Affiliate Gambling.com Group has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Roto Sports, operator of RotoWire.com, in a transaction that is expected to close in early January 2022.
This purchase will expand Gambling.com Group’s presence in the US and is expected to create immediate accretion to fiscal 2022 income.
Gambling.com considers RotoWire’s digital assets to be a source of “substantial, incremental affiliate revenue in the rapidly expanding sports betting environment.”
RotoWire has had over 100,000 paid subscriptions and more than 17 million unique web visitors in the last 12 months, and its content reaches millions of additional sports fans through distribution deals with several sports media organisations in the US.
The aggregate purchase price is $27.5m; Gambling.com is to pay $20m at closing ($15m in cash and $5m in newly issued, unregistered ordinary shares).
As per the terms, the affiliate will pay $2.5m and another $5m on the first and second anniversaries of the closing, respectively. Neither of the payments is dependent on the financial performance of RotoWire.
Charles Gillespie, CEO of Gambling.com Group, said: “Over the past 25 years, Peter and the RotoWire team have produced some of the best fantasy sports content in America and have in turn embedded their business into the heart of the experience of American sports.
“Commercially, the RotoWire business has three different revenue streams, each generating over $1m per year, which give it significant reach into sports media organisations as well as with advertisers and individual sports fans.
“These deep and long-lasting customer relationships are an ideal platform from which to capitalise on the new era of American sports – the betting and gaming era.”