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PLAYMAKER ACQUIRES MAJOR NORTH AMERICAN SPORTS MEDIA DESTINATION YARDBARKER AND EMAIL NEWSLETTER ‘THE MORNING BARK’

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Playmaker Capital Inc. (TSX-V: PMKR) (“Playmaker”) is pleased to announce today that it has acquired the California-based sports and entertainment digital media business, YB Media LLC (d.b.a. Yardbarker) (“Yardbarker). With its comprehensive North American sports and entertainment focus and highly engaged fan base, Yardbarker represents an integral pillar of Playmaker’s growth ambitions and a strong platform from which it will continue to expand its U.S. presence and build its global sports media ecosystem.

Yardbarker is a premier U.S. sports and entertainment media platform, attracting over four million unique users per month and generating more than nine million total sessions across its primarily NFL, NBA, MLB, College Sports, and NHL content offerings. The company’s core editorial focus is to create and surface timely, engaging, and relevant news and analysis to its users in a fun and efficient format. The platform publishes over 25,000 full-text articles per month through a combination of its in-house editorial team and 125+ content syndication partner sites, while also augmenting traditional coverage with a collection of over 5,000 sports and entertainment quizzes and slideshows. The unique content mix allows Yardbarker to offer a differentiated user experience and generate high engagement and interaction rates among its audiences.

The Morning Bark, Yardbarker’s daily email newsletter, reaches more than 350,000 subscribers with open rates in excess of 25%. The all-in-one email product features a Top 10 rundown of the most important stories of the day and a customizable newsfeed that allows users to keep track of their favourite sports, schools and teams. A significant driver of traffic to the website, The Morning Bark serves as a low-cost, repeatable, first-party user acquisition tool.

“We believe that Playmaker is in the process of building the next great collection of digital sports assets and we couldn’t be more excited to be joining at this early stage,” Yardbarker’s CEO Ben Maggin said. “We look forward to working with the Playmaker team to continue expanding Yardbarker’s reach and deliver the best possible service to our fans.”

Yardbarker was founded in 2006 and its three current owners, Jeff Kloster, Mark Johns and Ben Maggin, bring deep experience and knowledge of the digital sports media arena to the Playmaker senior leadership team.

“We are delighted to welcome Yardbarker to the Playmaker family. This is a U.S. platform acquisition for us that is not only transformational, but also immediately financially accretive to our shareholders,” commented Jordan Gnat, Playmaker Founder and CEO. “Ben, Jeff and Mark have built a great business with incredibly loyal fans. Playmaker will be able to leverage Yardbarker’s content of all the key North American sports within our current Futbol Sites’ assets and vice versa. This is how we will build our ecosystem. We will cross pollinate our various properties to provide all our fans globally with the best content on all sports.”

Transaction Details
Pursuant to the terms of a letter of intent dated June 7, 2021, and a purchase agreement dated July 26, 2021, Playmaker acquired 100% of Yardbarker for aggregate consideration of up to US$24 million. The purchase price consideration consisted of a payment of US$10 million in cash and the issuance of US$8 million of Playmaker common shares (the “Initial Shares”) on closing, an additional US$2 million of Playmaker common shares (the “Contingent Shares”) to be issued to the sellers upon Yardbarker achieving a minimum EBITDA of US$1.5 million within the 12-month period following closing and up to US$2 million, payable to the sellers based on Yardbarker’s performance toward an EBITDA target of US$2.5 million in each of the two years following closing. The Initial Shares were priced at the equivalent of CAD$0.55 per share. The Contingent Shares will be priced at the greater of CAD$0.60 per share or the trailing 30 day average, volume adjusted, share price of the common shares of Playmaker prior to such issuance.  

For the 2021 calendar year, Yardbarker is anticipated to generate revenue of approximately US$5 million.

The acquisition of Yardbarker by Playmaker is a non-arms-length transaction and there is no finder’s fee to be distributed. Playmaker will not be assuming any long-term debt in connection with the transaction.

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AGCO

TitanPlay Highlights Responsible Gambling Approach in Platform Design

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TitanPlay, a regulated iGaming operator in Ontario’s licensed market, announced its commitment to treating responsible gambling not as a compliance checkbox, but as a foundational principle embedded across all aspects of product design, marketing, and operations.

While Ontario’s regulatory framework — established by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and iGaming Ontario (iGO) — sets clear minimum standards for licensed operators, TitanPlay says it views those standards as a starting point for its broader responsible gambling framework.

“For us, responsible gambling is not an afterthought, but the foundation on which TitanPlay is built,” said the Chief Compliance Officer of TitanPlay.

Designing for Player Well-Being from Day One

TitanPlay evaluates every product feature through a player-protection lens at the development stage. The platform offers clear, accessible limit-setting tools for deposits, losses, and time — available at registration and adjustable within prescribed cooling-off periods. Players also benefit from prominent real-time displays of account activity, friction-based interventions such as time reminders and proactive check-ins when play patterns shift, and seamless access to self-exclusion options.

Data-Driven Safeguards

Rather than using behavioral analytics to maximize short-term spending, TitanPlay deploys data to identify potential indicators of risk. When patterns suggest a player may be experiencing harm, trained Responsible Gambling specialists engage proactively in a personalized and supportive way, connecting players with available tools and independent resources such as ConnexOntario. All customer-facing teams undergo ongoing training aligned with AGCO standards.

Marketing with Integrity

TitanPlay applies rigorous internal review processes to all advertising and promotional campaigns, going beyond Ontario’s standards prohibiting targeting of minors, misleading claims, and public advertising of inducements or bonuses. The company prioritizes transparency, age-gating, and responsible messaging to ensure entertainment is never misrepresented as a financial solution.

A Shared Responsibility Across the Organization

Responsible gambling at TitanPlay is owned across product, marketing, compliance, and leadership — influencing roadmap decisions, user interface design, customer communications, and executive strategy.

The post TitanPlay Highlights Responsible Gambling Approach in Platform Design appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.

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Alberta market

Soft2Bet Evaluates Alberta Market Entry to Strengthen its Canadian Footprint

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Soft2Bet, a leading iGaming turnkey solutions provider, announced its intention to pursue entry into the Alberta market, pending regulatory approval. This strategic focus leverages Soft2Bet’s operational experience with localized offerings, including its Ontario-facing brand, ToonieBet.

Strategic Market Potential & Compliance

Alberta (Canada) represents one of the most significant growth opportunities in the North American iGaming landscape. With Canada’s youngest adult population and the highest GDPs per capita in the country, the province is well poised for a successful transition to an open, competitive market. Industry projections by Citizens JMP Securities suggest that Alberta’s regulated iGaming market could exceed $700 million in annual revenue at maturity.

Soft2Bet is closely monitoring the development of Alberta’s regulatory framework under the iGaming Alberta Act, which establishes the Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC) as the oversight body alongside the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) as the regulator. Reflecting its commitment to the highest standards of integrity, Soft2Bet is preparing for the province’s specific technical requirements.

The planned entry into Alberta aligns with the company’s strategic plans for 2026 to drive sustainable growth, and enter several new regulated territories.

“Innovation is paramount at Soft2Bet, and our goal is to develop exciting products that meet our customers where they are most comfortable. As we evaluate our entry into Alberta, pending regulatory approval, we are committed to delivering localized, engaging experiences that reflect the unique preferences and culture of each market,” said David Yatom Hay, General Counsel, Soft2Bet.

Excellence in Canadian Localization

Soft2Bet aims to leverage its experience in Ontario to enhance the gaming experience for users in Alberta, Canada, with innovative, compliant products. A core component of the company’s regional strategy involves taking localization further by adapting its brands to local culture, regulatory standards, and player preferences.

To support its hyper-local focus, Soft2Bet targets comprehensive native-language support across its priority regions, ensuring its services are deeply integrated into the local culture of each active regulated market.

The post Soft2Bet Evaluates Alberta Market Entry to Strengthen its Canadian Footprint appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.

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23 Broadway

23 Broadway secures $3m seed funding to launch AI-powered user acquisition financing platform

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23 Broadway has secured $3 million in Seed funding to accelerate the next phase of its growth and launch a fully integrated AI-powered user acquisition financing platform.

The funding round was co-led by Betty and Will Ventures, with participation from 359 Capital, CEAS Investments, and Dave Bartman.

23 Broadway was integral in catapulting Betty to an 18% market share in Ontario through its world-class performance marketing team and proprietary AI system called Atlas.

Atlas determines the optimal cost of acquiring a customer and their predicted long-term value.
With this new funding, 23 Broadway will add non-dilutive capital to fund user acquisition to run alongside its existing performance marketing and technology capabilities into a single integrated solution.

Jordan Tuch, CEO of 23 Broadway, said: “23 Broadway is reimagining user acquisition financing by not only providing capital but deploying it through proprietary technology and performance marketing expertise. We’ve created a model that empowers businesses to scale faster without needing to build complex technology or marketing infrastructure themselves. The ability to use AI and execute bids based on a customer’s predicted lifetime value means we can deploy capital far more efficiently. That combination of predictive intelligence and funding creates a powerful growth engine for our partners.”

The underlying thesis is that platforms combining  in-house technology and performance marketing expertise can offer a truly differentiated and durable user acquisition financing solution.

Growth-stage businesses benefit from access to dedicated capital for customer acquisition without equity dilution, while also being able to implement advanced marketing execution across platforms such as Google Ads and other major advertising ecosystems.

Funding will be allocated to develop Atlas further and enhance 23 Broadway’s predictive modelling capabilities. Another focus will be building new AI-driven models to help gaming companies strengthen retention marketing strategies. A final part will be to onboard additional partners seeking scalable user acquisition financing solutions.

The post 23 Broadway secures $3m seed funding to launch AI-powered user acquisition financing platform appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.

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