Rush Street Interactive Heading for Public Listing on NYSE via a SPAC Deal

On Monday, Rush Street Interactive (RSI) announced that it has penned a merger arrangement with dMY Technology Group Inc. so that it can become a publicly listed company. Based on this deal, the newly merged company is estimated to have a value of $1.78 billion, which is 5.6x of $320 million, the projected 2021 revenue of Rush Street. 

Like DraftKings, and Golden Nugget the company chose to pursue public listing by teaming up with a SPAC (special-purpose acquisition company), instead of following the traditional IPO (Initial Public Offering) path which is often a grueling one. As a result, Rush Street will be the fourth online gaming company in 2020 to go public in the USA after DraftKings, GAN, and Golden Nugget.

Specifics of the Merger Acquisition

As we speak, dMY is publicly-traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol DMYT. Through the reverse merger acquisition deal, Rush Street won’t have to go through an IPO to start trading publicly as it will now be part of dMY. But then again, after the merging of the two companies, dMY will then assume Rush Street Interactive’s name, and consequently adopt RSI as its ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange.

After going public through an IPO in February, dMY managed to raise a cool $230 million. All this money which is held in a trust will be used to facilitate the RSU transaction and $160 million more will be brought in by institutional investors led by Fidelity Management and Research Company at a share price of $10.00 in dMY’s common stock.

After the deal is closed, Greg Carlin, the current Rush Street Interactive CEO will retain his position, Neil Bluhm will also continue serving as the chair of the board of directors, and Richard Schwartz will carry on with his mantle as president. Harry You and Niccolo de Masi, who currently hold the positions of Chairman and CEO of dMY Technology respectively, will serve as board members of the new company. 

Rush Street Has Been Making Huge Strides in the US

Rush Street Interactive is the Chicago based digital gambling division of Rush Street, one of the most prominent casino operators in the USA. RSI was founded back in 2012 and at present, it holds the bragging rights of being the pioneer of legal online sports betting platforms in Pennsylvania via a PlaySugarHouse.com skin and in Indiana and Illinois through the BetRivers brand. The company also has an online sportsbook footprint in New Jersey and Colorado under the same BetRivers and SugarHouse brands. Moreover, Rush Street already has plans in place to debut in Virginia, New York, and Michigan

dMY on the other hand is a SPAC, or rather a blank check company that doesn’t offer any services or sell any products. The company is deemed a ‘special purpose’ company as it is only in existence to assist in raising money from investors for the acquisition of other companies. The dMY founders were looking for mobile-focused businesses and Rush Street was a perfect fit.