SharpLink Gaming announced Monday it has entered into a merger agreement to acquire 100% of fantasy and sports game provider SportsHub Games. The conversion solutions provider for the sports betting and iGaming industry will be acquiring SportsHub in an all-stock transaction.
Rob Phythian, co-founder and CEO of SharpLink, explained that the acquisition gives SharpLink access to “a large and loyal base of fantasy sports fans who we know are also sports bettors, or would likely become sports bettors when legalized in the states they reside.”
“With a thriving ecosystem of cash players, many of whom have money in their user accounts, we have a tremendous opportunity to seamlessly integrate compelling sportsbook offers within all aspects of the user experience,” he added.
He also pointed out that the SportsHub platform is expected to serve as “an invaluable proving ground” for expanding SharpLink’s C4 technological capabilities “to provide users with highly localized, single-point access to products and services beyond embedded personalized sports betting content.”
NEWS OUT! SharpLink Gaming to Acquire SportsHub Games Network to Accelerate Audience Growth, Fantasy Sports Conversion #SharpLink #SportsHub $SBET https://t.co/eEd7bQP2vH pic.twitter.com/8bK0q1WNsq
— SharpLink Gaming (@SharpLinkGaming) September 8, 2022
Founded in 2015 by a team of veteran fantasy sports industry insiders, SportsHub operates a variety of real-money fantasy sports and sports simulation games on its fully-licensed platform. The platform reaches more than 2 million fantasy sports fans who spend almost $40 million annually on its portfolio of games and contests, helping the company generate nearly $6 million in annual revenues in 2021.
SportsHub’s platform currently includes National Fantasy Championships, operator of high stakes fantasy football, baseball and basketball contests; Bestball10s, a season-long best ball league format; Fanball, a daily fantasy sports destination; Fantasy National Golf Club, a provider of data analysis and research tools for fantasy golf; and WhatIfSports, a sports simulation site.
SportsHub also includes LeagueSafe, an online platform for private fantasy leagues to collect entry fees, provide transparency into league transactions, secure funds throughout the season, encourage timely payment of entry fees, and facilitate end-of-season payouts.
By leveraging the SportsHub platform, the acquisition would enable SharpLink to have a proven “plug and play” solution to easily onboard potential future acquisitions in an efficient and scalable way.
“This accretive acquisition of SportsHub would serve to solidify the foundation on which SharpLink will continue to build demonstrable value of its game-changing C4 engine’s conversion capabilities for all sports media operators, leagues, teams and sportsbooks,” stated Phythian.
The company intends to increase the size and scope of the audience of sports fans it serves “through our owned and operated network of gaming sites, coupled with the millions of fans we are reaching through our customers’ online properties.”
John Lettmann, Chairman of the Board of SportsHub, added: “We are excited about the combination of SportsHub and SharpLink. It represents a merger that we believe will create a significant opportunity for our companies as the U.S. sports betting industry evolves and matures.”
“SharpLink’s leadership and expertise will help accelerate growth within our core fantasy sports and gaming products and allow us to become an industry leader in how sports media and gaming operators interface with sportsbooks to deliver value for all stakeholders,” he added.
SportsHub is currently SharpLink’s largest shareholder, holding approximately 8.9 million shares of SharpLink’s ordinary shares. Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the merger agreement, SBET will be required to distribute such shares to its stockholders effective immediately prior to the closing of the merger.
Upon the closing of the merger, the stockholders of SportsHub will receive an aggregate of 3.67 million ordinary shares of SharpLink in exchange for all outstanding capital stock of SportsHub.
