Esports Entertainment Group to acquire online casino Lucky Dino for $30M

Esports Entertainment Group announced Wednesday that its Malta gaming licensed subsidiary, Esports Entertainment (Malta) Limited, has signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire the business of Lucky Dino Gaming Limited, an established Malta-licensed online casino operator with its own proprietary casino platform. The estimated $30 million deal (EUR 25 M) is expected to be financed through a debt facility procured by the company.

"Over the past five years, Lucky Dino has evolved from a single brand white-label casino operator into a multi-brand, class-leading casino operator and technology business,” Grant Johnson, CEO of Esports Entertainment Group, said in a press release. “In addition to further strengthening our tech stack, Lucky Dino’s assets will give us a substantial foothold in multiple new jurisdictions across Europe and Scandinavia where esports are extremely popular, and with Lucky Dino’s 30K monthly active casino players we will have tremendous cross-selling opportunities with our SportNation and Vie.gg betting platforms.”

In acquiring Lucky Dino’s assets, the company will have access to a premium casino platform based on modern microservices architecture for superior simplicity, scalability, and flexibility. Lucky Dino’s proprietary technology stack includes affiliate marketing software, payment servers, and a comprehensive CRM system with a sophisticated gamification and loyalty engine and automated player management functionality fit for geographical expansion.

“Lucky Dino has generated an impressive track record of growth, reporting an 86% CAGR on revenue for the five years ended June 30, 2020,” continued Johnson. “With opportunities to realize synergies across shared back-office functions, payment processing and more, we are in a great position to build upon Lucky Dino’s notable EBITDA performance. Ultimately, we will look to bring this exciting online casino platform to the U.S. in the future alongside our vie.gg esports offering.”

Lucky Dino generated $21 million revenue and $3.8 million EBITDA in FY20 and is forecasted to generate $24 million revenue and $5 million EBITDA in FY21 and $29 million revenue and $6.5 million EBITDA in FY22. 

On Tuesday, Esports Entertainment Group announced a partnership with the Philadelphia Eagles, making it the first NFL team with an esports tournament provider. The NFL team becomes a shareholder in Esports Entertainment. The company now has deals with the Eagles, Arsenal, LA Galaxy, Philadelphia Union and LA Kings. 

In addition, the company will host biannual Madden tournaments in a multiyear partnership with the popular game from Electronic Arts.