Fantasy sports and gambling have always gone hand in hand. Now Yahoo has made a move that will allow users to do it all in the same place.
On Tuesday, the company announced the acquisition of Wagr, a sports betting app that allows users to place bets with one another as opposed to going through a sportsbook.
This is far from Yahoo’s first foray into gambling. The company already offers daily fantasy games that pay winners. It also has a partnership with MGM.
“We’ve always been trying to figure out our way into the gaming space, and it just seems like a total logical extension of what people are already doing with Yahoo Sports, to add peer-to-peer betting,” Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone told Front Office Sports.
ESPN is the only company that hosts more fantasy sports players than Yahoo.
From Wagr’s perspective, this partnership is a life-saver. The company drew high-profile investments early on, including receiving money from the owners of the New England Patriots, New Jersey Devils, and Philadelphia 76ers. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture firm Seven Seven Six was also an early investor. Late last year, though, the Wagr app ceased operation.
