Sports-oriented streaming service fuboTV said it acquired Balto Sports as the first part of its strategy to move into the online sports betting market.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Balto helps fans organize and play fantasy games. FuboTV said it plans to use Balto’s automated contest software--and well as its own technology--to create a free-to-play gaming offering. The game will be a gateway to sports wagers.
The Balto staff will be joining FuboTV to help engineer the company plans.
“The acquisition of Balto Sports will enable us to build a first class, free to play experience that brings consumers the best games around live sports,” said fuboTV CEO David Gandler. “From there, we see a natural progression to layer on real money wagering in regulated markets complementing fuboTV’s live streaming video for a highly engaging user experience within our platform. We will be strategic in our approach to wagering as we consider and evaluate different opportunities and will adjust our plans accordingly. We’re excited to launch sports wagering, integrate it into our core offerings and deliver what we believe will be a truly groundbreaking live TV streaming platform to consumers.”
FuboTV announced its plans to move into betting when it announced third quarter earnings.
“We believe there are significant synergies between consumers who enjoy wagering and our subscribers who enjoy streaming live sports, creating a flywheel opportunity. As we’ve previously expressed, one of our goals with wagering is to expand our total available market (TAM) by developing another important revenue stream for fuboTV, as we are doing with our growing ad sales business,” he said.
