MINNEAPOLIS, MN / ACCESSWIRE / February 3, 2023 / Rob Phythian, Chief Executive Officer of SharpLink Gaming Ltd. (NASDAQ:SBET) ('SharpLink' or the 'Company'), a pioneer of targeted conversion solutions for the U.S. sports betting and iGaming industries, today issued a letter to shareholders, providing insight into key accomplishments over the past year and primary areas of focus for the Company in 2023 and beyond:

'Dear Fellow Shareholders:

'At the beginning of each year, I make a concerted effort to sit and reflect on the prior twelve months with a goal of honestly assessing all the right steps and, perhaps more importantly, any steps we could have made differently as we worked to fuel SharpLink's growth through the year. Though it is hugely gratifying to recount our smart moves and big wins, I've come to appreciate that this mental ‘look in the mirror' also allows me to glean meaningful perspective on what may have been overlooked opportunities to further strengthen the way we lead, manage and execute on mission critical goals and objectives.

Look-Back On 2022

'In January, I again held my annual sit-down and have determined that 2022 was a truly monumental year for SharpLink in numerous obvious ways and in some ways that may not have been as transparent. Overall, 2022 was a year defined by our success in laying strong foundational building blocks that we believe will help us accomplish our mission of building SharpLink into an industry-leading global technology enabler to the emerging U.S. sports betting and iGaming industries. More specifically, we:

• completed the acquisition and integration of 6t4 Company and FourCubed Management, LLC, providing SharpLink with critical, highly experienced talent led by Tori Roberts, who has the proven know-how to reach, build and convert audiences of bettors through mega-affiliate marketing and networking platforms - a core component to fully optimizing our Company's purpose-built direct-to-player (‘D2P') strategy and long-term C4 conversion technology capabilities;
• completed the acquisition and integration of SportsHub Games Network, Inc., which brought us a built-in audience of more than two million fantasy sports fans and a portfolio of well-established web properties which not only generate millions in revenue each year through proprietary fantasy sports games, real money contests and fantasy league management solutions, but also provides SharpLink with a powerful base of additional prospective sports bettors who already know and trust us;
• continued to perpetuate and strengthen our longstanding relationships with SharpLink's world class client base of major sports media companies, leagues, teams and sportsbooks operators which have come to rely on our Company year-over-year to create fun and highly engaging free-to-play (‘F2P') games - which we have long believed represent a crucial gateway to accessing, educating and converting sports fans to sports bettors in states where online sports betting has been legalized;
• successfully executed our nationwide licensing strategy, resulting in our Company winning authorization to provide sports betting conversion and marketing services to industry operators in 21 U.S. states and Ontario, Canada, representing 98% of the total legal online sports betting markets in North America;
• expanded our senior leadership team with the appointments of highly experienced finance and accounting professional Bob DeLucia as our new Chief Financial Officer, and renowned sports betting industry veterans Tom Masterman as Vice President of Revenue, and Dave Abbott as Chief Technology Officer; and
• identified a buyer for our Company's legacy Mer Telemanagement Solutions business and subsequently completed the sale on December 31, 2022, freeing our management team to now focus strictly on our core business as we move forward.

'These are just a few of the many accomplishments we completed in the past 12 months, which have collectively positioned SharpLink with an estimated base of $13 million in annual revenues, as we continue to execute our defined plan to exponentially grow our primary D2P, F2P and fantasy sports businesses in 2023.

Prevailing Industry Landscape

'2022 was also a year during which, despite the continued expansion of sports betting across the country with tens of billions of dollars legally wagered by the nation's growing audience of real money sports fans, most publicly traded sports betting company trading on a U.S. exchange saw their stock prices erode by at least 50% since the end of 2021. While inflation, geopolitics and the lingering COVID crisis have all played detrimental roles in creating a volatile market environment on Wall Street, our industry, in particular, has been especially hard hit due in large measure to investor realization that most of the business models adopted by many of our peers are simply unsustainable over the long term.

'SharpLink's technology business sits at the heart of the online sports betting market. Through our technological innovations, our relationships forged over years with leading operators, teams and leagues and our decades of experience in free-to-play, fantasy sports and performance-driven marketing, we are confident that our business model will prove to be a model that is capable of reaching and converting millions of sports fans to sports bettors in the most cost and time efficient manner, creating strong returns on investments for our many stakeholders. We're betting on it and we aim to win.

'We look forward to providing the greatest possible transparency into our business and key developments through press releases and our quarterly and other interim filings with the SEC, as well as participate in Company-hosted webcasts, Wall Street events and industry trade shows.

'Our accomplishments to date and our anticipated future successes have and will continue to be anchored by our commitment to our shareholders. We recognize that enduring shareholder value can only be built if we maintain a healthy and vibrant company that is devoted to delighting sports fans, iGamers, our customers, business partners and employees each and every day - with particular emphasis on our employees. After all, at the root of our success is our people - the ones who serve our customers and business partners, build the technology, manage the risks and drive innovation. No matter what your point of view is of the U.S. sports betting and iGaming industries, having the ‘right' team of people with the tenacity, talent, integrity and shared commitment to high standards of professional excellence is what will enable SharpLink to prosper for years to come.

2023 Milestones and Benchmarks

'Now that 2023 is in full swing, SharpLink's leadership has established a number of important operational and corporate objectives that we will be working tirelessly to achieve. Among them are:

• Supporting the expansion of our direct sales team and teams of developers and data scientists to grow revenues and increase the value of our technology;
• Continuing to leverage technological advancements, including artificial intelligence and machine-learning, to drive innovation of our C4 sports betting conversion technology and to significantly increase and amplify fan engagement through our fantasy sports, D2P and F2P business-building platforms;
• Elevating and expanding our portfolios of fantasy sports gaming and D2P web assets to increase the size and scope of our proprietary audience of fans and increase high margin revenues through cross-marketing and conversion of fans to sports bettors by way of C4 integration into our wholly owned gaming and marketing properties;
• Winning new business and customer partnerships with sports media operators, teams, leagues, sportsbooks and strategics that will fuel our revenue growth and cash flow;
• Completing our redomestication efforts to replace the publicly traded holding corporate entity of our group from an Israeli company to a Delaware corporation during the third quarter;
• Attracting analyst sponsorship and a greater institutional investor following; and
• Regaining full compliance with Nasdaq to ensure continued listing of our common stock on the national exchange.

'In closing, I want to thank all of my fellow shareholders for your ongoing support and encouragement. Your confidence in our team's ability to perform is playing a mission critical role in fueling even greater momentum for SharpLink in 2023 and we are truly thankful to have you on this journey with us.'

About SharpLink Gaming Ltd.

Founded in 2019, SharpLink is a leading online technology company that connects sports fans, leagues and sports websites to relevant and timely sports betting and iGaming content. SharpLink uses proprietary, intelligent, online conversion technology to convert sports fans into sports bettors for licensed, online sportsbook operators. In addition, SharpLink specializes in helping sports media companies, leagues, teams and sportsbooks develop strategies, products and innovative solutions to drive deep fan activation and engagement with highly interactive free-to-play games and mobile applications. Further, SharpLink owns and operates a variety of real-money fantasy sports and sports simulation games and mobile apps on its platform; and is licensed or authorized to operate in every state in the United States where fantasy sports and online sports betting has been legalized. SharpLink's proprietary fantasy sports platform reaches more than two million fantasy sports fans who spend almost $40 million annually on its portfolio of digital gaming experiences and contests. For more information, please visit the SharpLink website at www.sharplink.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such statements include statements regarding the expected growth in the online betting and iGaming industries, the Company's ability to grow its business, the potential benefits of the Company's products, services and technologies and other statements that are not historical facts, including statements which may be accompanied by the words 'intends,' 'may,' 'will,' 'plans,' 'expects,' 'anticipates,' 'projects,' 'predicts,' 'estimates,' 'aims,' 'believes,' 'hopes,' 'potential' or similar words. Actual results could differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements due to certain factors, including without limitation, the Company's ability to achieve profitable operations, government regulation of online betting, customer acceptance of new products and services, the effects of the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and future measures taken by authorities in the countries in which the Company operates on the Company's operations, the demand for the Company's products and the Company's customers' economic condition, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the lengthy sales cycle, proprietary rights of the Company and its competitors, general economic conditions and other risk factors detailed in the Company's annual report and other filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company does not undertake any responsibility to update the forward-looking statements in this release.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

SHARPLINK MEDIA & INVESTOR RELATIONS:

SharpLink Gaming Ltd.
Dodi Handy, Director of Communications
Phone: 407-960-4636
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: SharpLink Gaming Ltd.