Shares in High Roller Technologies more than doubled in price today (14 April), after the company announced the launch of its own prediction market offering with Crypto.com.
Shares jumped from $5.20 at market close yesterday to $10.77 today, before dropping to around $7.93 at the time of writing.
The rapid price increase follows High Roller executing a definitive agreement with Crypto.com today, following a Letter of Intent (LOI) signed in January.
Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek has celebrated the bringing together of “a premium brand, strong online expertise and an established customer-facing platform.”
The companies’ January Letter of Intent represented another example of a big name from the mainstream gambling industry partnering with a prediction market operator.
The structure of the arrangement means that Crypto.com’s prediction contracts will be accessible to users of HighRoller.com.
When the LOI was signed, High Roller CEO Seth Young characterised the plans as an opportunity to unite “the massive appeal of prediction markets with our strong distribution capabilities.”
In a new statement, Young celebrated the work that has been done to get the agreement over the line, adding: “Over the last few months, we have been working towards preparing our product and other logistics for this transformative opportunity and today marks a significant milestone in that journey.”
Crypto.com continues to scale its offering
Since September last year, Crypto.com has been in possession of the full suite of CFTC licences, empowering it to host its own futures contracts as a Designated Contract Market.
This status has also allowed it to partner with other gambling industry operators, such as Underdog, DraftKings and MyPrize.
Marszalek reiterated the company’s commitment to scaling, saying: “Together, we believe we can expand access to regulated event contracts in the United States through a differentiated and highly scalable offering.”
The product has not yet launched, but finance, sports and entertainment contracts have been earmarked as potential offerings.
Legally speaking, High Roller will be functioning as an ‘Introducing Broker’ with a relationship to Crypto.com’s own CFTC-registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM).
High Roller has stated that further updates regarding product, brand, launch timing and marketing partnerships will follow in due course.
How much it could be worth
It is notable that High Roller, which is primarily an online casino platform, has opted to forge a path in the prediction market space, having previously signed an LOI with Altenar Software to develop a more traditional sportsbook offering.
It seems Young is keen to hedge the company’s bets and expand its sports-related offerings in two simultaneous new directions.
In January, he commented: “The addition of sportsbook to our product suite through Altenar offers us the opportunity to rapidly expand High Roller’s market position.”
Whatever the strategy, the thinking behind this prediction market deal is laid clear in the announcement. The release makes reference to Eilers and Krejcik Gaming analysis, which estimates that a mature US prediction market ecosystem could end up exceeding $1tn in annual trading volume.