FansUnite Entertainment announced Tuesday it has come to a definitive agreement dated November 22 pursuant to which the company has acquired the businesses and brands of American Affiliate LLC, a diverse collection of assets dedicated to generating new depositing customers for legal sportsbook, online casinos, online poker sites and adjacent products in the U.S. market. The company also introduced the new executive and management team of the acquired brand as a result of the transaction.
As described by FansUnite, American Affiliate’s vision “blends an exclusive focus on the U.S. opportunity with marquee brands, a powerful omnichannel approach, a deep portfolio of proprietary technology, and a uniquely proven management team”.
- Accelerates the company’s entry into the U.S. gaming market with American Affiliate’s Betting Hero brand, its live activation company.
- Increases revenue and EBITDA, as American Affiliate has produced trailing 12 months of $13.1 million in revenue and $6 million of EBITDA
- Broadens the company’s customer base as American Affiliate has generated over 150,000 new depositing customers for legal U.S. online betting operators
- Involves new partnerships with sportsbooks such as BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, PointsBet, Underdog Fantasy, WynnBet and more.
- Strengthens alignment with existing management and shareholders, as consideration shares will be issued at a 42% premium to market price with share restrictions over a three-year period
- Includes U.S. Pure Play, the at-scale affiliate company focused primarily on the U.S. market; true omni-channel; intellectual property portfolio and a tier-one executive team.
- Includes brands, platforms, content and services such as Betting Hero, Props, BetPrep and Wagers
In an official press release, FansUnite Entertainment’s CEO Scott Burton spoke about this new acquisition and said: “The acquisition of American Affiliate represents the most significant milestone for FansUnite to date. This transformative transaction will provide us further access to the lucrative U.S. regulated sports betting and online gambling market while generating accretive, high-margin revenue, expanding our leadership team, and accelerating the growth of our company’s footprint in the global gambling market.”
“When we looked at how quickly the U.S market is expanding, it made clear strategic sense for us to enter the affiliate business as a way to partner with some of the largest gambling companies in the world. We will now own and operate an unparalleled customer acquisition portfolio, allowing us to leverage our technology, brands, and talent to immediately capture share in the U.S. sports betting and online gambling market”, he added.
Combined, the American Affiliate brands represent one of the most significant single sources of new depositing customers for legal U.S. sports betting and online gambling operators. The leadership team has over 40 years of combined experience in the regulated gambling industry, including senior roles at market leaders such as ACEP, Amelco, DraftKings, Catena Media, and GeoComply”.
“We are pleased to introduce the management team of our recent acquisition, American Affiliate. They bring years of valuable experience within the online gaming and affiliate space in the U.S. regulated marketplace, having worked with leading B2B betting software providers and sportsbooks, including DraftKings, IMG Arena, FSB, Amelco, and GAN Limited. A strong leadership team represents an important acquisition criterion of our M&A strategy, making them a great fit for our continued growth”, Burton said.
These are:
- Chris Grove, Chief Executive Officer, AmAff
- Sean Hurley, SVP Strategy, AmAff
- Pearl Gallagher, Chief Legal Officer, AmAff
- Alec Driscoll, SVP Operations, AmAff
- Jai Maw, President, Betting Hero
- Jeremy Jakary, SVP Strategy, Betting Hero
Grove commented: “Legal U.S. sportsbooks and online casinos are spending billions of dollars to acquire and retain customers. Our brands, team, and technology allow us to capture a meaningful share of that marketing spend today while producing some of the highest margins in the U.S. online betting ecosystem. But that success is only a starting point. We anticipate unprecedented near-term growth as legal online betting continues to expand into new states and new products. Joining with FansUnite was key to our strategy of aggressively scaling our business to meet that opportunity head-on.”
“As co-founder and director of Catena’s U.S. business, I saw first hand that customer acquisition is easily among the most profitable parts of the US betting ecosystem and represents a multi-billion dollar opportunity. I believe with our team, marquee brands, and the deep tech portfolio of FansUnite, we can drive shareholder value by building a leading customer acquisition network for the U.S. sports betting and online casino market”, Grove concluded.
