Lottery broker and information portal Lottery.com will go public on the Nasdaq exchange after reaching a definitive agreement for a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Trident Acquisition Group.
The announcement comes three months after Lottery.com owner AutoLotto and New York-listed Trident signed a binding letter of intent to acquire the broker in November 2020, with the combined group estimated to have a post-business combination enterprise value of approximately $526m.
The two parties said the deal will ensure Lottery.com – which provides official lottery games such as Powerball and Mega Millions and enhanced regulatory capabilities by developing innovative blockchain technology – is well-positioned to accelerate its revenue growth through further expansion in its existing markets and into new high-growth markets both domestically and internationally.
The parties said that Lottery.com will be boosted by a $45m growth fund as soon as the transaction is completed, expected by the end of Q1 2021.
Tony DiMatteo, co-founder and chief executive of Lottery.com, said: “Lottery.com is innovating a legacy industry with ground-breaking technologies poised to capitalise on the large population of active internet and smartphone users in the US and throughout the world.
“Over the past several months, we have made significant progress, launching our app in the Google Play Store and expanding domestically into Colorado and internationally through announced partnership plans in Turkey and Ukraine. We believe this transaction will further enhance our ability to grow into new markets as consumers are now, more than ever, engaging with digital and online platforms.
“The team at Trident shares our vision of growing into a global marketplace for legally available lottery games, and other games of chance, to consumers across the world and we firmly believe this partnership will accelerate our growth.”
Founded in 2015, Lottery.com empowers users to play the lottery from their phone and on the go. It offers official state-sanctioned lottery games and state games where permissible.
Lottery.com is also the world’s largest provider of lottery data to over 400 digital publishers, including hundreds of digital newspapers, television and news sites, and major digital publishers such as Google, Verizon/Yahoo and Amazon’s Alexa devices.
The combined group said investors would be enthused by the opportunities in lottery with just 4% of $430bn of global lottery sales currently being conducted online. The impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has accelerated the move online, with an easing regulatory environment propelling market growth around the world.
The proposed business combination contemplates that Lottery.com’s stockholders will roll 100% of their equity into the combined company, with no minimum cash requirement to close the business combination.
Upon completion of the transaction, the combined company will be trademarked Lottery.com and its common stock is expected to remain listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the new ticker symbol ‘LTRY’.
“Lottery.com’s innovative platform has already made significant progress bringing the lottery industry into the digital age and continuing to expand its markets both domestically and internationally,” said Vadim Komissarov, chief executive of Trident.
“With a track record of substantial growth and user base expansion in a relatively short period of time, we are confident that Lottery.com has the ability to cement its place as a leading online platform to both play the lottery and to introduce additional wagering and games of chance worldwide.
“We believe this transaction will allow Lottery.com to be on a path to reach its true growth potential, and we look forward to working with the team as we introduce their compelling story to the public markets.”