Esports Entertainment Group has announced its second online gambling acquisition of the year.
Esports Entertainment Group (EEG) has announced an asset purchase agreement to acquire the Malta-based Lucky Dino Gaming Limited for $30m (£22.2m/€24.6m).
Terms of the deal
Esports Entertainment will finance the $30m acquisition through a debt facility. Boutique investment and M&A brokerage RB Capital worked as the sell-side advisors on the deal.
Lucky Dino runs four online gambling brands under its Malta licence which includes Lucky Dino, Olaspill, Kalevala Kasino and Casino Jefe and all of these are powered by its proprietary technology.
Speaking on the deal, EEG chief executive Grant Johnson said: “Over the past five years, Lucky Dino has evolved from a single brand white-label casino operator into a multi-brand, class-leading casino operator and technology business.
“In addition to further strengthening our tech stack, Lucky Dino’s assets will give us a substantial foothold in multiple new jurisdictions across Europe and Scandinavia where esports are extremely popular, and with Lucky Dino’s 30,000 monthly active casino players we will have tremendous cross-selling opportunities with our SportNation and Vie.gg betting platforms.”
The company’s technology stack incorporates affiliate marketing software, payment servers and a customer relationship management (CRM) system which include a gamification and loyalty engine and automated player management functions.
For the 2020 fiscal year, Lucky Dino generated $21m in revenue and posted $3.8m in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). The business projects its 2021 fiscal year revenue to rise to $24m while EBITDA is expected to grow to $5m.
Johnson added: “Lucky Dino has generated an impressive track record of growth, reporting an 86% compound annual growth rate on revenue for the five years ended June 30, 2020.
“With opportunities to realise synergies across shared back-office functions, payment processing and more, we are in a great position to build upon Lucky Dino’s notable EBITDA performance. Ultimately, we will look to bring this exciting online casino platform to the US in the future alongside our vie.gg esports offering.”
A major move for Esports Entertainment
This deal marks EEG’s second major online gambling acquisition of the year after finalising a deal to purchase Argyll Entertainment, the company behind Sportnation, in July.
EEG then hired the independent capital markets advisor Akur Capital to serve as EEG’s exclusive advisor on future online gambling mergers and acquisitions.
In addition to this, EEG has secured online gambling market access in the state of New Jersey via an agreement with Twin River Worldwide Holdings.
The operator also acquired peer-to-peer technology assets from Flip Gaming in September and hopes to close its deal to acquire the tournament organiser and technology company Esports Gaming League (EGL) in January.
Earlier this week, EEG inked a deal with the National Football League’s Philadelphia Eagles which will see the operator use EGL’s technology to power tournaments for the team.
