XLMedia acquires sports gaming and betting arm of CBWG

XLMedia said on Thursday that it would acquire the business units for an upfront consideration of $12.0m in cash and the issue of 7.95m new shares, as well as a potential future consideration of up to $9.5m.

The AIM-listed group said an application would be made to London Stock Exchange for the newly issued shares to be admitted to trading, with admission expected to become effective on 15 December.

XLMedia stated that CBWG, which was formed early in 2020 through a combination of CB Sports and Warwick Gaming, was "a highly successful and fast-growing" digital media publishing group based in the northeast United States and focused on professional and college sports.

Chief executive Stuart Simms said: "It is great to have acquired such an attractive set of assets during an inflection point for the US Sports betting market.

"On some estimates, almost 60% of the US population is set to have legal access to sports betting by the end of 2022 - this could include New York, where one of the key assets, EliteSportsNY.com, is focused."

As of 1100 GMT, XLMedia shares had shot up 13.43% to 38.0p.