Affiliate Announcements

Raketech strengthens its position in the US with sport acquisition

Published

4 weeks ago

November 9, 2021

Raketech strengthens its position in the US with sport acquisition

Raketech, the iGaming performance marketing partner, today announced the acquisition of the assets of A.T.S. Consultants Inc (A.T.S.), a leading tipster asset providing tailored pre-game insights for sports, with key assets Winnersandwhiners.com, Statsalt.com and Pickpapa.com. The pre-game insights are served to sports fans across the US by a dedicated team of experts located in Baltimore, US. As a result of the acquisition, Raketech’s US revenues are expected to reach up to 20% percent of the group’s total already during Q1 2022. At the same time, Raketech’s sports segment is expected to reach up to 35% percent of the group’s total.

The agreed purchase price amounts to USD 15.5m (EUR 13.4m) on a cash and debt free basis. The purchase price will be settled in a cash payment of USD 12m (EUR 10.4m) as per Closing and through an additional cash payment of USD 1m six months post Closing. The additional purchase price will be settled through issuance of new Raketech (RAKE) shares amounting to USD 2.5m (EUR 2.1m). The number of Raketech shares issued will be determined by the volume-weighted RAKE share price 30 trading days prior to the date of the Closing. Further, the issued RAKE shares will be subject to a lock-up of 36 months following completion of the transaction. The purchase price represents a multiple of approximately 6x EBITDA and 2.5x revenues for the last twelve months, with the possibility of additional earnout payments based on certain performance measures 36 months post closing.

The acquisition complements Raketech’s US asset portfolio and includes 20 employees in Baltimore. The business model which is based on user subscriptions and sale of picks (tips) will furthermore be complemented with all of Raketech’s existing marketing services such as traditional affiliation, media sales and CRM. The A.T.S. team will continue to operate from Baltimore, led by A.T.S. current CEO Jordan Abrams and form Raketech’s local office in the US.

Oskar Mühlbach, CEO of Raketech said: “I am thrilled that we are able to follow up the latest acquisition of P&P Vegas Group with yet another strategically important acquisition in the US. This market is of specific interest to us as it is expected to grow substantially within the next years. And I believe that adding Raketech’s commercials and operational ability to the acquired assets is a great way to maximize this opportunity”.

He continues: “I am also excited to have the talented A.T.S. team on board, and I am looking forward to combining our commercial models and to share technology and know-how between us. Furthermore, as Raketech already offers sports insights and betting tips in the US, there are obvious opportunities to cross-promote and collaborate across our ecosystem of assets to provide even better service to the end user as well as even better marketing opportunities for our clients, the operators”.

The acquisition will be closed no later than December 15th 2021 and be settled using Raketech’s current cash together with funding from Raketech’s credit facility.

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Affiliate Announcements

Tombola shocks affiliate world: Dutch affiliates forced to pay 1125 for compliance check

Published

2 days ago

December 3, 2021

George Miller

Tombola shocks affiliate world: Dutch affiliates forced to pay 1125 for compliance check

Tombola, one of the largest online bingo sites globally, has decided to require affiliates who want to promote the Tombola bingo site in the Netherlands to take a compliance check with a legal consultancy firm. In the first year, this compliance check costs 1125 euros per website. Tombola is the first company in the industry to operate in this way.

Affiliates cannot choose by whom they want to conduct the compliance check. Tombola only accepts the compliance check of the legal consultancy firm XY Legal Solutions BV.

XY Legal has set up the KVA seal of approval as a brand for their compliance check. The KVA seal should not be confused with the KSA, the Dutch Gaming Authority. The KVA has nothing to do with the KSA, and is not accredited by the KSA.

XY Legal charges 1125 euros per website for their commercial KVA quality mark. After the first year, affiliates must pay another 725 euros per year per website to remain compliant.

Jan Westerhoff, Dutch igaming specialist at Nieuwslog.nl explains that this means an extra cost of tens of thousands of euros for affiliate companies with a large number of websites.

Marc Smit, country manager Netherlands at Tombola, indicates that this set-up was chosen because Tombola has no Dutch affiliate compliance employees.

“We do indeed set the KVA seal of approval as a condition for starting an affiliate program at Tombola. We believe that an affiliate partner should be tested,” says Marc Smit.

XY Legal indicates that their compliance check is not quantitative and that not the entire website will be checked. The general terms and conditions clearly state, “This means that not the entire website gets a full check.”.

Mr Steven Vrolijk of XY Legal indicates, “As mentioned, we always emphasize in communication that providers do well to also maintain their own compliance checks.”.

Therefore, it is unclear why Tombola seems to sail blindly on the expensive seal of approval of XY Legal and thus drives affiliates to high costs.

Jan Westerhoff says: “Tombola is the only provider with a Dutch KSA license that imposes this requirement. All other operators on the Dutch market, such as Bet365 and Betcity, do their own compliance check, and those companies do not charge affiliates for this.”.

“As far as is I known, Tombola.nl is unique in the igaming industry with their way of forcing affiliates to buy a seal from a commercial consultancy firm.”.

It seems that Tombola is trying to cut back on their compliance costs by making the affiliate pay for these costs. Marc Smit confirms: “Tombola will not pay for this (the compliance check, ed.).”.

Tombola’s decision created shockwaves in the igaming world. According to Jan Westerhoff this will create an unworkable situation in the affiliate market if other operators follow. “Imagine all the extra costs involved if every operator would require a compliance check from a different consultancy firm. This would mean gigantic bills for affiliate companies, and the only winners would be the money-grabbing consultants who want to make a quick buck.”.

The KVA seal of approval is not entirely uncontroversial. Several affiliates who have the seal are mentioned as customers on the website of XY Legal Solutions. Entanglement of interests seems to be lurking. The legal consultancy firm does indicate that every affiliate website must meet the same requirements. The question is how they guarantee this.

Source

Affiliate Announcements

Lottery.com Announces Hiring of Greg Potts as Global VP of Affiliate Success

Published

3 days ago

December 2, 2021

George Miller

Lottery.com Announces Hiring of Greg Potts as Global VP of Affiliate Success

Lottery.com Inc., a leading technology company that is transforming how, where and when the lottery is played, announced that Greg Potts has joined the Company as Global Vice President of Affiliate Success.

Mr. Potts has over 25 years of strategic marketing experience, including the implementation of growth strategies for consumer brands and their channel affiliates through targeted, local marketing efforts using co-op funding mechanisms. At Lottery.com, he will be leading the execution of the Company’s B2B growth strategy and will oversee the recently launched Global Affiliate Marketing Program. His responsibilities will include developing multiple recurring revenue streams for the Company by adding new master affiliates and sub-affiliates, and providing them with tools designed to accelerate the sales of Lottery.com products.

Mr. Potts most recently served as a Senior Sales Executive for Vericast, where he oversaw the channel affiliate program and specialized in co-op marketing, customer activation, and integrated media campaigns. Prior to his work at Vericast, he focused on helping brands deploy the technology needed to fully support their B2B2C marketing programs.

In addition to executing its B2B strategic growth initiatives, the Company anticipates launching its previously announced targeted customer marketing campaigns before the end of 2021. These multi-media campaigns include paid social media advertising, search engine optimization, and interactive display advertising. In preparation for the launch of these campaigns, the Company has been focused on maintaining its favorable customer acquisitions costs, which have averaged approximately $4 per user since the first quarter of 2020, and improving gross profit per transaction, which increased to $1.69 in the third quarter of 2021 from $0.93 in the prior year period.

“On behalf of the entire team, we’d like to welcome Greg. We expect that his experience and track record of successfully implementing affiliate market programs will be significant assets as we execute our strategic plan to expand and grow our B2B2C segment. Combined with our targeted marketing campaigns in our B2C segment, we anticipate reaching a wider audience and accelerating growth in both segments in 2022 and beyond,” said Tony DiMatteo, CEO and Co-Founder of Lottery.com.

“I am thrilled to join Lottery.com, which has already developed an impressive B2B business, including several blue-chip affiliates and easily-integrated API software. With the recent launch of the Global Affiliate Marketing Program, Lottery has the opportunity to greatly expand its B2B2C user base, and I look forward to helping the Company realize this growth,” Mr. Potts added.

Affiliate Announcements

PartnerMatrix and SlotsCalendar sign partnership to raise security awareness

Published

6 days ago

November 29, 2021

George Miller

PartnerMatrix and SlotsCalendar sign partnership to raise security awareness

Affiliate marketing software provider, PartnerMatrix, and SlotsCalendar, the IMDb of online slots, have just signed a partnership, raising awareness about the tools operators and affiliates can use to create a more secure environment.

PartnerMatrix and SlotsCalendar will launch various marketing initiatives, covering topics such as security in affiliate marketing, player orientation in affiliate marketing, the latest tools and techniques in enlarging affiliate presence, and more. The partnership will allow both teams to initiate marketing campaigns, reach new audiences and promote affiliate solutions.

Levon Nikoghosyan, CEO of PartnerMatrix, says: “This partnership holds great importance because it allows us to raise awareness of important topics. We remember how SlotsCalendar entered the market a few years ago and seeing the company reaching such high ranks in affiliate marketing is very motivating. The SlotsCalendar team continues putting tremendous efforts into creating a robust network of iGaming enthusiasts and business representatives, and thanks to this, they have a bright future ahead of them.

“However, SlotsCalendar doesn’t hold interest only for players- many big casino operators and B2B companies are very interested in appearing in the SlotsCalendar’s directories. For PartnerMatrix, this is an excellent chance to create a dialogue within a quality audience and promote our tools and solutions to a bigger audience.”

Viorel Stan, CEO of SlotsCalendar, comments: “The lack of active dialogue on specific topics has led to the vulnerability of some niches. We deal with numerous risks daily, and as soon as we figure out how to deal with some challenges and get used to them, other issues appear. Our partnership with PartnerMatrix will create a more dynamic platform for solving problems related to security, payments, transparency in doing business.

“We will continue to raise important topics and share the experiences of both of our companies. I am sure that our cooperation will bear fruit not only for both of our companies but also for many other industry players.”