Online gambling affiliate marketers Better Collective are spending $20m to burnish their U.S.-facing portfolio.
On Tuesday, the Copenhagen-based Better Collective announced a deal in which a new Florida-based subsidiary will pay US$20m in cash to acquire U.S.-facing sites Vegasinsider.com and Scoresandodds.com, which collectively generate over 15m unique visits per month from U.S. sports and betting aficionados.
Better Collective plans to rejig the two sites’ business model from their current focus on user subscription, betting pick sales and brand advertising to “affiliate marketing within sports betting (lead generation).”
This “overhaul” of the two websites will also see them drop their promotion of betting odds available at internationally licensed operators that cater to U.S. bettors in favor of odds available from locally licensed operators in U.S. states where legal wagering is permitted. This shift is expected to get underway in the current quarter and the “technical/commercial overhaul” will be completed sometime in H2 2020.
Better Collective acknowledges that this “transitional period” will see a reduction in the two websites’ revenue and earnings. The company expects a slight revenue bump in the remainder of 2019, although “no profit” is expected during this period. However, “substantial revenue and earnings” are expected from H2 2020 onward.
The new Better Collective Florida subsidiary has hired 10 staffers to date, and these new hires will work with the parent company’s operations in Nashville and New York.
Better Collective CEO Jesper Søgaard hailed his company’s acquisition of these two “mega-brands,” saying the deal would put Better Collective “in pole position for a market-leading position” in U.S. legal betting states. Søgaard boldly predicted that his two new properties “have the potential to become the largest revenue-generating assets within Better Collective within the coming years.”
Better Collective hasn’t been shy about opening its wallet to bolster its U.S. presence, including May’s $21m deal for a 60% share of Rical LLC, the parent company of the Rotogrinders, Pocket Fives, Penn Bets and Sports Handle sports betting- and daily fantasy sports-focused sites.
