HARRISON, N.Y., Sept. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- MGT
Capital Investments, Inc. (NYSE MKT: MGT) announced today that it
has completed the sale of its daily fantasy sports assets to a new
entity formed by Viggle Inc. (NASDAQ: VGGL) and Sportech Digital, a
subsidiary of Sportech PLC (LON: SPO). The new company,
called DraftDay Gaming Group, Inc. will continue to offer the same
high quality daily fantasy sports experience directly to consumers
and to businesses desiring turnkey solutions to new revenue
streams.
By combining and capitalizing on the well-established
operational business assets of DraftDay, Sportech and Viggle, the
new company is well-positioned to become a significant player in
the explosive fantasy sports market. DraftDay has paid out
over $30 million in prizes with
player retention and brand loyalty second to none in the industry.
Viggle assets MyGuy and Viggle Football have already
met with great success by offering exciting real-time interactive
participation to its nearly 10 million registered users in tandem
with professional and college football and basketball games.
Sportech is one of the world's leading betting organizations,
operating in 30 countries and employing over 1,000 people.
DraftDay will be the differentiated platform in the
industry, having a leadership team highly experienced in B2B
aggregated network operations and regulated gaming markets.
Viggle owns 44% of DraftDay Gaming Group, Sportech owns 35%, MGT
owns 10%, with employees and other shareholders owning the balance.
Robert F.X. Sillerman will be the Chairman of the Board, with
Rich Roberts, current President of
Sportech Digital, serving as DraftDay CEO. Nic Sulsky,
formerly of Sportech Digital, will be President, and John C. Small, CFO of Viggle, will act as CFO of
DraftDay. Larry Kom, formerly CIO of MGT, will join DraftDay
as CTO, accompanied by the full product development team.
The transaction provides MGT with approximately $5.0 million in total consideration, consisting
of Promissory Notes of Viggle Inc., restricted shares of VGGL
common stock, and a retained equity interest in the new venture.
Additionally, MGT receives warrants exercisable into the new
entity. Today's transaction also materially reduces the
Company's ongoing burn rate.
For more detailed information, please refer to Forms 8-K filed
today with the Securities and Exchange Commission by VGGL and
MGT. Additional information can also be obtained from
Viggle's press release filed this morning.
About MGT Capital Investments, Inc.
MGT Capital and its subsidiaries own and operate social and real
money gaming sites online and in the mobile space, including
MGTplay.com and SlotChamp™. In addition, the
Company owns intellectual property relating to slot machines and
has asserted its claims via patent infringement lawsuits. MGT
also has ownership stakes in DraftDay.com, a top daily fantasy
sports wagering platform and Viggle Inc., operator of an online
entertainment marketing and rewards platform with 10 million
registered users.
About Sportech PLC
Sportech PLC is a sports gaming and entertainment Group and one
of the world's leading pool and tote betting organizations.
We focus on highly regulated markets worldwide, with our largest
activities in the US. Globally we process over $13 billion in bets annually, with a presence in
30 countries, including customers in most US states that permit
such betting. The Group operates through 3 divisions: Sportech
Racing and Digital, Sportech Venues, and The Football Pools,
providing betting technology and operating systems and retail
venues for betting on football (soccer), horseracing and greyhound
racing. Headquartered in London,
England, the company also has operational offices in
Connecticut, Atlanta, Toronto, California, New
Jersey, Liverpool,
Bristol, Netherlands, Germany, and Ireland. For more
information about Sportech PLC, please visit
www.sportechplc.com.
About Sportech, Inc.
Sportech, Inc., part of the Sportech PLC group, is a global
provider of wagering technology and services to licensed gaming
operators and consumers. The Sportech Racing and Digital
division is a leading global provider of wagering technology
solutions to licensed racing and betting operators, and the largest
provider of white label digital (Internet and mobile) technologies
and services to licensed gaming operators in the U.S.
Sportech's Bump 50:50 provides technologies and services for 50/50
raffle programs to the charitable foundations affiliated with
professional sports teams. For more information on Sportech
Racing and Digital, visit www.sportech.net.
The Sportech Venues, Inc. division holds the exclusive license
to conduct off-track pari-mutuel wagering on racing and jai alai in
the State of Connecticut. The
company operates 15 wagering venues, in addition to an account
wagering service that offers Internet and telephone betting on
racing. In parallel with business operations in
Connecticut, Sportech Venues
California LLC was established to develop and operate off track
wagering sports bar facilities in California. For more
information on Sportech Venues, Inc., please visit
www.MyWinners.com.
About Viggle, Inc.
Viggle is an entertainment marketing and rewards platform whose
app rewards its members for watching TV shows and discovering new
music. The Viggle Platform had an average monthly total reach of
23.6 million for the three months ended June
30, 2015, including nearly 10 million Viggle registered
users. Since its launch, Viggle members have redeemed over
$26 million in rewards for watching
their favorite TV programs and listening to music. Members can use
Viggle's store, accessible through the Viggle app or on Viggle.com,
to redeem their Viggle Points for TV show, movie and music
downloads. In addition, Viggle operates Wetpaint, which offers
entertainment and celebrity news online; NextGuide, maker of
technology that helps consumers search for, find, and set reminders
for TV shows and movies; and Choose Digital, a digital marketplace
platform that allows companies to incorporate digital content into
existing rewards and loyalty programs in support of marketing and
sales initiatives. For more information, visit www.viggle.com or
follow us on Twitter @Viggle.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. The
words or phrases "would be," "will allow," "intends to," "will
likely result," "are expected to," "will continue," "is
anticipated," "estimate," "project," or similar expressions are
intended to identify "forward-looking statements." MGT's financial
and operational results reflected above should not be construed by
any means as representative of the current or future value of its
common stock. All information set forth in this news release,
except historical and factual information, represents
forward-looking statements. This includes all statements about the
Company's plans, beliefs, estimates and expectations. These
statements are based on current estimates and projections, which
involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking
statements. These risks and uncertainties include issues related
to: rapidly changing technology and evolving standards in the
industries in which the Company and its subsidiaries operate; the
ability to obtain sufficient funding to continue operations,
maintain adequate cash flow, profitably exploit new business,
license and sign new agreements; the unpredictable nature of
consumer preferences; and other factors set forth in the Company's
most recently filed annual report and registration statement.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which reflect management's analysis
only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to
publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events
or circumstances that arise after the date hereof. Readers should
carefully review the risks and uncertainties described in other
documents that the Company files from time to time with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission.
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SOURCE MGT Capital Investments, Inc.