fuboTV (NYSE: FUBO) is moving to a very promising corner of the sports market. The company announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to acquire the sports betting and games specialist Vigtory. Taking advantage of this new asset, fuboTV said it hopes to launch a sportsbook (ie sports betting service) by the end of this year.
Neither the price nor the terms of the deal were disclosed.
Vigtory is a relatively new company, founded in 2019. Not coincidentally, this was in the midst of a wave of legalization for legalizing gambling across the United States. This wave has not yet peaked, as the coronavirus pandemic has put pressure on the finances of many states; at least some of them are likely to be legalized to generate more tax revenue.
Image source: Getty Images.
FuboTV is determined to be competitive in this segment. Last month, it acquired another sports betting technology company, Balto Sports. In press releases trumpeting the Balto and Vigtory businesses, fuboTV cited an estimate by Zion Market Research predicting that the online sports betting market is expected to be worth $ 155 billion in 2024.
“We believe that online sports betting is a highly complementary business to our live TV broadcasting platform,” the company quoted its CEO David Gandler in the Vigtory press release. “We don’t see betting as simply a complementary product to fuboTV. Instead, we believe there is a real opportunity with video content and streaming interactivity.”
FuboTV’s investors seem to totally agree. On Tuesday, the company’s stock soared 34% higher, well after the stable performance of the S&P 500 index.