Company to Acquire Vigtory, Including Its
Sportsbook Technology and Pipeline of Market Access
Agreements
fuboTV Inc. (NYSE: FUBO), the leading sports-first live TV
streaming platform, announced today it has executed a binding
letter of intent to acquire sports betting and interactive gaming
company Vigtory, and expects to launch a sportsbook before the end
of the year.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is subject
to the execution of a definitive acquisition agreement and the
satisfaction of certain closing conditions. The acquisition is
expected to close in the first quarter of 2021.
fuboTV intends to leverage Vigtory’s sportsbook platform and
digital gaming assets, and its consumer-driven betting technology,
to develop a frictionless betting experience for fubo’s customers.
Additionally, Vigtory has been in discussions for market access
agreements in the eastern part of the United States and currently
has a deal secured in Iowa through Casino Queen.
Vigtory was founded in 2019 by Sam Rattner and backed by
SeventySix Capital. Rattner is a digital sports entrepreneur who is
noted for developing and integrating sports betting content and
technology with robust consumer experiences. Rattner previously
founded Engine Sports, a back-testing engine allowing retail sports
bettors the ability to build algorithmic betting strategies within
an interactive experience. Scott Butera, who was the president of
interactive gaming at MGM Resorts International and was
instrumental in launching BetMGM, joined Vigtory as Rattner’s
co-CEO in 2020. Prior to MGM, Butera was commissioner of the Arena
Football League and held C-suite leadership positions at Foxwoods
Resort Casino, Tropicana Entertainment, Cosmopolitan Resort and
Casino and Trump Entertainment, among other gaming businesses.
Under the proposed acquisition, both Butera and Rattner will
join fuboTV’s gaming division as president and COO,
respectively.
Additionally, fuboTV announced today more details of its online
wagering strategy, further positioning itself to enter what Zion
Market Research estimates will become a $155 billion industry by
2024. Through its December 2020 acquisition of Balto Sports and its
content automation software, fuboTV intends to launch a free to
play gaming experience this summer. Free to play gaming, which will
be available to all consumers whether or not they are fuboTV
subscribers, will first launch in a standalone app and later be
integrated directly into the fuboTV user experience. By leveraging
the Vigtory and Balto acquisitions, fuboTV intends to launch a
sportsbook app where consumers can see current betting lines, place
a variety of wagers, cash in their winnings and much more across
sports they love. Finally, the company expects to integrate the
sportsbook into fuboTV’s live TV streaming platform for a seamless
viewing and wagering experience.
“We believe online sports wagering is a highly complementary
business to our sports-first live TV streaming platform,” said
David Gandler, co-founder and CEO, fuboTV. “We don’t see wagering
as simply an add-on product to fuboTV. Instead, we believe there is
a real flywheel opportunity with streaming video content and
interactivity. Our free to play gaming experience, which will be
available to all consumers, will build further scale to fuboTV,
essentially acting as another lead generator for driving
subscribers to our streaming video platform and, ultimately, our
sportsbook. We not only expect sports wagering to become a new line
of business and source of revenue, but we also expect that it will
increase user engagement on fuboTV resulting in higher ad
monetization, better subscriber retention and reduced subscriber
acquisition costs.”
Gandler continued, “The proposed acquisition of Vigtory will
give fuboTV the technology to build a consumer-driven sports
betting product and launch it before the end of this year. It will
also help us solve two hurdles that challenge other media companies
who want to enter the wagering market. First, Sam and Scott have
years of experience navigating the complex gaming regulatory
environment and, in fact, already have a first market access
agreement completed. Second, fuboTV can leverage its own first
party user behavior data to understand our consumers’ viewing
preferences, and when and how to prompt them to consider placing
bets. Uniquely, fuboTV will be a media company and sportsbook
all-in-one.”
“The addition of Vigtory to fuboTV is a pivotal event in the
sports entertainment industry,” said Butera. “As sports fans
increasingly desire interactive sports events, sports betting and
related businesses such as iGaming and free to play contests have
become a critical component of fan engagement. Combining fuboTV’s
broad and deep offering of live streamed sporting events with
Vigtory’s world-class sports betting products creates the ultimate
sports betting experience for consumers.”
“I have followed fuboTV since its launch in 2015 and am
impressed that this talented team has established itself as a
leader in live TV streaming,” said Rattner. “fuboTV and Vigtory
share a common vision of developing great products based on great
technology, all while being laser-focused on the consumer. To have
the unique opportunity of integrating Vigtory’s innovative digital
betting applications into live streaming, a leading vertical in how
fans consume sports, is an unprecedented opportunity in the digital
gaming market.”
fuboTV recently disclosed preliminary Q4 2020 results, including
that it expects to have exceeded 545,000 paid subscribers in 2020,
an increase of more than 72% year-over-year.
About fuboTV
fuboTV (NYSE: FUBO) is the leading sports-first live TV
streaming platform offering subscribers access to tens of thousands
of live sporting events annually as well as leading news and
entertainment content. With fuboTV, subscribers can stream a broad
mix of 100+ live TV channels, including 42 of the top 50
Nielsen-ranked networks across sports, news and entertainment -
more than any other live TV streaming platform. Continually
innovating to give subscribers a premium viewing experience they
can’t find with cable TV, fuboTV is regularly first-to-market with
new product features and was the first virtual MVPD to stream in
4K. fuboTV was also the first U.S. virtual MVPD to enter Europe
with the 2018 launch of fuboTV España. fuboTV launched fubo Sports
Network, the live, free-to-consumer TV network featuring live
sports and award-winning original programming, in 2019.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor
assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based on the
current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of fuboTV and on
information currently available to fuboTV. The forward-looking
statements in this press release represent fuboTV’s views as of the
date of this press release. These statements may include, but are
not limited to, statements regarding future events or future
financial and operating performance, including revenue and
subscriber guidance and efforts to implement sports wagering into
our product. Although fuboTV believes the expectations reflected in
such forward-looking statements are reasonable, fuboTV can give no
assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.
Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause fuboTV’s actual
results, performance or achievements to be materially different
from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
these forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable
law, fuboTV does not plan to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of
any new information, future events, changed circumstances or
otherwise. No representations or warranties (expressed or implied)
are made about the accuracy of any such forward-looking statements.
Important factors that could cause fuboTV’s actual results to
differ materially are detailed from time to time in the reports
fuboTV files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of
which are available on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s
website at www.sec.gov and are available from fuboTV without
charge. However, new risk factors and uncertainties may emerge from
time to time, and it is not possible to predict all risk factors
and uncertainties.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210112005596/en/
Investors: The Blueshirt Group for fuboTV ir@fubo.tv Media:
Jennifer L. Press, fuboTV jpress@fubo.tv Katie Minogue, fuboTV
kminogue@fubo.tv
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