Splash Inc. Aqcuires RunYourPool and OfficeFootballPool

The most prominent sports gaming platform for peer-to-peer contests Splash Inc. announced its acquisition of RunYourPool (RYP) and OfficeFootballPool (OFP) to bring to market its peer-to-peer real money gaming platform Splash Sports. Although Splash acquired RYP and OFP two years ago, since the investment, they have seen a dramatic increase in users, going from 600k to 2.2 million. To put those numbers in perspective, nearly 60 million Americans participate in sports pools yearly, with almost 10 billion dollars in prize contributions.

Even though Splash Sports is only in private beta, it presents an intriguing alternative to conventional sports betting. What makes Splash unique is that it empowers commissioners or league organizers to have control over their peer-to-peer leagues, performing functions such as managing entry fees and payouts without placing any wagers against the house. 

TJ Ross, the Co-founder of Splash Sports, highlighted the house’s impact on the sports betting patron when he explained in a press release.

“A trend we’ve seen in real money gaming is that players are tired of giving money ‘to the house.’ It is almost impossible to consistently beat the book, and those who do win get their accounts limited or shut down. Our focus is providing the platform for commissioners to run their own games and we truly don’t care who wins. We think playing in a peer-to-peer setting is not only more fun, but also more fair.”

Splash Sports equips commissioners with the means for successful oversight of their pool; in addition to handling entry fees and payouts, they can initiate contests and be privy to comprehensive scoring updates and invitations. Splash Sports’ peer-to-peer platform infuses the community aspect into sports gaming. 

We love sports because we are invested in a collective experience. “Sports are more fun with your friends,” expressed Joel Milton, co-founder of Splash Sports, “the popularity of fantasy football, survivor pools, and March Madness brackets, show that players want to compete against people they know. Whereas operators struggle to integrate social elements into their product experience, pools are inherently social, which results in a far stickier product than an individual user betting against the house. From a business perspective, lower customer acquisition costs and higher retention are two key metrics that help Splash Sports stand out in this competitive industry.”

Further, Splash Sports has strategically leveraged its stealth period to establish a robust support system spanning various industries, including sports, entertainment, and venture capital. The company boasts strong backing from prominent venture capital firms, including Accomplice, Acies Investments, Elysian Park Ventures, Velvet Sea Ventures, and Boston Seed Capital, with key investors such as Theo Epstein, Doc O’Connor, Jonathan Kraft, Mike Gordon, and Sam Kennedy Fenway of Sports Group, and Alex Morgan, a renowned US Women’s National Team soccer star and three-time Olympian. With a scheduled launch in July, Splash Sports is poised to become the go-to peer-to-peer platform for every season.