U.S. Market Entry accelerates with Strategic Investment and bolstered U.S. Senior Management Team

U.S. Senior Management team

Following the appointment of well know industry authority, Mr Dennis Drazin to the role of U.S. Chairman, PlayUp is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Art Hamilton as USA Chief Financial Officer. Mr Hamilton brings to PlayUp significant U.S. based experience in mergers and acquisitions, business development, financial budgeting, strategic planning, IFRS and U.S. GAAP, growth strategies, project and program management and business analytics. He previously worked with wagering veteran and PlayUp shareholder Matt Davey at NYX Gaming Group that listed on the TSX, acquired OpenBet and ultimately sold to Scientific Games.

Strategic investment

PlayUp has secured an investment of USD $35.0 million from Sam Bankman Fried’s crypto exchange, FTX in Q4 2021. This financing round will be used primarily to accelerate PlayUp’s U.S. market access. In addition to their investment in PlayUp, FTX has been actively investing in partnerships and endorsement deals in the sports and esports arena over the past twelve months.

FTX Head of Product, Ramnik Arora said, “We are delighted to have an investment in PlayUp” and “we believe PlayUp is at a pivotal moment in its corporate journey.”

U.S. market entry data

Momentum continues to grow following PlayUp’s October launch into the New Jersey sports betting market, with recent Eilers & Krejcik reports indicating PlayUp achieved 0.6% market share in its first month, placing it in the top 10 operators within the state.

U.S. market access progress

PlayUp has made significant progress with U.S. market access over the past twelve months and will be announcing several new market access deals now finalised in January 2022.

PlayUp Global CEO Daniel Simic said “We are very happy with the progress of our U.S. market entry. The recent investment by FTX will assist PlayUp in accelerating its U.S. market opportunities and grow our global sports betting and wagering presence.”

About PlayUp

PlayUp is a next generation entertainment and technology group that enriches the lives of its clients by providing an entertaining, rewarding, and responsible online betting service. At its core, PlayUp develops innovative betting technologies in-house to power its brands and deliver world-class user experiences. Its energies are focused on fulfilling the needs of dedicated and passionate users who seek a deeper connection to the games they play.

PlayUp’s mission is to unify online betting into one platform inclusive of Sports Betting, Fixed-Odds Racing (Horses and Greyhounds), iGaming, Esports and Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) where it now hosts Australia’s largest and indeed some of the world’s biggest prize pools in competitive peer-to-peer online betting.

The company holds online betting licenses in multiple jurisdictions and currently operates in Australia, New Zealand, India and several regulated USA states.