today gaming america is sitting down with scott butera the president of fubo gaming which is part of fubo tv hubo tv is a sports streaming platform and fubo gaming is its betting platform that goes along with it so today we're speaking with scott butera thank you for sitting down with us thanks cameron it's nice to be here and appreciate your discussion about fubo and maybe you can just open by saying you know you give reference to it but at fubo you know we're we're all about having highly engaging interactive you know sports entertainment experiences and we do that by a very you know kind of rare combination of having an integrated wagering um component built into our streaming services and the reason we're able to do that is because our um media company um actually was willing to go through the um sports betting gaming licensing process so unlike other you know kind of media relationships where you know you have sort of a media company and they having a relationship with a sports book and they you know maybe advertise lines or things like that and then when you go to bed you sort of leave that environment and go into the sports betting environment in the case of fubo we're one truly integrated platform so all of the things that we do on the streaming side are completely integrated and synchronized with the wagering side which we'll get into um but that's um how you get the distinction and the combination of football gaming for both tv i see yes uh i do i do have a number of questions about that sort of integration between the gaming and the uh the tv but before we get into all that um i just wanted to ask sort of background question about yourself how did you arrive at this uh fubo gaming yeah so my background is i've been in the gaming business for a little over 30 years and in various capacities uh you know started in banking and finance and then actually ran a number of you know large casino companies um and then i always loved sports got involved in sports um you know just before getting involved in sports wagering and could really see how the way people you know were consuming sports were changing you know when i was younger you you'd go to a game or watch a game on tv and you'd kind of you know sit back and you know enjoy the game watch it and for team one you're happy if your team lost you weren't so happy and that was kind of the experience and you can see that you know it's totally different today you know fans today want you know highly engaged interactive experiences where sports is actually part of the entertainment you know if you were to go to a live event now um you'd watch a game but there'd be great food and beverage there'd be people interacting at common areas some cases they have almost like nightclubs you know in arenas um great food and beverage you know etc so the world is really changing and and i could you know kind of see that and um and then just prior to joining fubo i actually was president of interactive at mgm and set up the um gaming experience helped set up the gaming experience which is now bet mgm there and um you know where the casino company used to host a lot of live events and i could see all that that interaction you know like at a live event and how sports betting was really enhancing you know live events and i think if you look at some of the performances of the leagues and teams and some of the sponsorship revenues and the way sports betting really drives engagement um you know you could see that combining you know watching sports with betting on sports was very powerful um so just after mgm i joined a company called victory where we were creating a sports betting platform um and when uh and i'd actually gotten to know fubo over the years and they were growing you know pretty dramatically and they really became the leader in sports streaming you know right now we have over 100 channels we do over 50 000 live events a year we just secured you know um certain league rights um you know that are very important to us and um and what i you know was thinking is that you know we could recreate you know on tv what i had seen work um in live events in that you had you know kind of an interactive wagering experience where you provide you know a different level of fun and engagement for people as they watch tv almost recreate what you'd have in an arena that could be very powerful so a little over a year ago we merged the companies again with this vision that unlike other media companies we would actually go all in um and you know all get licensed and really integrate this so um you know we have a product now that we're that we're developing that's actually live in two states now that actually has that um you know we have features where if you were to pull up uh a game on fubotv uh and then pull up your sports betting app they'd be completely synchronized you know if you had a game on that whatever was going on in that game would be on your sports book if you changed the channel the sports book would change to that channel and then it would follow the game um but it really allows us to offer really timely unique wagering opportunities that that are only um able that we're only able to do because of that integration is this um this feature is just the watching now uh feature that you're referring to yeah and that'll be one of you know many we have a whole you know product road map of continuing to develop you know sort of these like i say completely synchronized unique timely wagering offers um that will actually follow a contest you know provide results of a contest you know we have if you're familiar with food tv and you pull up an event we have things like watching now which displays statistics you know on the tv screen we have multi views so if you're betting on several games you can watch several games at the same time with these sort of layered in statistics and and all kind of follow what you're doing on your sports book so it's um it's really kind of a fun thing to do and it almost lets you monitor your bets as you go will every streamed event on fubotv uh have these sort of features with that align with the fubo sportsbook yeah that that's exactly right yeah all the sporting events that's correct yes and then we're you know and it's not just you know we're for us um you know so obviously you know the sort of our plan is to obviously use our strength pool of streamers and try and you know convert those streamers into wagerers and then also use wagering to enhance our streaming you know so part of part of the magic is you know we have over a million subscribers right now we're growing pretty dramatically go to that subscriber base offer these experiences and then get them the game and then if they're gaming um you know obviously we you know can you know make money in revenues from the gaming revenue but also what it does is it it you know makes them watch more tv you know it gets them to sign up we get better retention so um actually wagering is a great you know product in terms of helping our streaming business as well so it's kind of a symbiotic relationship there and you can and it's actually something i learned in the casino business and you know if you think about sports books and casinos they were never really on their own big money makers um but what they did is they stimulated a lot of activities so obviously around big events like super bowl march madness if there were a fight you get a whole flux of customers in you know maybe for that week and they're you know they're doing other things they're betting on table games and slots they're going to your restaurants and using your hotels so it's a very it's almost like a stimulant for other activity just as sports is you know if you think about you know people go to the super bowl and you know they buy jerseys and they buy 20 beers and you know they're interacting on social media and they're wagering now so um sports and wagering are both too you know very highly engaging almost like stimulating um you know experiences that get people to do more and and that's kind of the idea for us sure and i wanted to ask because um fubo tv and with with the integrated uh gaming content you're kind of taking on two different comp competitors uh two different kinds of competitors at one time on the one hand you have the traditional sports networks on the other hand you have the traditional uh s well traditional but mobile sports books uh what challenges do you face in sort of uh standing out or taking on these relative relative behemoths in their respective fields yeah you know you mentioned taking on we're really not taking them on i mean obviously they're you know very large media companies they're very large sports books and they're they all sort of have their their strategies which you know clearly work for them um we're trying to do something completely different you know we're trying to you know yes we are we we are you know kind of you know following the trends of people as they kind of cut the cord and convert you know to to streaming and we think there's a you know continued growth you know in that area and we want to participate in that but you know really our idea is not to be you know kind of a standalone sports book um you know and compete with like draftkings fanduel and gm you know again this is more of a you know entertainment media related experience that has wagering and we'll have other things we'll have as we look at our product going forward hopefully we have things like more social gaming we have a free-to-play product we will have peer-to-peer and and really it's about creating you know kind of this gamified media experience which isn't like a traditional network it isn't like a traditional sports book it's somewhere that sits in between for somebody that wants that kind of experience and as far as your uh your sort of income streams do you get more from the from the uh streaming platform than from the sportsbook well you know right right now we're growing you know right we're live in two states i think we've announced you know another four states um we have a you know significant pipeline beyond that so you know really i think for the upcoming year a lot of it is you know getting live in states we want to be a national company developing our product um so from a revenue standpoint you know clearly the streaming side um is much bigger now but you know going forward you know the ideas again hopefully you know people won't even think about us as a streaming company and a gaming company the idea is we'll be one company um earning multiple revenue streams and both ultimately will be very important to our success sure uh and fubo has had a lot of um sort of media partnerships branding or media partnerships i was wondering if you could speak to the importance of these in growing uh growing the platform yeah we have some some really great partnerships and markets that we plan to be live in obviously the new york jets in new jersey and um we have a relationship with caesars for sports betting we'll be live there shortly uh as well as the cleveland cavaliers in ohio and we have a few others nascar and mlb and nba and i think like the iowa cubs we've launched in iowa and the beauty of of these partnerships is they have you know great database of fans who are highly engaged in sports in those communities and you know it gives us access to you know quick quick access to to that community allows us to you know roll out our product obviously people you know who you know if you're looking at a team partnership these are people who obviously enjoy watching sports and and that's our customer right we want people who enjoy watching sports and then betting on sports and doing things so um really the benefit is you know beyond just sort of you know branding and recognition you know and obviously that's helpful really it's it's getting access to that community which we think you know demographically fits very well um with luvo's strategy both for acquiring streaming customers and wagering customers yeah um since since launching a year ago uh the uh fubo gaming i was wondering if if you'd found any sort of uh any any things you had to improve on since you launched and that you're working to improve on because it's a pretty it's a new idea of what you're proposing we actually merged with food a year ago we actually launched in iowa in late september and then in arizona um sort of mid to late december so we're actually just getting up and started but what we have noticed is there is a strong reception um you know for the product so people who you know are sports bettors that have gotten introduced to the streaming product you know that's gone really well and the crossover actually has been higher than we've expected the average bet has been a little bit higher than we've expected so it's still very early but um you know in terms of doing our surveys and customer response um you know it's been it's been going well and like with the launch of any sports book you know of course you know we had a couple weeks where we had to work out some kinks and things like that but um we're kind of through that now and and that just sort of is more just base product but in terms of the experience and the interaction we're um at least you know you know cautiously optimistic that uh things have been received well so far sure um and how are you planning for expansion uh more partnerships or you pinpointed the markets that you think would fit for you yeah biggest thing for us you know is to get you know live in more states obviously we want to be live in states where we have you know strong crossover with our subscriber network and with with our rsn network um you know so that we can you know develop that flywheel if you will um so really over the next year it's it's you know rolling out our platform into more states as many states as possible and and um you know just continuing to work on our product test our product you know find out what features maybe resonate better with the you know streamer gamer than than others um and that'll really be our mission you know for the first part of 2022. yep uh what about igaming do you see any role for that in in puberty's future absolutely we signed our first eye gaming partnership with the quartus group in pennsylvania um that'll be coming live soon and we think i you know we think all forms of gamification are are important you know people who like sports betting like i gaming um you know have a i think to have a you know kind of effective eye gaming platform it really needs to be part of an echo system you know to do that on your own might be tough um but uh you know if you have our our goal is to have as comprehensive and entertainment experiences you can have and that involves watching sports betting on sports betting on you know games maybe watching games um i think there's sort of a lot of opportunity out there and i think more and more the crossover between you know real sports and and video games and you know all kinds of things are becoming you know kind of they're kind of converging you know if you think about what we're talking about it's almost it's no it's not very dissimilar then you know if you're playing a video game and you're on your headset and you're playing against you know maybe your friends or someone you don't know from cleveland or whatever it's again it's an interactive although it's scripted it's an interactive experience revolving around a game or sport and that's really what we're trying to recreate in live sports is that hey we'll take live sports instead of video games and then we'll create all these different ways in which you can interact and have fun and and bet against the house or bet against your friends um you know and i think that you know and it creates an opportunity for the more casual gamer you know i think you know it's still a very young industry right it's only been around a couple of years legally in the united states other than nevada so i think sports betting was you know always for these like you know sharps and you know the guys who studied the industry six ways to sunday are people who said the industry six weeks to sunday and um it was kind of reserved for them and now it's not more no now it can be fun it can be casual and and that's really what we're bringing to the market is that kind of you know they say fun you know experience where we can have content that we can you know sort of monetize through game of gamification sure and it seems you're you're at a pretty good advantage since you have you've integrated all these different aspects of the experience into a pretty seamless package that's exactly right that's the idea and that's why we went through like like like i said most in most large media companies i can understand why they wouldn't want to do it but we were you know at the right size and the right willingness to go through the gaming licensing process and there's a big reason why again i thought them you know the idea of combining with fubo is um you know was important because of that so i think it will be um something that you know maybe you know very few others try and replicate um so at least for now so um you know we do think that's uh you know obviously a critical part of our strategy so you think you got you got there at a sweet point in time yeah i mean i don't know who knows you know but um you know certainly certainly we think we're doing something that's you know like i say unusual and and we think resonates with the um you know the customer base yeah right so uh for my last question i just want to ask where where do you want to be in 18 months sure with this platform i think you know it's about right now it's about execution for us so you know like i said we do want to be a national company so you know obviously we want to roll out our product in as many markets you know as possible certainly markets that are strong you know in sports and sports betting um so that's important and then you know just continuing to develop our product develop features that you know cater to the you know streamer wager um you know learning more about what that customer wants i think we want to expand beyond just real money wagering into other forms of gaming um and communal activities and and just think be thought of as you know hey when i want to you know do something that involves sports and and fuba by the way is a very comprehensive company so we have you know equally impressive suite of you know news and and entertainment channels and you know what's interesting is um uh we learn a lot about our customers you know our customers watch over 120 uh hours a month of tv and not only do we know what they like about sports we know what they like about other things and we think about what is this sports minded person like well i like sports but i also like dining and i like home shows and you know i like travel shows so we can kind of use those things too and figure out ways to to gamify them and this is why bieber and i gaming comes actually uh into the play because if you think about it you know if you like watching wheel of fortune you know you may want to play wheel of fortune right you know that kind of thing so it's it goes beyond just sports but really it's just taking you know sports and entertainment um you know streaming sports and entertainment and and and like i say figuring out ways to gamify them make them interactive and ultimately monetize them and if we can be thought of as the company the go-to company for that experience i think that's you know where our goal sits well i wish you the best of luck on your endeavor uh it was very interesting to speak to you thank you for uh taking your time mr patera absolutely i appreciate it thank you very much have a nice day have a nice weekend yes you too bye-bye [Music] you