Scott Hansbury, founder of YouStake, explains the regulatory and tax framework enabling fans to buy equity stakes in poker tournament players.
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hansbury: There are 100M poker fans globally, with 60M in the US
“There's actually a hundred million poker fans worldwide, sixty million of which is in the U.S., And of all those, one percent of that is actual players.”
Assertion Supported
Sun Microsystems Acquired HighGround Systems for $400 Million
“We ended up accepting an offer from Sun Microsystems for four hundred million.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
HighGround Systems Generated $15M Annual Revenue at Acquisition
“The revenue at that time was right around fifteen million. Annually.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
YouStake Processed $2.8M in Listings and $1.4M in Pledges Over Six Months
“So in the six months that we launched, we've had 2.8 million dollars in stakes put up on the site. So that's kind of the supply side. And then we've had 1.4 million pledges against those stakes.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hansbury: YouStake has 2,700 users and roughly 250 highly active backers
“There's 2700 users right now, and out of that 2700 users, we've got about 250 of them that are pretty, you know, really active, multiple stakes on multiple people. And then we've got, you know, probably another 150 to 200 that are just, you know, casually here…”
Disclosure
Hansbury: YouStake takes a 5% net fee on poker staking raises
“No, no, we're taking, we actually get five percent. There's eight percent added to the raise, but five percent goes to us. That's our fee. And the other 2.9% basically is, is the merchant fee that goes to the, you know, credit card and PayPal and those kinds o…”