Gambling has always been about the flypaper. Use glitz to get customers in the door, free drinks to get them in the seats and then loyalty perks to get them to tables with higher minimums.
Why it matters: A version of the flypaper effect is now happening with the gambling industry itself, which is experiencing a major consolidation wave.
Minute Media has raised “tens of millions of dollars” in a previously unreported funding round, with participation from sports betting giant FanDuel, its founder and CEO Asaf Peled tells Axios.
Why it matters: The funding will strengthen a years-long partnership as Minute Media seeks to invest more in sports betting, and FanDuel more in content.
Sorare, a French fantasy soccer platform whose "cards" are non-fungible tokens registered on the Ethereum blockchain, raised $680 million in Series B funding at a $4.3 billion valuation led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
Why it matters: This is the largest-ever VC deal for a company in the NFT space, which either will prove to be Bitcoin circa 2013 or pet rocks circa 1975.