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Affiliate Monitor Executive summary
Executive summary
WELCOME
CORPORATE MANOEUVRES
In one way or another , the gaming affiliate sector has never been busier . While M & A has been a constant for a few years now ( see Affiliate Monitors passim ), the pace of activity within the past 18 months has undoubtedly picked up both in terms of the number of deals and the sums of money involved .
This quarter ’ s edition of the Monitor homes in on the news that Oddschecker Global Media has been sold to Bruin Capital . This was significant not just for the headline figure of £ 155m ( including earnout ) but because of what the deal signals about the importance of the US to developments in the gaming affiliate sector .
To date , the Oddschecker story has been that of gaining a dominance in odds comparison in the hyper-competitive UK market and it has succeeded exceptionally well in that . So much so that Bruin Capital , led by George Pyne , now sees the value in taking the brand and more clearly aiming it at the US sports betting market .
The acquisition is another sign of where the centre of gravity for gaming affiliates now resides – and that is firmly in the US . The largest acquisitions in the sector have involved buyouts of USfacing brands , whether that is the deals announced since May by Catena Media involving Lineups . com and the i15 Media assets or Better Collective ’ s acquisition of The Action Network .
As the leading gaming affiliates , it is significant that both Better Collective and
Catena Media now break out their US revenues ; as covered in the company-by-company section , in the second quarter Catena reported that it made 41 % of total revenues , or € 12.4m , from the US in the three months , while Better Collective made just shy of € 7m in the US over the same period .
This is before any substantial contribution from The Action Network where much more is expected in the months to come . In fact , Better Collective believes the US contribution will be $ 100m by the end of next year – and that is without any further acquisitions .
LISTING TIME
The sense of a sector developing before our eyes also comes from recent listings activity . As mentioned in the last Affiliate Monitor , Playmaker has listed on the Toronto stock exchange and this edition of the report includes the figures from the company ’ s debut results statement .
This has been followed by the listing of Gambling . com Group in New York . Its debut results as a listed entity are contained within the report , and although the company is not new to the Monitor after previously having a listed bond , what is new is the analyst coverage that has come with it . iGB Market Monitor