DraftKings offers to buy PointsBet for $195 million, outbidding Fanatics

Sports gambling powerhouse DraftKings has made a $195 million, all-cash offer for PointsBet’s U.S. assets, it said on Friday, as it looks slow down the rise of Fanatics.

The offer comes a month after Fanatics agreed to buy the Australian company for $150 million in an effort to boost its presence in sports gambling.

“While we continue to focus on operating more efficiently and driving substantial organic revenue growth in the United States, we will also look to prudently capitalize on compelling opportunities at attractive valuations, as is the case with PointsBet’s U.S. business,” said DraftKings CEO Jason Robins in a statement. “We believe DraftKings is uniquely positioned to submit this superior proposal due to our scale and corresponding ability to generate meaningful synergies from the acquisition.”

DraftKings, which is publicly traded, has a market cap of about $10 billion.

Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin told CNBC after the announcement that he’s highly skeptical of the deal, which he views as DraftKings attempting to slow Fanatics down.

“It’s a move to delay our ability to enter the market,” Rubin said. “I guess they are more concerned about us than I would have thought.”

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