Hotly-tipped crypto lottery Lucky Block raced to a $140 million valuation within days of its launch, and is now targeting a Binance listing in February.
The blockchain-based lottery platform, which gives players better odds and more transparency than traditional lottery games, also oversubscribed its presale and hit its hard cap 11 days earlier than predicted.
The crypto-powered ‘People’s Lottery’ raised $5.7 million from investors in its presale.
Lucky Block’s completed CoinGecko and Coinmarketcap listings saw it valued at $140 million within two days of its trading debut – and it’s since grown to $200 million.
Further upward price pressure is expected on its total supply of 100 billion tokens.
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Just over 24 hours from being listed on decentralised exchange PancakeSwap, the price reached $0.001238 – a gain of 854% for investors who bought in the presale at a price of $0.00015.
Buyers who took advantage of the second presale price of $0.00019 are sitting on a 653% gain, Lucky Block says.
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Lucky Block completed its presale with 8,611 holders – a figure that has since topped 17,000 – as it looks to start trading on centralised exchanges FTX and Crypto.com.
The lottery platform is promising to disrupt the $300 billion global lottery industry – giving 10% of ticket sale revenues to charities and offering players better odds and more chances to win.
All holders of the LBlock token are eligible for dividend payments whether or not they buy lottery tickets.
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Lucky Block has given $5,000 to the British Red Cross as part of its ongoing commitment to good causes – a first for a crypto project.
Credit: Unsplash
It also boosts its environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials by running on the energy-efficient Binance Smart Chain, and gives every holder of its token a stake in the lottery.
Commenting on the launch, Lucky Block’s chief executive officer Scott Ryder said: “Achieving a market cap valuation of more than $140 million after raising $5.7 in our presale is an achievement that sets us on a path to hit all our roadmap milestones as we set out to challenge the traditional lottery operators around the world.
“We are now looking to roll out our – up until now – largely UK-focused outdoor advertising campaign to other global cities, as we pursue listings on major crypto exchanges.
“We should be on FTX and Crypto.com fairly soon, with Binance to follow, although we can’t say too much about that just now. Our social media channels will keep everyone up to date.”
James Fennell, chief strategy officer of Lucky Block, commented: “We think that it is time to turn the promise of blockchain and so called ‘Web 3.0’ decentralised networks into a reality at the level of consumer mass adoption.
“At the moment we are working hard to deliver on our vision for a global lottery open to all and owned by its players.
“Key to realising that strategy is our app launch in March. The app will make playing the lottery and tracking winnings easy, as well as being the place where token holders can see their dividend payments compound and track the passive income they are earning.
“As we continue to build out our offering, which at a later date will include gaming, NFT and metaverse products, we will work towards achieving one of our other strategic goals – advancing our mission to transform philanthropy, in part through setting up our global not-for-profit Lucky Block Foundation.”
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Full information about Lucky Block can be found on the official website: luckyblock.com
Featured image: Unsplash
Business
City Football Group strike landmark deal with Sony for series of TV shows
Danny Jones
Manchester City’s owners have struck yet another big commercial deal ahead of the 2024/25 season, announcing a new collaboration with Sony to produce a number of original TV series.
Confirmed on Wednesday, 23 July, the deal between the City Football Group (CFG) and Sony Pictures Television will see the entertainment corporation create various TV productions for Man City and the other clubs owned by the limited company as part of a new global partnership.
While it marks the third multimedia crossover of its kind they’ve had with an entertainment-led brand, having first worked with Amazon on their All Or Nothing series and then Netflix for the Treble Winners documentary, this deal will see Sony become an official partner of Man City.
City Football Group (CFG) and Sony Pictures Television have inked a new deal encompassing original scripted, nonfiction, and kids’ television projects. The collaboration will see CFG’s media creative production unit and expertise in sport pair with SPT’s production capabilities… pic.twitter.com/LmagHBMG2b
Although exactly how lucrative the deal itself is yet to be disclosed, as per an official statement from the club, the partnership will see Sony “co-develop and produce new original scripted, nonfiction, and kids’ television projects for worldwide audiences.”
The announcement goes on to state that “as well as scripted and unscripted series, projects can also include one-off documentaries, animated projects, or children’s programming.”
Given that CFG has stakes in 13 clubs across Europe, South America, Asia, the United States and Australia – most notably Girona, New York and Melbourne City, French club ES Troyes AC and Italian side Palermo – TV shows created could ultimately go on to feature teams other than just City.
With the holding group also currently developing the Etihad Campus even further by expanding the stadium capacity and adding new leisure additions such as a hotel, museum, rooftop bar and stadium ‘sky-walk’, this is just the latest step in a series of big commerical steps for Man City.
Moveover, as the CFG are also heavily invested in the recently opened Co-op Live arena – which is inextricably linked to the football club located just a stone’s throw away – the City franchise looks to be moving closer and closer to becoming not just a football club but fully-fledged lifestyle brand.
Commenting on the launch of the collaboration, CFG’s CEO Ferran Soriano said: “We are incredibly excited to be collaborating with Sony Pictures Television [SPT] in this joint initiative.
“City Football Group is already a global entertainment company, and this initiative builds on our long-standing track record of innovation in the content space and the growth of City Studios in the last years. We will now take an even more dynamic approach to content production, and we are already developing several scripted and nonfiction series that will delight audiences globally.
“Bringing together the expertise of both CFG and SPT will enable us to create brilliant shows and remain at the forefront of football-led content production.”
SPT’s President of International Production, Wayne Garvie, went on to add: “Football is the great global game, no other sport produces so many heroes, tears and laughter, joy and heartbreak as football […] but the game always evolves and over the last decade City Football Group have become an unprecedented innovator and global leader.
“Our aim is to be part of the next evolution of the game, creating a new generation of innovative football-based entertainment to thrill the world.” It’s still unclear as to when the first of these new football-related TV shows will start rolling out but given the success of previous ventures they’re sure to prove popular.
Featured Images — The Manc Group/ykanazawa1999 (via Flickr)
Business
Popular coffee chain Blank Street to open third Manchester site at the Trafford Centre this weekend
Emily Sergeant
Popular coffee chain Blank Street is gearing up to open its third Manchester site at the Trafford Centre this weekend.
After becoming a common feature down in London, with sites now serving coffee lovers in all four corners of the capital, Blank Street went on to take Manchester by storm earlier this year as it opened doors to two cafes in our city centre – one in Piccadilly Gardens, followed by one on the corner of Cross Street and King Street.
It’s fair to say that Blank Street has earned itself a pretty loyal customer base since opening the doors to its first site back in 2022.
And those loyal customers will soon have a new Greater Manchester location to head on down to.
Popular coffee chain Blank Street is opening its third Manchester site at the Trafford Centre / Credit: Trafford Centre (via Facebook) | Blank Street (via Instagram)
The stunning new Trafford Centre site means Mancs will have another place to get their Blank Street coffee (or matcha) fix from, and not only that, but they’ll also be able to try out the new summer menu too – which apparently includes some of the brand‘s most “refreshing” offerings so far.
The new summer menu sees Blank Street move away from the classic milky base of its renowned Matcha Lattes and experiment with new flavours and lighter textures to provide an “instant hit of sunshine” regardless of the classic Manchester weather.
The Mango Passionfruit Matcha, Watermelon Matcha Spritz, and Yuzu Matcha Spritz are just some of the new menu additions, while the best-selling White Chocolate Matcha also remains.
Ignacio Llado, who is Blank Street’s UK Managing Director, says the company has been met with “such a warm reception” in Manchester already, and has been “so excited to hear that Mancs want more Blank Street locations.
“We’re so proud to announce that our third store will be at the iconic Trafford Centre,” Ignacio added.
“We’re excited to hopefully be fuelling shopping trips and hangouts with friends with our famous matchas and classic cold brew.”