Virtual MVPD fuboTV has acquired Vigtory, a sports betting and interactive gaming company, and now plans to launch its own sportsbook before the end of 2021.
The companies did not disclose the terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter.
FuboTV said it intends to use Vigtory’s sportsbook platform, digital gaming assets, and betting technology to develop a betting experience for its customers. The company said that 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.
The announcement comes shortly after fuboTV’s acquisition of Balto Sports, a startup that develops tools for users to organize and play fantasy sports games. FuboTV said it intends to use its own proprietary technology along with Balto’s contest automation software to launch a free to play gaming offering.
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FuboTV said its free to play gaming experience will launch this summer and will be available to all consumers whether or not they are fuboTV subscribers. It will first launch in a standalone app and later be integrated directly into the fuboTV user experience. FuboTV said it intends to use its recent acquisitions to launch a sportsbook app where consumers can see current betting lines, place a variety of wagers and cash in their winnings. The company expects to eventually integrate the sportsbook into fuboTV’s live TV streaming platform.
“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 at fuboTV, in a statement. “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.”
Vigtory was founded in 2019 by Sam Rattner who previously founded Engine Sports, a testing engine for betting strategies within interactive experiences. Scott Butera, who was the president of interactive gaming at MGM Resorts International and helped launch BetMGM, joined Vigtory as Rattner’s co-CEO in 2020.
Both Butera and Rattner will join fuboTV’s gaming division as president and COO, respectively.