the debut of the racing series in September 2014, and our official factory driver since the autumn of 2017. In Mexico and at our home round in Berlin, Abt took two fantastic Formula E victories and scored a total of ten podium results. With Daniel, we celebrated great success and made enormous strides with Formula E. We are thankful for our time together and look back on it proudly.

“However, integrity, transparency, and consistent compliance with applicable rules, especially with regards to the past, are top priorities for us at Audi. We stand by our culture of tolerating mistakes. However, the incidents that took place during the ‘Race at Home Challenge’ sim racing series were not a mistake, but a conscious decision to go against the rules.

“That is what makes the big difference for us. Therefore, unfortunately, we had no other alternative than suspending Daniel Abt.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Though it’s very likely that Abt didn’t intend anything nefarious in this incident, his statement makes it clear that he doesn’t take esports seriously, so Audi’s decisive actions should be applauded.  With the esports industry growing rapidly, it’s critical to protect the integrity of all competitive play, whether there’s prize money or betting involved or not. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Raketech, the Malta-based online gambling affiliate marketing company, has appointed Oscar Karlsten as new Chief Operating Officer. 

Karlsten has been with the company since the start of the month, and will be responsible for its central operations, product development, and investments, and focusing on creative content, SEO and UX. 

He was previously Chief Information Officer and Chief Product Officer at affiliate marketing company Catena Media, and has also been CEO at Avantime Group AB, and worked at Toca Boca and Google. 

Commenting on the appointment Raketech CEO, Oskar Mühlbach, said:

“Oscar’s extensive experience within the digital marketing industry brings many valuable insights and expertise to Raketech. With him onboard, we have now secured the last piece of the management puzzle and I am very much looking forward to seeing him accelerate our transformation from affiliation to the iGaming performance marketing partner.”

While Karlsten himself added:

“I’m incredibly excited to be a part of Raketech. There’s such a positive buzz in the company and after meeting all of the people I can’t wait to add my experience into the mix. With the team and strategy we have in place – I truly believe we will reshape performance marketing as we’ve seen it.”

As we recently reported, Raketech saw profits plunge by 77% during the first quarter of 2020, despite revenue increasing slightly. 

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Blockchain lottery company Quanta has appointed Ioannis Papachristou as SVP, Managing Director, of its Isle of Man operations. 

Papachristou has extensive experience in managing operations and projects, and is said to be a dynamic and motivated professional with a proven track record of managing projects from concept to completion. 

Introducing Papachristou Quanta’s CEO, Harmen Brenninkmeijer, said:

“Ioannis is able to respond quickly to changes that occur on a daily basis in fast moving industries. As a member of senior management, the managing director is also expected to promote expansion and innovation within the industry.”

While Papachristou himself added:

“I am excited to take on this role and to focus on Quanta’s potential to utilise revolutionary technology to bring unparalleled security, transparency, and immutability to the gaming sector and beyond. As a true believer in Quanta’s vision for the future, I have confidence in the new management team and its ability to lead the company to success.”

Staying with Quanta, in March we reported the company had appointed John Kamara as SVP African Operations, while in February Jason Yee was appointed Chief Financial Officer of the company.

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Isle of Man-based esports betting operator Luckbox has welcomed US soccer player Luis Robles as an investor. 

Robles is goalkeeper for Inter Miami – the Major League Soccer (MLS) team co-owned by David Beckham. He also has a degree in finance from the University of Portland and is a keen investor. 

Regarding his investment, Robles said:

“On the road, I’ll be watching Netflix, while my room-mate is watching Twitch. My team-mates, they’re watching in the same way they watch an opponent for a football match. They like to see tactics and strategies, what people are using and what works so that they can use those things in their own game.

“That to me was mind-blowing. And yet, it’s what people are doing and it shows the importance of esports in our culture right now. With what’s going on in the world right now, a lot of the way we’ve been able to maintain a connection with our fanbase, is through FIFA – using FIFA as an avenue through which players can still compete, while entertaining and engaging fans.

“I love investing, I love diversifying my portfolio and looking at different decks and wishing I could get involved and Luckbox has given me a great opportunity to do that.”

While CEO of Luckbox, Quentin Martin, added:

“It’s well documented that esports is super-hot right now and many famous names from the world of sports and entertainment have recognised this by backing a host of projects. We’ve been live in 100 countries for just over a year now, so we’re still a very young company. To have the support of someone as highly respected as Luis is clearly a massive boost for our company.

“For sports fans, betting on outcomes is often an extra way to enjoy the match experience. Safe, legal and legitimate betting is increasingly important to esports and, over the coming years, it will be the dominant driver of revenue for the industry.”

Financial terms of the investment have not been disclosed. The news follows this week’s announcement that the operator is to list itself publicly on the TSX Venture Exchange. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Clearly there’s a useful publicity value when a major celebrity or sports star invests in an esports business, but it’s also an indication of how the perception of esports is evolving to those in the traditional sports and entertainment industries.

Michael Jordan, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Odell Beckham Jr have all invested in pro gaming in recent years. Just a couple of months ago we reported Tribe Gaming had secured over $1m in a seed funding round that included Boston Celtics player Gordon Hayward, and WWE pro wrestler Claudio “Cesaro” Castagnoli. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Scientific Games has appointed Michael Eklund as new CFO, effective from 1 June 2020. 

Eklund has been serving as CFO at data and analytics solutions company IRI, and also has two decades of experience at Dell Technologies, in both financial and operational roles, under his belt. 

Scientific Games’ current CFO, Michael Quartieri, will be staying with the company until 30 June 2020, and will be kept on as a consultant until 31 December. 

Commenting on the news Scientific Games CEO, Barry Cottle, said:

“Mike has led our efforts to reduce our cash burn while preserving key operations, developing plans to manage through the pandemic, preparing to be an even stronger competitor as we emerge from the crisis and working with our lenders to get our credit agreement amended to provide covenant relief. With those key steps taken, we are now ready to proceed with the transition to a new CFO.

“We are very fortunate to have Mike Eklund join us starting on June 1.  He has a wealth of experience in financial and operational leadership and a passion for aligning all aspects of a company’s finance and operations with its core business model that positions him well to build on Mike Quartieri’s legacy.”

Staying with Scientific Games, earlier this week we reported the company’s ReelPlay content is launching with Golden Nugget Online Casino in New Jersey. 

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Ira Kleiman’s legal team has claimed Craig Wright already has the key to the encrypted “Satoshi” file, containing keys to over 820,000 Bitcoin (BTC). 

According to documents filed with the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, Kleiman’s legal team cited the movement of $1.6m worth of BTC from addresses supplied to the court, and Wright’s public threats to tank the BTC market – something that could easily be done with access to over 820K BTC – as proof of their extraordinary claim. 

In total, the “Satoshi” file contains keys to 820,200 BTC, along with blockchain related intellectual property. The BTC would be worth nearly $7 billion at today’s prices.

The Kleiman estate is suing Wright over the Bitcoin that was allegedly mined in partnership with the late Dave Leiman – a partnership that Wright denies ever existed. It is the evidence of that alleged partnership that, according to Kleiman’s team, is motivating Wright to prevent access to the “Satoshi” file. 

Kleiman’s team has also pointed to Wright’s “sustained pattern of perjury, forged evidence, misleading filings, and obstruction,” citing four specific instances when he lied under oath, including gone just last week when he produced forged documents relating to his divorce. 

A jury trial is set to commence for the case on 6 July…

AYO.NEWS says:

If ever there was a movie-worthy legal drama, this is it. Over the past year we’ve seen team Wright file a US copyright registration for the Bitcoin White Paper, ask for a ludicrous 90-year extension to a Fee Motion, and get a ruling ordering him to hand over half his Bitcoins overturned. 

Although the crypto community seems to be mostly anti-Wright, he does still have some supporters, and the value of the BTC at stake means there’s every reason for both parties to fight to the very end – and a clear incentive for people on both sides to “bend the truth,” to say the least!

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.