Canada

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

Published

3 years ago

July 28, 2021

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.

Canada

Play’n GO announces partnership with Canadian operator Loto-Québec

Published

3 days ago

May 16, 2024

GamingAmericas.com

play’n-go-announces-partnership-with-canadian-operator-loto-quebec

Play’n GO, the world’s leading casino entertainment provider, has today announced a partnership with Canadian operator Loto-Québec, launching the Swedish gaming giant’s games into another Canadian province.

Already active in another Canadian province , this partnership sees Play’n GO’s content available in the province of Québec exclusively with Loto-Québec, a state-owned corporation, where online players now have access to titles such as Tome of Madness.

Magnus Olsson, Chief Commercial Officer, Play’n GO said: “At Play’n GO, we have always been clear in our vision to be active in every regulated market in the world, and this partnership with Loto-Québec is the next step on that journey.

“Our past success in Canada gives us confidence that players in Québec will enjoy the best Play’n GO content, and we look forward to many years of success with Loto-Québec in the province.”

Stéphane Martel, Head of Product and Innovation at Loto-Québec added: “As the sole iGaming operator in Québec, we pride ourselves on offering titles that truly add value to our platform, lotoquebec.com. We are happy to bring Play’n GO games to our players.”

Canada

Court Decision Upholds iGaming Ontario’s Model

Published

4 days ago

May 15, 2024

GamingAmericas.com

court-decision-upholds-igaming-ontario’s-model

iGaming Ontario has welcomed the decision of the Ontario Superior Court, which found that iGaming Ontario’s model is consistent with the Criminal Code and that iGaming Ontario is conducting and managing igaming in the province.

“We have always been confident in our model and are pleased that the court has ruled in our favour, and that Ontarians can continue to play with confidence in our regulated igaming market,” said Martha Otton, Executive Director of iGaming Ontario.

“Ontario’s model meets the requirements and contributes to the public good by protecting players, their data and their funds, while helping to fund priority public services in Ontario, and bringing well-paid, high-tech jobs and economic development to Ontario,” Otton added.

In dismissing the application brought forward by the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK), the Superior Court found that iGaming Ontario is the “operating mind” behind Ontario’s competitive igaming market in accordance with the conduct and manage requirements of the Criminal Code.

iGaming Ontario will continue to conduct and manage igaming as it has since the launch of the regulated market on April 4, 2022.

Bragg Gaming Group

Bragg Gaming Appoints Renowned iGaming Executive Neill Whyte as Chief Commercial Officer

Published

1 week ago

May 10, 2024

GamingAmericas.com

bragg-gaming-appoints-renowned-igaming-executive-neill-whyte-as-chief-commercial-officer

Bragg Gaming Group, a global iGaming technology and content provider, announced that Neill Whyte has been appointed as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), effective 1st May 2024, establishing a new global commercial structure at the Company and bolstering its leadership team.

Whyte brings over 18 years of experience in the iGaming sector, most recently in the role of Chief Commercial Officer at Digital Gaming Corporation’s (DGC), B2B iGaming Division. After joining DGC in early 2020, he was responsible for the commercially successful launch and growth of its content distribution business in the US.

Prior to joining DGC, Whyte held multiple positions in the gaming industry including as Head of Business Development at Isle of Man-based iGaming specialist Apricot Investments, as Board Member at Swedish iGaming product and Lottery content distributor Genera Networks, and in various senior roles over eleven years at leading iGaming content supplier Microgaming, including as Head of Product Channels.

In his new role with Bragg, Whyte will be tasked with leading the Company’s global commercial teams to drive growth across all of the Company’s product verticals which include proprietary online casino content from its Atomic Slot Lab, Indigo Magic and Wild Streak Gaming studios, exclusive content from content partners, HUB a leading casino content aggregation platform, Fuze player engagement, as well as its award-winning player account management (PAM) platform and turnkey solutions.

Matevž Mazij, Chief Executive Officer at Bragg, said: “I am very pleased to be announcing today the appointment of Neill Whyte as Chief Commercial Officer at Bragg. His iGaming product and market knowledge, together with his record in driving growth from developing successful and mutually beneficial commercial partnerships are exceptional.

“As we leverage our broad content and product portfolio to grow in existing and new markets, including in the United States, Canada, Latin America and Europe, Neill’s unique combination of knowledge, skills and experience in this sector are a perfect fit for our ambitions at Bragg.”

Neill Whyte, Chief Commercial Officer at Bragg, said: “It’s an honor to join Matevž and the wider teams at Bragg already in place across North America, Europe and in India. I have been impressed with the depth and quality of the content, product and technology offerings at Bragg, and its ability to rapidly adapt, certify and deploy this content and technology in newly regulated markets is a distinct advantage.

“We also have a huge opportunity to grow our footprint with our existing customers in markets in which we are already established. Our content and product roadmaps are second to none, and I’m planning to get on the road in the coming weeks and months to meet the team and our customers and to start building for the next stage of mutual growth. I can’t wait to get going.”