11. Convertible notes payable

On January 30, 2023(the “Closing Date”), the Company closed a private placement offering of up to 2,000 units and entered into Subscription Agreements with a group of accredited investors (the “Investors”), which Investors included Braydon Capital Corp. (“Braydon Capital”) a company owned by Claudio Ciavarella, a related party and brother of the Company’s Executive Chairman, Michele Ciavarella. Each unit sold to Investors was sold at a per unit price of $1,000 and was comprised of (i) a 12% convertible debenture in the principal amount of $1,000 (the “Debentures”), and (ii) warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock (the “Warrants”).

The Investors purchased a total of 850 units and the Company issued Debentures for the total principal amount of $85,000 (the “Principal Amount”) to the Investors and warrants to purchase 2,179,487 shares of common stock of the Company.

The Debentures mature three years from their date of issuance and bear interest at a rate of 12% per annum compounded annually and payable on the maturity date. Each Debenture is convertible, at the option of the holder, at any time, into such number of shares of common stock of the Company equal to the principal amount of the Debenture plus all accrued and unpaid interest at a price equal to the volume weighted average price per share (calculated to the nearest one-hundredth of one cent) of the Company’s common stock on the Nasdaq stock market for the period of twenty consecutive trading days beginning on the twenty-third trading day immediately preceding the Closing Date and concluding at the close of trading on the third trading day immediately preceding the Closing Date, subject to adjustment as provided in the Debenture, at any time up to the Maturity Date. The Debentures are initially convertible into 2,179,487 shares of common stock, subject to anti-dilution adjustment as provided in the Debentures. The holder is guaranteed to receive a minimum of five months of interest in the event of an early repayment (“Redemption”) by the Company.

In addition, the Company may accelerate this right of conversion on at least ten (10) business days prior written notice to the Holder if there is an effective Registration Statement registering, or a current prospectus available for, the resale of the common shares issuable on the conversion and (i) the closing price of the Company’s common shares exceeds two hundred (200%) percent of the Conversion Price for five (5) trading days in a thirty (30) day period or (ii) the Company wishes to redeem or pre-pay the Debentures prior to the Maturity Date.

If at any time that the common shares issuable to the Investors on conversion of the Debenture in whole or in part would be free trading without resale restrictions or statutory hold periods, the Debenture is redeemable by the Company at any time or times prior to the Maturity Date on not less than ten (10) Business Days prior written notice from the Company to the Investor of the proposed date of Redemption (the “Redemption Date”), without bonus or penalty, provided, however, that prior to the Redemption Date, the Investor has the right to convert the whole or any part of the principal and accrued and unpaid interest of the Debenture into common shares of the Company.

The warrants are exercisable at an exercise price equal to the volume weighted average price per share (calculated to the nearest one-hundredth of one cent) of the Company common stock on the Nasdaq stock market for the period of twenty consecutive trading days beginning on the twenty-third trading day immediately preceding the Closing Date and concluding at the close of trading on the third trading day immediately preceding the Closing Date, subject to adjustment as provided in the Warrant and expire three years after the issuance date. Each warrant is exercisable on a cashless basis in the event that there is not an effective registration statement registering the shares underlying the warrant at the time of exercise. The initial exercise price of the warrant is $0.39 per share, subject to a down-round adjustment to a floor exercise price of $0.35 per share.

The Company may accelerate the right to exercise the Warrant on at least ten (10) business days prior written notice to the Holder if there is an effective Registration Statement registering, or a current prospectus available for, the resale of the common shares issuable on exercise of the Warrant and the closing price of the Company’s common shares exceeds two hundred (200%) percent of the Exercise Price for five (5) trading days in a thirty (30) day period.

The Warrants and Debentures provide that if the Company issues or sells common stock of securities convertible or exercisable into common stock for a price lower than the exercise price or the conversion price, that the exercise price and conversion price will be reduced to such price, subject to a floor price of $0.35 and subject to certain exempt issuances set forth in the Debenture and Warrant. 

The number of shares of common stock that may be issued upon exercise of the Warrants and Debentures is subject to an Exchange Cap (as defined in the Debentures and Warrants) unless shareholder approval to exceed the Exchange Cap is approved. The parties agree to amend the Debentures and Warrants as necessary in order to comply with the requirements of the Nasdaq Capital Markets.

On March 5, 2023, the Company obtained written consents from holders of shares of Common Stock representing approximately 54.1% of the total issued and outstanding shares of voting stock of the Company on March 1, 2023, the record date, approving for purposes of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC Rules 5635 (b) and 5635(d), the issuance of all of the outstanding shares of the Company’s Common Stock to be issued upon (i) conversion of the Debentures and (ii) exercise of the common stock purchase warrants, dated January 30, 2023, issued to such investors by us pursuant to the Subscription Agreement. 

The convertible notes were evaluated in terms of ASC 470, Debt, and is carried at amortized cost. The warrants issued in conjunction with the convertible notes were evaluated in terms of ASC 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity and in terms of ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging, the Company determined that the warrants met the definition of equity in terms of ASC 480 and did not fall within the scope of ASC 815, therefore the value of the warrants, determined using a Black-Scholes valuation model (see Note 16 below), was recorded as a debt discount which is amortized using the effective interest method over the term of the convertible notes. 

On May 5, 2023 (the “Second Closing Date”), the Company closed a private placement offering of up to 1,500 units and entered into a Subscription Agreement with a single accredited investor, Gold Street Capital Corp. (“Gold Street Capital”) (the “Investor”), which is a company owned by Gilda Pia Ciavarella, a related party and spouse of the Company’s Executive Chairman, Michele Ciavarella. Each unit sold to the Investor was sold at a per unit price of $1,000 and was comprised of (i) a 12% convertible debenture in the principal amount of $1,000 (the “Debentures”), and (ii) warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock (the “Warrants”).

The Investor purchased a total of 1,500 units and the Company issued Debentures for the total principal amount of $1,500,000 (the “Principal Amount”) to the Investor and warrants to purchase 3,138,075 shares of common stock of the Company.

The Debentures mature three years from their date of issuance and bear interest at a rate of 12% per annum compounded annually and payable on the maturity date. Each Debenture is convertible, at the option of the holder, at any time, into such number of shares of common stock of the Company equal to the principal amount of the Debenture plus all accrued and unpaid interest at a price equal to $0.48 per share or the Nasdaq consolidated closing bid price of the Company common stock on the Nasdaq stock market on the Closing Date, subject to adjustment as provided in the Debenture, at any time up to the Maturity Date. The Debentures are initially convertible into 3,138,075 shares of common stock, subject to anti-dilution adjustment as provided in the Debentures. The holder is guaranteed to receive a minimum of five months of interest in the event of an early repayment by the Company.

In addition, the Company may accelerate this right of conversion on at least ten business days prior written notice to the Holder if there is an effective Registration Statement registering, or a current prospectus available for, the resale of the common shares issuable on the conversion and (i) the closing price of the Company’s common shares exceeds two hundred percent of the Conversion Price for five trading days in a thirty day period or (ii) the Company wishes to redeem or pre-pay the Debentures prior to the Maturity Date.

If at any time that the common shares issuable to the Investor on conversion of the Debentures in whole or in part would be free trading without resale restrictions or statutory hold periods, the Debentures are redeemable by the Company at any time or times prior to the Maturity Date on not less than ten Business Days prior written notice from the Company to the Investor of the proposed date of Redemption (the “Redemption Date”), without bonus or penalty, provided, however, that prior to the Redemption Date, the Investor has the right to convert the whole or any part of the principal and accrued and unpaid interest of the Debentures into common shares of the Company.

The Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price equal to $0.48 per share or the Nasdaq consolidated closing bid price of the Company common stock on the Nasdaq stock market on the Closing Date, subject to adjustment as provided in the Warrant and expire three years after the issuance date. Each Warrant is exercisable on a cashless basis in the event that there is not an effective registration statement registering the shares underlying the Warrant at the time of exercise.

The Company may accelerate the right to exercise the Warrants on at least ten business days prior written notice to the Holder if there is an effective Registration Statement registering, or a current prospectus available for, the resale of the common shares issuable on exercise of the Warrants and the closing price of the Company’s common shares exceeds two hundred percent of the Exercise Price for five trading days in a thirty (30) day period.

The Warrants and Debentures provide that if the Company issues or sells common stock of securities convertible or exercisable into common stock for a price lower than the exercise price or the conversion price, that the exercise price and conversion price will be reduced to such price, subject to a floor price of $0.35 and subject to certain exempt issuances set forth in the Debenture and Warrant.

The number of shares of common stock that may be issued upon conversion of the Debentures and exercise of the Warrants is subject to an Exchange Cap (as defined in the Debenture and Warrant) unless shareholder approval to exceed the Exchange Cap is approved. The parties agree to amend the Debentures and Warrants as necessary in order to comply with the requirements of the Nasdaq Capital Markets.

The Debentures are secured by a senior security interest in all of the assets of the Company pursuant to a Security Agreement. The Company’s primary assets consist of certain business operations and licenses in multiple jurisdictions, trademarks and other intellectual property, betting technology and products. Following an event of default under the Debenture, the Investor will have all available rights under the Security Agreement and applicable law to enforce their rights as a secured creditor, including to sell, assign, transfer, pledge, encumber or otherwise dispose of the secured assets, and to exercise any other available rights and remedies upon the occurrence of an event of default as described in the Debenture.

On July 11, 2023 (the “Third Closing Date”), the Company closed a private placement offering of up to 3,000 units and entered into a Subscription Agreement (the “Agreement”) with a group of accredited investors(the “Investors”),, which Investors included Gold Street Capital, which is a company owned by Gilda Ciavarella, a related party and spouse of the Company’s Executive Chairman, Michele Ciavarella, and Braydon Capital, a company owned by Claudio Ciavarella, a related party and brother of the Company’s Executive Chairman, Michele Ciavarella. The amount received from Braydon Capital included the conversion of a promissory note advanced by Braydon Capital of $360,000 and accrued interest up to the closing date. Each unit sold to the Investors were sold at a per unit price of $1,000 and were comprised of (i) a 12% convertible debenture in the principal amount of $1,000 (the “Debentures”), and (ii) warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock (the “Warrants”). The purpose of the private placement is to provide working capital for general corporate purposes in advance of launching the Company’s online channel and mobile app product for U.S. and Canadian markets.

The Investors purchased a total of 2,400 units and the Company issued Debentures for the total principal amount of $2,400,000, in addition, Braydon Capital converted $386,000 of promissory notes into 386 units for the total principal amount of $386,000.

The Debentures mature three years from their date of issuance and bear interest at a rate of 12% per annum compounded annually and payable on the maturity date. Each Debenture is convertible, at the option of the holder, at any time, into such number of shares of common stock of the Company equal to the principal amount of the Debentures plus all accrued and unpaid interest at a price equal to $0.40 per share by each of the Investors, except that Debentures issued to Gold Street Capital are exercisable at the Nasdaq consolidated closing bid price (calculated to the nearest one-hundredth of one cent) of the Company common stock on the Nasdaq stock market on the Closing Date, or $0.42 per share, subject to adjustment as provided in the Debenture, at any time up to the Maturity Date. The Debentures are initially convertible into 6,951,905 shares of common stock, subject to anti-dilution adjustment as provided in the Debentures. The holder is guaranteed to receive a minimum of five months of interest in the event of an early repayment (“Redemption”) by the Company.

In addition, the Company may accelerate this right of conversion on at least ten (10) business days prior written notice to the Holder if there is an effective Registration Statement registering, or a current prospectus available for, the resale of the common shares issuable on the conversion and (i) the closing price of the Company’s common shares exceeds two hundred (200%) percent of the Conversion Price for five (5) trading days in a thirty (30) day period or (ii) the Company wishes to redeem or pre-pay the Debentures prior to the Maturity Date.

If at any time that the common shares issuable to the Investors on conversion of the Debentures in whole or in part would be free trading without resale restrictions or statutory hold periods, the Debentures are redeemable by the Company at any time or times prior to the Maturity Date on not less than ten (10) Business Days prior written notice from the Company to the Investor of the proposed date of Redemption (the “Redemption Date”), without bonus or penalty, provided, however, that prior to the Redemption Date, the Investors have the right to convert the whole or any part of the principal and accrued and unpaid interest of the Debentures into common shares of the Company.

The Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price equal to $0.40 per share by each of the Investors, except that Warrants issued to Gold Street Capital are exercisable at the Nasdaq consolidated closing bid price (calculated to the nearest one-hundredth of one cent) of the Company common stock on the Nasdaq stock market on the Closing Date, or $0.42 per share, subject to adjustment as provided in the Warrant and expire three years after the issuance date. Each Warrant is exercisable on a cashless basis in the event that there is not an effective registration statement registering the shares underlying the Warrant at the time of exercise.

The Company may accelerate the right to exercise the Warrants on at least ten (10) business days prior written notice to the Holder if there is an effective Registration Statement registering, or a current prospectus available for, the resale of the common shares issuable on exercise of the Warrants and the closing price of the Company’s common shares exceeds two hundred (200%) percent of the Exercise Price for five (5) trading days in a thirty (30) day period.

The Warrants and Debentures provide that if the Company issues or sells common stock of securities convertible or exercisable into common stock for a price lower than the exercise price or the conversion price, that the exercise price and conversion price will be reduced to such price, subject to a floor price of $0.35 and subject to certain exempt issuances set forth in the Debentures and Warrants.

The number of shares of common stock that may be issued upon conversion of the Debentures and exercise of the Warrants is subject to an Exchange Cap (as defined in the Debenture and Warrant) unless shareholder approval to exceed the Exchange Cap is approved. The parties agree to amend the Debentures and Warrants as necessary in order to comply with the requirements of the Nasdaq Capital Markets. 

The Debentures are secured by a senior security interest in all of the assets of Elys Game Technology, Corp. pursuant to a Security Agreement. The Company’s primary assets consist of certain business operations and licenses in multiple jurisdictions, trademarks and other intellectual property, betting technology and products as further described in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on April 17, 2023. Following an event of default under the Debentures, the Investors will have all available rights under the Security Agreement and applicable law to enforce their rights as secured creditors, including to sell, assign, transfer, pledge, encumber or otherwise dispose of the secured assets, and to exercise any other available rights and remedies upon the occurrence of an event of default as described in the Debentures.

The Debentures can be declared due and payable upon an “Event of Default.” As more fully described in the Purchase Agreement, each of the following, among other things, constitutes an “Event of Default” under the Debentures:

Convertible notes payable to related parties is disclosed under Note 13 below.

Convertible notes payable to non-related parties consists of the following: