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Lottery.com, Inc. (LTRY)
NASDAQ:LTRY
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Risk Overview Q3, 2024
Risk Distribution
32% Finance & Corporate
22% Legal & Regulatory
17% Tech & Innovation
17% Ability to Sell
9% Production
4% Macro & Political
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
This chart displays the stock's most recent risk distribution according to category. TipRanks has identified 6 major categories: Finance & corporate, legal & regulatory, macro & political, production, tech & innovation, and ability to sell.
Risk Change Over Time
S&P500 Average
Sector Average
Risks removed
Risks added
Risks changed
Lottery.com, Inc. Risk Factors
New Risk (0)
Risk Changed (0)
Risk Removed (0)
No changes from previous report
The chart shows the number of risks a company has disclosed. You can compare this to the sector average or S&P 500 average.
The quarters shown in the chart are according to the calendar year (January to December). Businesses set their own financial calendar, known as a fiscal year. For example, Walmart ends their financial year at the end of January to accommodate the holiday season.
The quarters shown in the chart are according to the calendar year (January to December). Businesses set their own financial calendar, known as a fiscal year. For example, Walmart ends their financial year at the end of January to accommodate the holiday season.
Risk Highlights Q3, 2024
Main Risk Category
Finance & Corporate
With 26 Risks
Finance & Corporate
With 26 Risks
Number of Disclosed Risks
82
+1
From last reportS&P 500 Average: 31
82
+1
From last reportS&P 500 Average: 31
Recent Changes
3Risks added
0Risks removed
1Risks changed
Since Sep 2024
3Risks added
0Risks removed
1Risks changed
Since Sep 2024
Number of Risk Changed
1
+1
From last reportS&P 500 Average: 3
1
+1
From last reportS&P 500 Average: 3
See the risk highlights of Lottery.com, Inc. in the last period.
Risk Word Cloud
The most common phrases about risk factors from the most recent report. Larger texts indicate more widely used phrases.
Risk Factors Full Breakdown - Total Risks 82
Finance & Corporate
Total Risks: 26/82 (32%)Below Sector Average
Share Price & Shareholder Rights10 | 12.2%
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1
We are currently not in full compliance with the continued listing standards of Nasdaq, we may not be able to regain full compliance with Nasdaq's continued listing standards in the future.Changed
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 2
The issuance and sale of common stock upon conversion of the amounts owed or upon exercise of the warrants issued to Either Woodford or UCIL under each's loan agreement may depress the market price of our common stock and cause substantial dilution.As of December 31, 2023, per the Company's books and records, we had borrowed $951,298 under the Loan Agreement to Woodford and $711,610 from UCIL. Amounts borrowed can be repaid at any time without penalty and accrue interest per the terms and conditions of each loan agreement. Amounts borrowed may, at each lender's option, be converted into shares of common stock, beginning 60 days after the first loan date at the rate of 80% of the lowest publicly available price per share of Company common stock.
In addition, in connection with the loan agreement we agreed to grant warrants to each of Woodford and UCIL to purchase up to 15% of the shares of common stock that are then issued and outstanding, each with an exercise price equal to the average of the closing price for each of the ten days prior to the drawing of the first tranche. In the event we fail to repay the amounts borrowed when due or either lender fails to convert the amount owed into shares of common stock, the exercise price of the warrants may be offset by amounts owed , and in such case, the exercise price of the warrants will be subject to a further discount.
If sequential conversions of amounts owed under either loan agreement or warrants are exercised, and sales of such resulting shares of common stock take place, the price of our common stock may decline, and as a result, the lender will be entitled to receive an increasing number of shares of common stock, which shares could then be sold in the market, triggering further price declines and conversions or exercises for even larger numbers of shares, to the detriment of our investors. The shares of common stock issued may, under certain conditions, be sold without restriction pursuant to Rule 144. As a result, the sale of these shares may adversely affect the market price, if any, of our common stock.
Additionally, the issuance of common stock upon conversion of the amounts owed under either loan agreement or the exercise of warrants will result in immediate and substantial dilution to the interests of other stockholders.
On June 12, 2023, the Company entered into an amendment of its Loan Agreement with Woodford (the "Loan Agreement Amendment"). The Loan Agreement Amendment provides that Woodford shall henceforth be able to convert, in whole or in part, the outstanding balance of its loan into the conversion shares at a conversion price that represents a further 25% discount to the original conversion price of 20%. All other terms and conditions of securitization remain in full force and effect.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 3
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about the Company, or publish negative reports, the Company's stock price and trading volume could decline.The trading market for our common stock and warrants will depend, in part, on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about the Company. The Company does not have any control over these analysts. If the Company's financial performance fails to meet analyst estimates or one or more of the analysts who cover the Company downgrade its common stock or change their opinion, the Company's stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of the Company or fail to regularly publish reports on the Company, it could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause the Company's stock price or trading volume to decline.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 4
The market price of our common stock and warrants could be highly volatile, and you may lose some or all of your investment.The market price of our common stock and warrants could be highly volatile and may be subject to wide fluctuations in response to a variety of factors, including the following:
- announcements by us or our competitors of new products, features, or services; ? - the public's reaction to our press releases, other public announcements, and filings with the SEC; - rumors and market speculation involving us or other companies in our industry; - actual or anticipated changes in our results of operations or fluctuations in our results of operations; - changes in the financial projections we may provide to the public or our failure to meet these projections; - actual or anticipated developments in our business, our competitors' businesses or the competitive landscape generally; - actual or perceived privacy or data security incidents; - risks related to the organic and inorganic growth of our business and the timing of expected business milestones, including those related to announced or completed acquisitions of businesses, products, services, or technologies by us or our competitors; - actual or anticipated changes in applicable laws or regulations; - changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations, or principles; - our ability to forecast or report accurate financial results; and - technical factors in the public trading market for our common stock and warrants that may produce price movements that may or may not comport with macro, industry or company-specific fundamentals, including, without limitation, the sentiment of retail investors (including as may be expressed on financial trading and other social media sites), the amount and status of short interest in our securities, access to margin debt, trading in options and other derivatives on our common stock and warrants and any related hedging and other technical trading factors.
In addition, the stock markets historically have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected the market prices of equity securities of many publicly-held companies. These fluctuations have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. Broad market and industry factors, as well as general economic, political, regulatory and market conditions, may negatively affect the market price of our common stock and warrants, regardless of a company's actual operating performance. In addition, in the past, securities class action litigation has often been brought against a company following a decline in the market price of its securities. If the Company faces such litigation, it could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management's attention and resources, which could harm its business, results of operations, cash flow, or financial condition.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 5
An active trading market for our common stock and warrants may never develop or be sustained, which may make it difficult to sell the shares of common stock and warrants.An active trading market for the common stock and warrants may not develop or continue or, if developed, may not be sustained, which would make it difficult for you to sell your shares of common stock and warrants at an attractive price or at all. The market price of our common stock and warrants may decline below your purchase price, and you may not be able to sell your shares of common stock and warrants at or above the price you paid for such shares or at all.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 6
Anti-takeover provisions contained in our Charter and Bylaws, as well as provisions of Delaware law, could impair a takeover attempt.Our Charter contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. The Company is subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law which could delay or prevent a change of control. These provisions are intended to avoid costly takeover battles, reduce our vulnerability to a hostile change of control and enhance the ability of our Board to maximize stockholder value in connection with any unsolicited offer to acquire us. However, these provisions may make more difficult the removal of management, may have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, deter or prevent a merger or acquisition of us by means of a tender offer, a proxy contest or other takeover attempt that a stockholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the prevailing market price for our securities. These provisions provide for, among other things:
- authorized but unissued shares of common stock and preferred stock, which may be used for a variety of corporate finance transactions, acquisitions and employee benefit plans and the existence of which could make more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of the Company by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise (the DGCL does not require stockholder approval for any issuance of authorized shares); - stockholder action may not be by written consent (the DGCL provides that unless otherwise provided in the charter, any action of a meeting of stockholders may be taken without a meeting and prior notice by signed written consent of stockholders having the minimum number of votes that would be necessary to take such action at a meeting at which all shares entitled to vote thereon were present and voted); - amendment of certain provisions of the organizational documents only by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the voting power of the outstanding capital stock (the DGCL provides generally that the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote thereon, voting together as a single class, is required to amend a corporation's certificate of incorporation, unless the certificate of incorporation requires a greater percentage); - provisions providing for a board of directors with staggered terms and detailing that the number of directors may be fixed and modified only by our Board; - advance notice for nominations of directors by stockholders and for stockholders to include matters to be considered at annual meetings, which may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer's own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of Lottery.com; and - the ability of our Board to issue one or more series of preferred stock. - providing that directors may be removed only for cause and then only by a two-thirds vote of the holders of a majority of the voting power of the outstanding shares then entitled to vote in an election of directors, voting together as a single class; - providing that vacancies on our Board, including newly-created directorships, may be filled only by a majority vote of directors then in office; and - prohibiting stockholders from calling special meetings of stockholders.
In addition, these provisions may make it difficult and expensive for a third party to pursue a tender offer, change in control or takeover attempt that is opposed by our management or our Board. Stockholders who might desire to participate in these types of transactions may not have an opportunity to do so, even if the transaction is favorable to them. These anti-takeover provisions could substantially impede any stockholder's ability to benefit from a change in control or change our management and Board and, as a result, may adversely affect the market price of common stock and the ability for any stockholder to realize any potential change of control premium.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 7
The exclusive forum provision in our Charter may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.Our Charter requires, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, that (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, other employee to us or to our stockholders; (iii) any action asserting a claim against us, our directors, officers or employees arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the "DGCL"), our Charter or our Amended and Restated Bylaws (our "Bylaws"); or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us, our directors, officers or employees governed by the internal affairs doctrine under Delaware law shall be brought, to the fullest extent permitted by law, solely and exclusively in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware.
In addition, our Charter requires, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, that the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this provision in the Charter does not apply to claims seeking to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act since Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, a court may determine that this provision is unenforceable, and to the extent it is enforceable, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 8
A court may find that part or all of the provisions included in our Charter pertaining to the redemption right with respect to capital stock held by any stockholders who are deemed to be "disqualified" or "unsuitable" holders is not enforceable, either in general or as to a particular fact situation.Under the laws of the State of Delaware, our jurisdiction of incorporation, a corporation may provide in its certificate of incorporation for the amount of securities that may be owned by any person or group of persons for the purpose of maintaining any statutory or regulatory advantage or complying with any statutory or regulatory requirements under applicable law. Delaware law provides that ownership limitations with respect to shares of our stock issued prior to the effectiveness of our Charter will be effective against (i) stockholders with respect to shares that were voted in favor of the proposed provision; and (ii) purported transferees of shares that were voted for the proposed provision if (a) the transfer restrictions are conspicuously noted on the certificate(s) representing such shares, or (b) the transferee had actual knowledge of the transfer restrictions (even absent such conspicuous notation). The shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share issued after the effective date of our Charter were issued with the ownership limitation conspicuously noted on the certificate(s) representing such shares and therefore under Delaware law such newly issued shares will be subject to the transfer restriction. We have also disclosed such restrictions to persons holding our stock in uncertificated form.
We cannot assure you that the provision pertaining to the redemption right with respect to capital stock held by any stockholders who are deemed to be "disqualified" or "unsuitable" holders is enforceable under all circumstances, particularly against stockholders who did not vote in favor of the proposed provision, who do not have notice of the ownership limitations at the time they subsequently acquire their shares, or who acquire shares that were owned, at the time of the vote on the provision, by a stockholder (or stockholders) who did not vote such shares in favor of the proposed provision. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that we would be able to redeem the shares of a stockholder deemed an unsuitable person by applicable regulatory authorities.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 9
Our Charter includes certain redemption rights which may negatively affect the value our common stock and other securities and/or result in the redemption of shares of common stock or other securities held by certain holders.Our Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (our "Charter") provides that any shares of capital stock, bonds, notes, convertible debentures, options, warrants or other instruments that represent a share of equity of the Company, a debt owed by the Company or the right to acquire any of the foregoing (for purposes of this section, the "Redeemable Securities"), owned or controlled by a record or beneficial holder of the Company's Redeemable Securities or an affiliate thereof who or that (i) fails or refuses to participate in good faith in an investigative process of, or submit documents, give notices or make filings requested or required by, any Regulatory Authority (as such term is defined in the Charter), (ii) is denied or disqualified by any regulatory authority from receiving or holding any Regulatory Approval (as such term is defined in the Charter)), (iii) is determined by a regulatory authority or by the Board, based on advice of counsel or verifiable information received from any Regulatory Authority, to be disqualified or unsuitable to own or control any Redeemable Securities or to be associated or affiliated in any capacity with the Company, its affiliates, or the business and activities of the Company and its affiliates in any Applicable Jurisdiction (as such term is defined in the Charter), (iv) causes the Company or any of its affiliates to lose or to be threatened with the loss of any Regulatory Approval, or (v) is deemed likely by the Board, based on advice of counsel or verifiable information received from any Regulatory Authority, by virtue of such holder's ownership or control of Redeemable Securities or association or affiliation with the Company or its affiliates, to jeopardize, impede, impair or adversely affect the ability of the Company's or any of its affiliates to obtain, maintain, hold, use or retain any Regulatory Approval or to cause or result in the suspension, disapproval, termination, non-renewal or loss of any Regulatory Approval (each of such holders or an affiliate of such holder, a "Disqualified Holder") shall be subject to redemption by the Company (as described in the Charter) as and to the extent required by a Regulatory Authority or deemed necessary or advisable by the Company's Board.
If a Regulatory Authority requires the Company, or the Board deems it necessary or advisable, to cause any such Redeemable Securities be subject to redemption, we will deliver a redemption notice (as described in the Charter) to the Disqualified Holder or its affiliate(s) (as applicable) and shall purchase the number and type of Redeemable Securities specified in the redemption notice for the redemption price, as defined and determined in accordance with the Charter and set forth in the redemption notice.
Commencing on the date that a regulatory authority serves notice of a determination of disqualification or unsuitability of a holder of Redeemable Securities, or the Board otherwise determines that a person is a Disqualified Holder, and until the Redeemable Securities owned or controlled by such person are owned or controlled by a person who is not a Disqualified Holder, the Disqualified Holder and any affiliates of such Disqualified Holder shall not be entitled to: (i) exercise, directly or indirectly, any voting rights conferred by such Redeemable Securities or otherwise participate in the management of the business or affairs of the Company or our affiliates; (ii) receive any dividends or share of distribution of profits or cash or any other property of, or payments upon dissolution of, the Company or our affiliates, other than payment for the redemption of the Redeemable Securities as described in the Charter; or (iii) receive any remuneration in any form from the Company or any of our affiliates, for services rendered or otherwise.
No redemption of Redeemable Securities shall be effectuated pursuant to the Charter without the receipt of the regulatory approvals required. From and after the redemption date, the Redeemable Securities shall no longer be deemed outstanding, such Disqualified Holder shall cease to be a stockholder with respect to such Redeemable Securities and all rights of such Disqualified Holder (other than the right to receive the redemption price) shall cease.
The existence of the redemption rights set forth in our Charter may result in the value of the Redeemable Securities being less than they would without the existence of such rights, may prevent the sale or transfer of such Redeemable Securities, and may result in a holder of Redeemable Securities receiving less value for such Redeemable Securities upon the redemption thereof as they would had such Redeemable Securities not been redeemed.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 10
The circumstances that led to the failure to file our annual report and quarterly reports on time, and our efforts to investigate, assess and remediate those matters have caused and may continue to cause substantial delays in our SEC filings.Our ability to resume a timely filing schedule with respect to our SEC reporting is subject to a number of contingencies, including whether and how quickly we are able to effectively remediate the identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. Our filing of our quarterly reports and annual report has been delayed and we cannot assure you we will be able to timely make our future filings.
In cases where we delay our filings, investors will need to evaluate certain decisions with respect to our shares of common stock and warrants in light of our lack of current financial information. Accordingly, any investment in our shares and/or warrants may involve a greater degree of risk than other companies who are current on their public filings. Our lack of current public information may have an adverse impact on investor confidence, which could lead to a reduction in our stock price or restrictions on our abilities to obtain financing in the public market, among others.
Accounting & Financial Operations5 | 6.1%
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 1
If we fail to implement and maintain an effective system of internal controls, we may be unable to accurately report our results of operations, meet our reporting obligations or prevent fraud, and investor confidence and the trading price of our common stock and warrants may be materially and adversely affected.Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 2
Our projections are subject to significant risks, assumptions, estimates and uncertainties, including assumptions regarding future legislation and changes in regulations, both inside and outside of the U.S. As a result, our projected revenues, market share, expenses and profitability may differ materially from our expectations.The gaming and lottery industry is subject to rapid change, significant competition, and multiple regulatory oversight and our projections are subject to the risks and assumptions made by management with respect to our industries. Operating results are difficult to forecast because they generally depend on our assessment of the timing of adoption of future legislation and regulations by different states, which are uncertain. Furthermore, if we invest in the development of new products, services or distribution channels that do not achieve significant commercial success, whether because of implementation, competition or otherwise, we may not recover the often substantial "up front" costs of developing and marketing those products and distribution channels or recover the opportunity cost of diverting management and financial resources away from other services, products or distribution channels.
Additionally, our business may be affected by reductions in consumer spending from time to time as a result of a number of factors which may be difficult to predict. This may result in decreased revenue levels, and we may be unable to adopt measures in a timely manner to compensate for any unexpected shortfall in income. This inability could cause our operating results in a given quarter to be higher or lower than expected. If actual results differ from our estimates, analysts may react negatively, and our stock price could be materially impacted.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 3
Because the Company does not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future, capital appreciation, if any, would be your sole source of gain.The Company currently anticipates that it will retain future earnings for the development, operation and expansion of its business and does not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends for the foreseeable future.
As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of the Company's shares of common stock would be your sole source of gain on an investment in such shares for the foreseeable future.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 4
Our results of operations may fluctuate due to seasonality and other factors and, therefore, our periodic operating results will not be guarantees of future performance.Although lottery games are offered on a year-round basis, there is seasonality in lottery games purchasing that may impact our operations and operations of our customers. The broad geographical mix of our user and customer base also impacts the effect of seasonality, as users and customers in different territories typically place differing importance on different lottery games and those games often have different calendars. For example, some multi-state games can have occasional increasingly high jackpot opportunities, which increase user attention and ticket purchases, which further increases the jackpot. Such events may cause increases in our revenues. By contrast, low jackpot lottery games or periods in which there is little promotional activity connected to lottery games in general may negatively impact the purchase of lottery games. Such fluctuations and uncertainties may negatively impact our cash flows.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 5
We have incurred net losses in the past with negative cash flows and suspended operations and may not be able to generate and sustain profitability.We have a history of incurring net losses and have suspended significantly our operations since July 2022, the Operational Cessation. We may not be able to achieve or maintain a needed level of profitability in the future. We experienced net losses of approximately $24.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, and experienced net losses of approximately $60.0 million and $53.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively. As of December 31, 2023, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $233.8 million. While we have received some limited revenue since the Operational Cessation, we cannot predict when or whether we will be able to restart our operations and/or whether or not we will be able to reach profitability at any time in the future.
We also expect our operating expenses to increase in the future as we continue to invest for our future growth, which will negatively affect our results of operations if our total revenue does not increase. We cannot ensure that these investments will result in substantial increases in our total revenue or improvements in our results of operations. In addition to the anticipated costs to grow our business, we also expect to incur significant additional legal, accounting, and other expenses as a public company. Once we restart our operations, any failure to increase our revenue or to manage our costs could prevent us from achieving or maintaining profitability or positive cash flow.
Debt & Financing7 | 8.5%
Debt & Financing - Risk 1
We currently owe a significant amount of money under our Woodford Loan Agreement, which we may not be able to repay.Debt & Financing - Risk 2
Our cash and cash equivalents may be exposed to failure of our banking institutions.Since we seek to minimize our exposure to third-party losses of our cash and cash equivalents, we hold our cash balances in more than one financial institution. Notwithstanding such allocation, we are subject to the risk of bank failure and the consequent loss of our funds, in whole or in part. If any bank at which we hold deposits were to experience a failure, we could experience the risk of loss, or limitation on access to, our cash and cash equivalents which would adversely affect our business.
Debt & Financing - Risk 3
Our obligations under the loan agreements are secured by a first priority security interest in substantially all of our assets and if we were to default, they could force us to curtail or abandon our business plans and operations.The amounts borrowed pursuant to the terms of the Woodford Loan Agreement are secured by substantially all of the present and after-acquired assets of the Company and its subsidiaries. As a result, Woodford as our creditor, in the event of the occurrence of a default may enforce its security interests over our assets and/or our subsidiaries which secure such obligations, take control of such assets and operations, force us to seek bankruptcy protection, or force us to curtail or abandon our current business plans and operations. If that were to happen, any investment in the Company (including, but not limited to, any investment in our common stock) could become worthless.
Debt & Financing - Risk 4
We are subject to certain covenants while amounts are outstanding under the loan agreements which may restrict our ability to undertake future activities, including issuing additional shares of common stock.Each loan agreement includes confidentiality obligations, representations, warranties, covenants, and events of default, which are customary for a transaction of this size and nature. For example, included in the Woodford Loan Agreement are covenants prohibiting us from (a) making any loan in excess of $1 million or obtaining any loan in amount exceeding $1 million without the consent of Woodford, which may not be unreasonably withheld; (b) selling more than $1 million in assets; (c) maintaining less than enough assets to perform our obligations under the Loan Agreement; (d) encumbering any assets, except in the normal course of business, and not in an amount to exceed $1 million; (e) amending or restating our governing documents; (f) declaring or paying any dividend; (g) issuing any shares of common stock which negatively affects UCIL; and (h) repurchasing any shares of common stock. Such covenants in either loan agreement may restrict our ability to raise capital, pay consultants, officers and directors, and may ultimately result in material adverse effects to the Company. The result of that may be a decrease in the value of our securities or our need to seek bankruptcy protection.
Debt & Financing - Risk 5
Woodford Eurasia Assets Ltd., ("Woodford"), and United Capital Investments London Limited, ("UCIL") may not loan us the amounts they agreed to under each of their amended and restated loan agreements. If either fails to provide us with funding, we may be forced to curtail or even abandon our plan to recommence our operations and we may need to permanently cease our operations.As previously noted, we need to raise capital to, among other things, support and restart our operations, re-hire employees and pay our expenses. The amended and restated loan agreements with Woodford and UCIL are potential sources of this needed additional capital that is presently available to us.
Pursuant to the Woodford Amended and Restated Loan Agreement, Woodford agreed to fund up to $52.5 million, subject to certain conditions and requirements, of which, per our books and records, $951,298 was received by us through December 31, 2023.
As reported on form 8-K on August 1, 2023, the Company reported that it had not received the requisite funding on a timely basis that it expected from Woodford, despite making several requests to Woodford for said funding under the Woodford Amended and Restated Loan Agreement. Moreover, the Board of Directors determined that it was in the best interest of the Company and its stockholders to enter into a new loan agreement with UCIL, as an alternative lender to Woodford, upon receiving an event of default notice on July 21, 2023 (the "Default Notice") and an event of default and crystallization notice on July 25, 2023 (the "Crystallization Notice") from Woodford under the Woodford Amended and Restated Loan Agreement. On July 24, 2023, the Company responded to the Default Notice disputing that an event of default had occurred. Further, on July 27, 2023, the Company replied to the Crystallization Notice denying that an event of default occurred or continued, and further asserted that Woodford's attempt for crystallization was inappropriate and unlawful under its loan agreement. The matter currently is in litigation.
Given the uncertainty of the continued financing under the Woodford Loan Agreement, on July 26, 2023, the Company secured and formalized alternative funding by entering into a Loan Agreement with UCIL which was further amended and restated on August 18, 2023. The UCIL agreement was approved by the shareholders on or about November 17, 2023 and attached to this 10-K as an exhibit.
The UCIL loan agreement provides for a credit facility (the "Credit Facility") consisting of (a) funding in the principal amount of up to $1,000,000 to be paid in tranches over time and as requested by the Company (the "Initial Loan"), wherein in return for the Initial Loan the Company shall issue to UCIL a number of warrants (the "Warrants") to purchase shares of the Company's common stock ("common stock") in an amount representing at least 4.5% but not exceeding 15% of the Company's issued and outstanding common stock on the date of such issuance; and (b) an additional credit facility, at the Company's written request and at UCIL's sole discretion for an amount up to a total of $49,000,000 in additional financing (the "Accordion") in subsequent funding tranches. The interest rate on the Initial Loan and the Accordion is 10% per annum. The Credit Facility provides that UCIL may elect, in its sole discretion, to convert an amount of the Initial Loan and the Accordion, together with accrued interest, into shares of common stock at a conversion price calculated in accordance with the terms of the Loan Agreement. In addition, the Credit Facility includes certain customary representations, warranties and events of default subject to customary notice and cure rights.
If neither Woodford nor UCIL is able or willing over time to advance us amounts owed under either of their amended and restated loan agreements and/or we are unable to raise additional funds from other third parties, we may not be able to raise enough capital to recommence our operations and run our business. Consequently, we may be forced to curtail or even abandon our plan to recommence our operations and we may need to permanently cease our operations.
Debt & Financing - Risk 6
We may not recover amounts owed to us from J. Streicher Financial, LLC.On July 29, 2022, the Company filed an original Verified Complaint for Breach of Contract and Specific Performance (the "Complaint") against J. Streicher Financial, LLC ("Streicher") in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (the "Chancery Court"). In its Complaint, the Company alleged that Streicher breached a contract entered into by the parties on March 9, 2022, and demanded that Streicher return $16,500,000 it owes to the Company. On September 26, 2022, the Chancery Court entered an order in favor of the Company, Granting with Modifications Company's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment in the amount of $16,500,000 (the "Judgment"). On October 27, 2022, the Chancery Court further awarded the Company $397,036.94 in attorney's fees (the "Fee Order"). On November 15, 2022, the Company initiated efforts against Streicher to seek collections on the Judgment and Fee Order. The Company subsequently engaged a collection firm to pursue Streicher as a judgment debtor on behalf of Company. Since being engaged, the collection firm has sought collections on Streicher by noticing Judgment-Debtor for Deposition by Oral Examination in Aid of Judgment and seeking post-judgment discovery, including interrogatories and requests for production.
In an effort to avoid post-judgment discovery, Streicher indicated a willingness to pay the judgment over time with interest and is attempting to negotiate a settlement and forbearance agreement with the Company. Streicher's original deadline to produce documents and respond to the post-judgment discovery was January 16, 2023, and the Deposition was scheduled to take place on January 19, 2023. On January 20, 2023, faced with post-judgment discovery and depositions, Streicher remitted a partial payment towards the Judgment in the amount of $75,000. On February 13, 2023, Streicher made another payment towards the Judgment in the amount of $50,000 and agreed to make another payment in the amount of $75,000 on February 28, 2023. Streicher failed to remit the payment on February 28, 2023, and as a result, the Company is proceeding with the post-judgment discovery and depositions, which was scheduled for March 16, 2023, however Streicher did not appear at such hearing. The Company intends to fully collect on the Judgment and intends to pursue all legal and equitable means to enforce the Judgment against Streicher until the Judgment is fully satisfied.
We may never collect the full amount of the judgment, the costs of collecting the judgment, including additional legal fees may be material, and Streicher may not have funds to pay us amounts due or make seek bankruptcy protection.
Debt & Financing - Risk 7
We need additional capital to, among other things, support and restart our operations, re-hire or hire employees and engage contractors and pay our expenses. Such capital may not be available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. If we do not receive the additional capital, we may be forced to curtail or abandon our plans to recommence our operations and we may need to permanently cease our operations.We need to raise capital to, among other things, support and restart our operations, re-hire or hire employees, engage contractors and pay our expenses. The most likely source of future funds presently available to us will be through future borrowings under one or more loan agreements or through the sale of equity or debt. We may have difficulty obtaining additional funding, and we may have to accept terms that would adversely affect our stockholders. For example, the terms of any future financings, similar to our initial Woodford Loan Agreement, may impose restrictions on the manner in which we conduct our business, including our ability to pay dividends. Additionally, lending institutions or private investors may impose restrictions on a future decision by us to make capital expenditures, acquisitions or significant asset sales. Obtaining additional financing involves certain risks, including:
- additional equity or debt financing may not be available to us on satisfactory terms, if at all; - if we raise additional funds by issuing equity, equity-linked securities or debt securities, those securities may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to the rights of our currently issued and outstanding equity or debt, and our existing stockholders may experience dilution; - loans or other debt instruments may have terms and/or conditions, such as interest rate, restrictive covenants and control or revocation provisions, which are not acceptable to management or our Board; - we may not have sufficient funds to repay our debt, which could lead us to default on our obligations; and - the current environment in capital markets combined with our capital constraints may prevent us from being able to obtain adequate debt financing.
If funds advanced under our current loan agreements are inadequate to meet our needs, and/or we are unable to raise additional funds, we may not be able to raise enough capital to recommence our operations and operate our business. Consequently, we may be forced to curtail or even abandon our plan to recommence our operations and we may need to permanently cease our operations.
Further, the operating relationship between the Company and some of its partners, such as the minority owners of Aganar and JuegaLotto, may be negatively impacted by the Company's lack of liquidity. If these relationships were to become strained or be terminated entirely, it could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition, including our ability to raise new capital, cash flows and results of operations.
Corporate Activity and Growth4 | 4.9%
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 1
The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources and divert management's attention, and the increases in legal, accounting and compliance expenses may be greater than we anticipate.Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 2
We may face difficulties as we expand our operations into new markets in which we have limited or no prior operating experience.Our capacity for growth depends, in part, on our ability to expand our operations into, and compete effectively in, new local entertainment, gaming and Online Lottery markets. It may be difficult for us to understand and accurately predict consumer preferences and spending habits in these new local markets. In addition, each market has unique regulatory dynamics. These include laws and regulations that can directly or indirectly affect our ability to operate. In addition, each market is subject to distinct competitive and operational dynamics. These include our ability to offer more attractive products, services and systems than alternative options and our ability to efficiently attract and retain users and customers, all of which affect our sales, results of operations, and key business metrics. As a result, we may experience fluctuations in our results of operations due to the changing dynamics in the local markets where we operate. If we invest substantial time and resources to expand our operations and are unable to manage these risks effectively, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 3
Our strategy anticipates substantial growth, and if we fail to adequately scale product offerings and manage our entry into new territories, our business and reputation may be harmed.Our business strategy contemplates substantial growth in our user and customer base, and a strategy to capture a larger share of a dynamic lottery market and shifting demographic, primarily in the U.S. but internationally as well. Our growth has previously placed, and is expected to continue to place, a significant strain on our managerial, administrative, operational and financial resources and our infrastructure. Our future success will depend, in part, upon the ability of our senior management to manage growth effectively. This will require us to, among other things:
- implement additional management information systems; - further develop our operating, administrative, legal, compliance, financial and accounting system and controls;- hire additional qualified personnel and develop human capital; - comply with additional regulatory regimes, securing licenses, findings of suitability, registrations, permits and approvals; and - maintain close coordination among our engineering, operations, legal, compliance, finance, sales and marketing and customer service and support organizations.
Failure to accomplish any of these requirements could adversely affect our ability to deliver our product, service, and systems offerings in a timely fashion, fulfill existing commitments or attract and retain new users and customers.
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 4
The Online Lottery market is still in relatively early stages of growth, and if such market does not continue to grow, grows slower than we expect, or fails to grow as we forecast, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.The Online Lottery market has grown rapidly since we launched our Platform in 2016, but it is still relatively new, and it is uncertain to what extent market acceptance will continue to grow, if at all. Our success will depend to a substantial extent on the willingness of users to purchase Online Lottery games, i.e., through mobile applications and web properties. If the public does not perceive these services as beneficial, or chooses not to use them as a result of concerns regarding security, safety, affordability, or for other reasons, whether as a result of incidents on our Platform or on our competitors' applications or otherwise, or instead adopts alternative solutions that may arise, then the market for our Platform may not further develop, may develop slower than we expect, or may not achieve the growth potential we expect, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Legal & Regulatory
Total Risks: 18/82 (22%)Above Sector Average
Regulation9 | 11.0%
Regulation - Risk 1
We are subject to domestic and foreign laws relating to processing certain financial transactions, including payment card transactions, and failure to comply with those laws, even if inadvertent, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.Regulation - Risk 2
We are subject to governmental laws and requirements of the U.S. and various foreign jurisdictions in which we operate regarding anti-bribery, anti-corruption, economic and trade sanctions, anti-money laundering, and counter-terror financing. Alleged or actual violation of any of these laws or requirements could negatively impact our brand and reputation, our ability to obtain or maintain any governmental licenses, findings of suitability, registrations, permits, and approvals, any of which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.As a digital company operating within the U.S. and subject to the jurisdiction of various foreign governments and regulatory agencies, we are accordingly subject to domestic and foreign laws regarding anti-bribery, anti-corruption, economic and trade sanctions, anti-money laundering, and counter-terror financing.
Our operations and our growth plans, including in connection with our intent to expand into new markets and undertake strategic acquisitions when we have sufficient funding to do so, may bring our officers, directors, employees, and representatives into contact with "foreign officials" responsible for issuing or renewing governmental licenses, findings of suitability, registrations, permits and approvals, or for otherwise enforcing governmental regulations and requirements. In our contact with such foreign officials, we are required to comply with anti-corruption laws and regulations imposed by governments around the world with jurisdiction over our operations, which include the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the "FCPA"), and the U.K. Bribery Act 2010 (the "U.K. Bribery Act"), as well as corresponding laws and regulations of the other countries where we do business. The FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act, and other applicable laws prohibit us and our officers, directors, employees, and business partners acting on our behalf, from corruptly offering, promising, authorizing, or providing anything of value to foreign officials for the purposes of influencing official decisions or obtaining or retaining business or otherwise obtaining favorable treatment. The U.K. Bribery Act also prohibits non-governmental "commercial" bribery and accepting bribes. Our operations, trade practices, investment decisions, and partnering activities may be restricted as a result.
In addition, some of the foreign locations in which we operate lack a developed legal system and may experience elevated levels of corruption. Our foreign operations expose us to the risk of inadvertently violating, or being accused of violating, anti-corruption laws and regulations. Our failure to successfully comply with any such laws and regulations may expose us to brand and reputational harm, as well as significant sanctions, including criminal fines, imprisonment, civil penalties, disgorgement of profits, and injunctions, as well as impacting our ability to maintain or obtain any governmental licenses, findings of suitability, registrations, permits and approvals. Further, investigations of alleged violations can result in substantial costs, fines, or penalties and diversion of our resources. We are continuously developing, monitoring and maintaining the various governmental requirements to comply with applicable anti-corruption laws and regulations, however, there is no certainty that they will effectively prevent violations for which we may be held responsible, or at all.
We are currently required to comply with U.S. economic and trade sanctions administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC"). Our Platform may be accessible from a sanctioned country in violation of applicable trade and economic sanctions. As part of our ongoing compliance efforts, we are implementing requirements to ensure that we do not violate these laws and regulations, however, our failure to adequately fulfill such requirements, fully perform any and all compliance requirements, or otherwise breach any compliance requirements of the OFAC could result in our being subject to penalties, fines or other enforcement actions.
We process, support and execute financial transactions as part of our business and disburse funds on behalf of certain of our users, including receiving payment card information and processing payments for and due to our users. Accordingly, we may be subject to various U.S. and foreign government anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing laws and regulations that prohibit, among other things, involvement in transferring the proceeds, in whole or in part, for criminal or terrorist activities, including, for example, in the U.S., the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, as amended (the "BSA"), and certain provisions of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (the "Patriot Act"). Although we have developed a risk-based anti-money laundering program that we are implementing, in the event that we breach any of these laws and regulations that are applicable to us, we could be subject to significant civil fines, penalties, inquiries, audits, investigations, enforcement actions, and criminal and civil liability.
Any failure on our part to implement, maintain or follow the necessary processes and policies to comply with these regulations and requirements, or to adapt our processes and policies to changes in laws or regulations would adversely impact our brand and reputation, or our ability to obtain or maintain any governmental licenses, findings of suitability, registrations, permits and approvals, and would negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Regulation - Risk 3
We take our corporate responsibility to our users, customers, and the requirements of the regulatory authorities in the jurisdictions in which we operate very seriously and are focused on maintaining a safe and responsible gaming environment. Our failure to remain in compliance with underage and responsible gaming requirements or any amendments or additions to such requirements could have a material adverse effect on us, our reputation and brand, or on our business, results of operations, or financial condition.We are committed to compliance with the underage and responsible gaming requirements set forth in the domestic and international statutes and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we do business and, as applicable, that govern our operations. We take our corporate responsibility to our users, customers and the regulators in the jurisdictions in which we operate very seriously and are focused on maintaining a safe and responsible gaming environment. We will continue to evaluate and develop our technology to meet the statutory requirements regarding responsible gaming and self-exclusion as well as our own self-imposed objectives regarding corporate social responsibility, as demonstrated by our ongoing compliance objectives and policies.
All of the U.S. jurisdictions and most of the foreign jurisdictions in which we operate prohibit sales of lottery tickets to persons under 18 years of age. We have instituted know-your-customer requirements to aid our efforts in identifying minors and preventing them from using our services. In many cases, these requirements apply to our lottery retailer partners and may not apply to us. Nevertheless, if we fail to abide by these requirements, our partners may be reluctant to do business with us or the applicable regulatory authorities may amend the requirements to apply specifically to us, to the extent that they do not already do so.
Many jurisdictions, especially foreign jurisdictions, are imposing more stringent rules with regard to underage and responsible gaming. This trend could continue to spread and both U.S. and foreign jurisdictions may strengthen underage and responsible gaming requirements. In the event that any jurisdiction in which we operate mandates additional requirements regarding corporate social responsibility, responsible gaming, self-exclusion, or similar mandates, we may be required to undertake additional technological initiatives to remain in compliance. Implementation of any such initiatives may present operational challenges and material costs and divert the attention of management and our systems developers and engineers, any of which may have a material adverse effect on us or our results of operations, cash flow, or financial condition. The failure to remain in compliance with underage and responsible gaming requirements or any amendments or additions to such requirements could have a material adverse effect on us or on our business, results of operations, or financial condition.
Regulation - Risk 4
We plan to continually develop internal compliance programs and requirements in an effort to ensure that we comply with legal requirements imposed in connection with our activities and generally applicable to all publicly traded companies, however, we cannot ensure that they will prevent the violation of one or more laws, which may have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.We plan to continually develop internal compliance programs in ongoing efforts to ensure our compliance with legal requirements imposed in connection with our business activities and with legal requirements generally applicable to all publicly traded companies. While we are firmly committed to full compliance with all applicable laws, and plan to continue to establish appropriate procedures and policies, we cannot ensure that our compliance program will prevent the violation of one or more laws or regulations, or that a violation by us, an employee, a customer, a subsidiary or an affiliate will not result in the imposition of a monetary fine or suspension or revocation of one or more of our governmental licenses, findings of suitability, registrations, permits and approvals, which could have a material adverse effect on us or on our results of operations, cash flow, or financial condition.
While we are confident that we will face additional regulatory requirements as we expand, we cannot predict the effect of future regulatory requirements to which our operations might be subject or the manner in which such requirements might be enforced. The compliance policies and procedures we implement may not always be followed at all times by directors, management, employees, agents, partners and other related parties, whether through neglect or intention. Our policies and procedures have not and may not effectively detect and prevent violations of applicable laws by one or more of our directors, management, employees, agents, partners, customers, affiliates, or other related or third parties. As a result, we and/or our directors, management, employees, agents, partners, customers, affiliates, or other related or third parties could be subject to investigations, criminal and civil penalties, sanctions and/or other enforcement measures that in turn could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flow, or financial condition.
Regulation - Risk 5
In some jurisdictions our key executives, certain employees, or other individuals related to our business may be subject to licensing or compliance requirements. Failure by such individuals to obtain the necessary licenses or comply with individual regulatory obligations, could cause our business to be non-compliant with such obligations, or imperil our ability to obtain or maintain licenses that may be necessary for the conduct of our business. In some cases, the remedy to such a situation may require the removal of a key executive or employee and the mandatory redemption or transfer of such person's equity securities.We currently hold a license issued by the Texas Lottery Commission to conduct the retail sale of lottery tickets in the State of Texas. We may determine or be required to secure additional licenses from other regulatory authorities with jurisdiction over lottery operations in new markets in which we contemplate expansion. Such licensure may impose additional obligations on us and our operations, which may include continuous disclosure to and an investigation by the applicable regulatory authority into the financial stability, integrity and business experience of the Company, its affiliates, and their respective significant stockholders, directors, officers, and key employees. In markets in which we have not previously operated or in newly regulated markets, licensing regimes may impose licensing requirements or conditions with which we have not previously been required to comply, which may include locating technical infrastructure within the relevant territory, establishing real-time data interfaces with the regulatory authority, implementing consumer protection, responsible gaming and privacy measures, or additional approvals or certifications of our technology, all of which may present operational challenges and material costs, and any of which may have a material adverse effect on us or our results of operations, cash flow, or financial condition.
(a) To the extent that any stockholder, director, officer or key employee is required to submit to required background checks and provide disclosure and fails to do so, or they or the Company fail to do so to the satisfaction of the relevant regulatory authority, such failure may jeopardize the grant of a license, provide grounds for termination of an existing license, or result in the imposition of penalties. Generally, any person or entity that fails or refuses to apply for a finding of suitability or a license within the prescribed period after being advised by a competent authority that they are required to do so may be denied a license or found unsuitable, as applicable, which may result in our being required to sever our relationship with such person or entity. Further, we may be subject to disciplinary action or suffer revocation of licensure if, following notification that a person or entity is disqualified or unsuitable, we: pay them any dividend or interest upon our shares; (b) allow them to exercise, directly or indirectly, any voting right conferred through the shares they hold; (c) pay them remuneration in any form for services rendered or otherwise; or (d) if required, fail to pursue all lawful efforts to terminate their association with the Company or require them to relinquish their shares.
In some U.S. jurisdictions, certain stockholders may also be required to file applications or submit to background checks. While such requirements typically apply only to stockholders in excess of certain thresholds (such as five or ten percent of the outstanding shares) or to stockholders who also have an active role in the Company, we cannot ensure that such jurisdictions might not seek licensure of additional stockholders in the future.
We cannot ensure that our activities will remain in compliance or that we will continue to receive all licenses or license renewals for which we apply. The loss of a license that we currently hold, or failure to receive a license, could have a material adverse effect on us or on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
Gaming and lottery authorities may revoke or suspend licenses, levy fines against us, or seize certain of our assets if we violate gaming regulations. We cannot ensure that we will be able to obtain or maintain the necessary licenses or approvals or that the licensing process will not result in delays or adversely affect our operations. Disciplinary action against a license holder in one jurisdiction could lead regulators in other jurisdictions to pursue similar action.
We cannot ensure that regulatory or governmental authorities will not seek to restrict our business in their jurisdictions or institute enforcement proceedings against us. We cannot ensure that any instituted enforcement proceedings will be favorably resolved, or that such proceedings will not have a material adverse effect on our ability to retain and renew existing licenses or to obtain new licenses.
Regulation - Risk 6
Our business model and the conduct of our operations may have to vary in each U.S. jurisdiction where we do business to address the unique features of applicable law to ensure we remain in compliance with that jurisdiction's laws. Our failure to adequately do so may have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.Lottery laws vary among U.S. jurisdictions. This means that our business model and the conduct of our operations may have to vary in each jurisdiction where we do business to ensure we remain in compliance with applicable laws. For example, some jurisdictions prohibit lottery ticket courier services, while some jurisdictions in the U.S. prohibit charging certain fees to the user, and further still, some jurisdictions require us to be licensed or registered, which will require us to incur certain costs in connection with the licensing or registration process. In each U.S. jurisdiction, we may be required to structure our business model and conduct our operations differently to address the unique features of applicable law.
Many of the U.S. jurisdictions in which we have historically done business or anticipate doing business in the future require that lottery game tickets be sold only by licensed retailers and prohibit sale or resale of lottery tickets at prices in excess of the purchase price designated by the applicable regulatory authority. Because lottery tickets are typically considered bearer instruments, we can purchase tickets on behalf of our users and customers and charge certain service fees within the limits of the applicable laws in each U.S. jurisdiction. In most cases, with Virginia being a notable exception, the laws do not specifically prohibit users from engaging our services to purchase lottery tickets on their behalf. However, certain types of fees are prohibited in certain jurisdictions. For example, Pennsylvania prohibits "any fee associated with the acquisition or transportation of lottery tickets or shares" and Illinois law prohibits service charges, handling fees or other costs added to the established price of a ticket. In those states and other states with similar prohibitions, we will need to structure our business model to comply with the relevant laws while still endeavoring to operate profitably.
If a U.S. jurisdiction prohibits our services, imposes onerous licensing or regulatory requirements, or imposes restrictions on the fees we charge, either by enacting new statutes or regulations or by reinterpreting existing statutes and regulations, such restrictions and requirements could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flow, or financial condition, force us to change our operations in that state, or cease operations in that state altogether.
Regulation - Risk 7
If the Interstate Wagering Amendment is interpreted or applied to prohibit transmissions to foreign countries, it could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.Various federal laws prohibit the transportation of lottery tickets, advertisements, and paraphernalia in interstate or foreign commerce or through the mail, except under certain circumstances. Generally, such laws do not apply to state or charitable lotteries conducted in accordance with the laws of the state in which such lottery is operated. The Interstate Wagering Amendment, enacted in 1994, sought to close a "loophole" in the federal laws allowing the sale of lottery tickets across state lines "via computer transaction with no paper crossing state lines."
The Interstate Wagering Amendment specifically provides: "Whoever . . . being engaged in the business of procuring for a person in 1 State such a ticket, chance, share or interest in a lottery, gift, [sic] enterprise or similar scheme conducted by another State (unless that business is permitted under an agreement between the States in question or appropriate authorities of those States), knowingly transmits in interstate or foreign commerce information to be used for the purpose of procuring such a ticket, chance, share, or interest" shall have committed an offense under 18 U.S.C. § 1301.
Unless covered by one of the exceptions, therefore, we are prohibited from transporting lottery tickets across state lines or transmitting information to be used for the purpose of procuring a lottery ticket for a lottery conducted by a state to a person in another state. "State" is defined as "a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or possession of the United States." The definition of "foreign government" on the other hand, expressly excludes U.S. states and territories. Based on the use of the words "1 State" and "another State" and the omission of the term "foreign country", we believe the Interstate Wagering Amendment does not prohibit transmission of information for the purpose of procuring tickets for persons in foreign countries.
If the Interstate Wagering Amendment is interpreted or applied to prohibit transmissions to foreign countries, however, it could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless. Additionally, reinterpretation of the Wire Act to prohibit transmissions of information to foreign countries for the purpose of procuring such tickets could also negatively impact our business. For more information, see "Regulatory and Compliance Risks - If there is a final determination on the applicability of the Wire Act to our operations and it is determined or codified that the Wire Act extends to transmission of lottery games in interstate or foreign commerce, certain of our operations that are not currently restricted by statute or practice to a state's territorial boundaries may be negatively impacted or eliminated, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions, and results of operations."
Regulation - Risk 8
If there is a final determination on the applicability of the Wire Act to our operations and it is determined or codified that the Wire Act extends to transmission of lottery games in interstate or foreign commerce, certain of our operations that are not currently restricted by statute or practice to a state's territorial boundaries may be negatively impacted or eliminated, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions, and results of operations.The Wire Act of 1961 provides that anyone engaged in the business of betting or wagering that knowingly uses a wire communication facility for the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets or wagers or information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest, or for the transmission of a wire communication that entitles the recipient to receive money or credit as a result of such bets or wagers, or for information assisting in the placing of such bets or wagers, may be fined or imprisoned, or both. However, the Wire Act provides that it shall not be construed to prevent the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of information for use in news reporting of sporting events or contests, or for the transmission of information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on a sporting event or contest from a state or foreign country where betting on that sporting event or contest is legal.
Until 2011, there was uncertainty as to whether the Wire Act prohibited the conduct of intrastate lottery transactions via the Internet by U.S. states if such transactions crossed state lines. Essentially, there was a debate with regard to whether all of the prohibitions in the Wire Act applied only to bets or wagers on a "sporting event or contest" as used in the Wire Act, or all bets or wagers. In late 2011, the OLC issued an opinion that concluded the conduct prohibited by the Wire Act was limited to sports gambling (the "2011 DOJ Opinion"). Following the issuance of the 2011 DOJ Opinion, six state lotteries offered internet sales of scratch lottery games to in-state customers, and several other states allowed subscription sales of draw games via the Internet. Notably, in 2017, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania authorized the Pennsylvania Lottery to distribute lottery products, including scratch ticket games, through numerous channels that included web applications, mobile applications, and social media.
In January 2019, the OLC issued the 2019 Opinion, which concluded that the restrictions in the Wire Act on the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets and wagers was not limited to sports gambling but applied to all bets and wagers, including those involving state lotteries. Multiple lawsuits were filed challenging the validity of the 2019 Opinion.
On June 3, 2019, the federal district court in New Hampshire determined that the Wire Act applies exclusively to sports gambling and set aside the 2019 Opinion. The New Hampshire federal district court declined, however, to issue a nationwide injunction in the case. On August 16, 2019, the DOJ appealed the New Hampshire federal district court's decision to the First Circuit.
On January 20, 2021, the First Circuit affirmed the District Court's decision, determining that the Wire Act applies only to interstate wire communications related to sporting events or contests. Finding that the declaratory judgment was an adequate remedy at law, the First Circuit declined to set aside the 2019 Opinion under the Administrative Procedure Act. In addition to the First Circuit's decision, the Fifth Circuit has previously held the Wire Act prohibitions apply only to sports gambling.
On September 15, 2022, the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island entered an order siding with the First Circuit's interpretation of the Wire Act, and holding that "the Wire Act applies only to ‘bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest."
Notwithstanding the above, currently, there is no definitive ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue, and the courts in other U.S. Circuits might take a different position. Because many of the Company's operations occur outside the jurisdiction of the First Circuit and the Fifth Circuit, and because the First Circuit did not set aside the 2019 Opinion, we are still monitoring the potential impact of the 2019 Opinion on our business. If courts outside the First Circuit, Fifth Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court take a different position on the applicability of the Wire Act to our operations, the Wire Act may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions, and results of operations. In particular, should it ultimately be determined or codified that the Wire Act extends to transmission of lottery games in interstate or foreign commerce, certain of our operations that are not currently restricted by statute or practice to a state's territorial boundaries may be negatively impacted or eliminated. Further, in such event, the DOJ or other federal regulatory authorities may determine that the manner in which we operate our technology is deemed to be interstate or foreign commerce and accordingly a violation of such interpretation of the Wire Act. Either event could have a material adverse effect on us or our results of operations, cash flow, or financial condition, could force us to cease our operations (if any), seek bankruptcy protection, and could further subject us to litigation, fines and penalties.
Regulation - Risk 9
A jurisdiction may enact, amend, or reinterpret laws and regulations governing our operations in ways that impair our revenues, cause us to incur additional legal and compliance costs and other operating expenses, or are otherwise not favorable to our existing operations or planned growth, all of which may have a material adverse effect on us or our results of operations, cash flow, or financial condition.State and federal laws in the U.S. govern and, in some cases, limit our business practices. For example, the Interstate Wagering Amendment to 18 U.S.C. § 1301 (the "Interstate Wagering Amendment") limits our ability to purchase lottery games for a user located in one state from a lottery authority located in another state, except under certain limited circumstances, such as where the lottery authorities in the respective states allow the sales. Therefore, for our users located within the U.S., we only purchase lottery games for users geolocated to be physically situated within the U.S. state or jurisdiction where the lottery game they are purchasing is being conducted, unless an exception were to be authorized by the applicable lottery authorities.
In addition, our business is subject to extensive regulation by multiple domestic and foreign governmental authorities and the laws and regulations governing companies conducting sweepstakes and lottery related operations on the Internet and over mobile networks and purchasing of lottery tickets on behalf of others. Such laws and regulations within U.S. and international jurisdictions are subject to change and the effect of such changes on our ongoing and potential operations cannot be predicted with certainty. Governmental authorities continually evaluate a wide range of issues that impact the mobile and online lottery and gaming industries. As a result, a jurisdiction may enact, amend, or reinterpret laws and regulations governing our operations in ways that impair our revenues, cause us to incur additional legal and compliance costs and other operating expenses, or are otherwise not favorable to our existing operations or planned growth, all of which may have a material adverse effect on us or our results of operations, cash flow, or financial condition.
There have been several proposed state and federal bills to prohibit or restrict interactive or online lottery sales, some of which have been successful. For example, in 2015, the Minnesota legislature passed an amendment to the state's lottery law prohibiting the sale of scratch lottery tickets over the Internet. In certain jurisdictions, the sale of lottery tickets through couriers is expressly unlawful. Laws restricting the sale of lottery tickets via the Internet, through mobile networks or by courier, or that otherwise materially impact our operations, including those relating to sweepstakes, may be proposed or passed in the future at either the federal or state level or by foreign governments. For example, in 2023, the State of Texas passed Senate Bill 1820 (the "Texas Bill"), which among other things, limited online lottery gaming and the use of courier services in Texas. Any proposal or passage of such laws may reduce our revenues or require us to expend a significant amount of our funds and resources and incur additional legal and other expenses, thereby creating a material adverse effect on us or our results of operations, cash flow, or financial condition.
Changes in the executive branches of government in the U.S. as well as in foreign countries, may affect policies on lotteries and mobile gaming. For example, variations in the interpretation of The Federal Wire Act of 1961 (the "Wire Act") by the Office of Legal Counsel (the "OLC") of the Department of Justice (the "DOJ") has had a material impact on the online gaming and lottery industry within the U.S. For more information, see "-If there is a final determination on the applicability of the Wire Act to our operations and it is determined or codified that the Wire Act extends to transmission of lottery games in interstate or foreign commerce, certain of our operations that are not currently restricted by statute or practice to a state's territorial boundaries may be negatively impacted or eliminated, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions, and results of operations." We have and may from time to time in the future retain government affairs specialists in domestic and international jurisdictions to advise elected and appointed officials regarding our perspectives on legislation and regulations related to lottery and other aspects of our business, to monitor such legislation and regulations, and to otherwise provide us with advice regarding our relations with such officials. Such efforts, however, may not be successful in whole or in part and changes in such laws or policies could have a material adverse effect on us or our results of operations, cash flow, or financial condition.
We cannot ensure that our activities or the activities of those third parties with whom we do business will not become the subject of regulatory or law enforcement proceedings. Further, lottery regulatory associations, including the Multi-State Lottery Association (the "MUSL"), and certain lottery entities both domestically and internationally exercise significant authority regarding the means and manner in which the lottery and its products are marketed and sold as well as the equipment, technology and services deployed by retailers and resellers of such lottery products. Our activities or the activities of those third parties with whom we do business may become the subject of further inquiries, investigations or enforcement proceedings by such authorities or entities. Any such proceeding by regulatory or law enforcement or associations or entities may have a material adverse effect on us or our results of operations, cash flow, or financial condition.
Litigation & Legal Liabilities6 | 7.3%
Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 1
We are party to pending litigation and investigations in various jurisdictions and with various plaintiffs and we may be subject to future litigation or investigations in the operation of our business. An adverse outcome in one or more proceedings could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 2
Claims for indemnification by our directors and officers may reduce our available funds to satisfy successful third-party claims against us and may reduce the amount of money available to us.Our Charter and our amended and restated bylaws (the "Bylaws") provide that we will indemnify our directors and officers, in each case to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law. In addition, as permitted by Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the "DGCL"), our Charter, Bylaws and our indemnification agreements that we have entered into with our directors and officers provide that:
- To the fullest extent permitted under the DGCL, our directors will not be personally liable to the Company or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director.
- We will indemnify our directors and officers for serving us in those capacities or for serving other business entities at our request, to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL. The DGCL provides that a corporation may indemnify such person if such person acted in good faith and in a manner such person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe such person's conduct was unlawful. - We may, in our discretion, indemnify employees and agents in those circumstances where indemnification is permitted by applicable law and such person was made a party to an action, suit or proceeding, by reason of the fact that he or she is or was an employee or agent of the Company. - We are required to advance expenses, as incurred, to our directors and officers in connection with defending a proceeding, except that such directors or officers shall undertake to repay such advances if it is ultimately determined that such person is not entitled to indemnification. - We will not be obligated pursuant to the indemnification agreements entered into with our directors and executive officers to indemnify a person with respect to proceedings initiated by that person, except with respect to proceedings to enforce an indemnitees right to indemnification or advancement of expenses, proceedings authorized by our board of directors and if offered by us in our sole discretion. - The rights conferred in our Charter are not exclusive, and we are authorized to enter into indemnification agreements with our directors, officers, employees and agents and to obtain insurance to indemnify such persons. - We may not retroactively amend our Charter or indemnification agreement provisions to reduce our indemnification obligations to directors, officers, employees and agents.
As a result of these provisions, if an investor were able to enforce an action against our directors or officers, in all likelihood, we would be required to pay any expenses they incurred in defending the lawsuit and any judgment or settlement they otherwise would be required to pay. This could lead to us incurring substantial expenditures to cover the cost of settlement or damage awards against our directors and officers, which the Company may not be able to pay or recoup. Accordingly, our indemnification obligations could divert needed financial resources and may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, and adversely affect the value of our business.
Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 3
Matters relating to or arising from the restatements and the Internal Investigation, including adverse publicity and potential concerns from our users, customers or others with whom we do business, have had and could continue to have an adverse effect on our business and financial condition.We have been and could continue to be the subject of negative publicity focusing on the Internal Investigation and the restatements and adjustments to our financial statements, and we may be adversely impacted by negative reactions from our users, customers or others with whom we do business. Concerns include the perception of the effort required to address our accounting and control environment, and the ability for us to be a long-term provider to our customers. Continued adverse publicity and potential concerns from our customers and business partners or others could harm our business and have an adverse effect on our financial condition.
Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 4
We have been named as a defendant in a number of lawsuits filed by purchasers of our securities, including class action lawsuits that could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operation and cash flows, and our reputation.We have been named as a defendant in a number of lawsuits filed by purchasers of our securities, including class action lawsuits and will have to defend against such suits, including any appeals of such suits should our initial defenses be unsuccessful. We are currently unable to estimate the possible loss or possible range of loss, if any, associated with the resolution of these suits. In the event that our initial defenses of these suits are unsuccessful, there can be no assurance that we will prevail in any appeal.
We cannot predict the outcome of these lawsuits. The matters that led to our Internal Investigation and our financial restatement have exposed us to increased risks of litigation, regulatory proceedings and government enforcement actions. We and our current and former directors and officers may, in the future, be subject to additional litigation relating to such matters. Subject to certain limitations, we are obligated to indemnify our current and former directors and officers in connection with such lawsuits and any related litigation or settlements amounts. Regardless of the outcome, these lawsuits, and any other litigation that may be brought against us or our current or former directors and officers, could be time-consuming, result in significant expense and divert the attention and resources of our management and other key employees. An unfavorable outcome in any of these matters could result in significant damages, additional penalties or other remedies imposed against us, our current or former directors or officers, which could harm our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. In addition, an unfavorable outcome in any of these matters could exceed coverage provided, if any, under potentially applicable insurance policies, which is limited. Following disclosure of the results of our Internal Investigation, we have had difficulties in obtaining desirable insurance coverage, or any insurance coverage, regarding legal proceedings, investigations and inquiries, and we cannot assure you with any certainty that we will be able to obtain such coverage in the future.
Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 5
We and certain of our former officers are, and in the future, we or our officers and directors may become, the subject of legal proceedings, investigations and inquiries by governmental agencies with respect to the findings of the Internal Investigation and other matters, which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations, and could result in additional claims and material liabilities.Certain of our former officers are currently the subject of investigations and inquiries by the SEC and the U.S. Department of Justice (the "DOJ") relating to the findings of the Internal Investigation and other matters. The Company is cooperating fully with such investigations and inquiries. In the future, we or our officers and directors may become the subject of legal proceedings, investigations and inquiries by governmental agencies in various jurisdictions relating to the findings of Internal Investigation and other matters.
These investigations and inquiries and any other similar or related future legal proceedings, investigations or inquiries are subject to inherent uncertainties, and the actual costs to be incurred relating to these matters will depend upon many unknown factors. We are unable to predict the outcome of these legal proceedings, investigations and inquiries, and we could be forced to expend significant resources in the defense of these actions, and we may not prevail. Cooperating with as well as monitoring and defending against the legal actions is time-consuming for management and detracts from their ability to fully focus our internal resources on continuing to restart our business operations, which could result in delays in our anticipated recommencement plan. In addition, we have already incurred and may continue to incur substantial legal fees and costs in connection with these matters. We are also generally obligated, to the extent permitted by law, to indemnify our current and former directors and officers who are named in these and similar actions and do not have an effective director and officer liability insurance policy in place for our current officers and directors. We are not currently able to estimate the possible cost to us from these matters, as we cannot be certain how long they may take to resolve or the possible amount of any civil penalties or damages, if any, that we may be required to pay. It is possible that we could, in the future, incur judgments or enter into settlements of claims for monetary damages. Decisions adverse to our interests in these actions could result in damages, fines, penalties, consent orders or other administrative sanctions against the Company and/or our officers, or in changes to our business practices, among others, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our cash flow, results of operations and financial position.
Furthermore, publicity surrounding any such proceeding, investigation or inquiry or any enforcement action as a result thereof, even if ultimately resolved favorably for us, coupled with the intensified public scrutiny of our Company and certain of its practices, could result in additional investigations and legal proceedings. As a result, such proceedings, investigations and inquiries could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition, including our ability to raise new capital, cash flows and results of operations and could cause our securities to decline in value or become worthless.
Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 6
The findings of the previously disclosed Internal Investigation and other matters have exposed us to a number of legal proceedings, investigations and inquiries, resulted in significant legal and other expenses, required significant time and attention from our senior management, among other adverse impacts.As previously disclosed in the Company's Current Reports on Form 8-K, initially filed with the SEC on July 6, 2022 and July 22, 2022, the Board retained outside counsel to conduct the Internal Investigation that revealed instances of non-compliance with state and federal laws concerning the state in which tickets are procured as well as order fulfillment, and issues pertaining to the Company's internal accounting controls.
Certain of these issues contributed to the Company's auditors' determination that the Company's audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021 and the unaudited financial statement for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, should no longer be relied upon and required restatement.
As a consequence, on May 10, 2023 and May 15, 2023 respectively, the Company filed with the SEC as amended reports the required restatements of its year-end report for December 31, 2021 and for the quarter ended March 31, 2022.
The aforementioned issues have had and could continue to have material adverse impacts on the Company. The Company and certain of our former officers are the subject of a number of legal proceedings, investigations and inquiries with respect to cited issues and have been named as a defendant in a number of lawsuits, including class action lawsuits. The Company incurred significant costs in connection with the Internal Investigation, including legal expenses and costs associated with the restatement and adjustment of our financial statements. We may also incur material costs associated with our indemnification arrangements with our current and former directors and certain of our officers, as well as other indemnitees. Moreover, an unfavorable outcome in any of these matters could result in significant damages, additional penalties or other remedies imposed against the Company, and/or our current or former directors or officers, which could harm our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. In addition, an unfavorable outcome in any of these matters could exceed coverage provided, if any, under potentially applicable insurance policies, which is limited. For example, we currently do not have an effective director and officer liability insurance policy in place for our current officers and directors, and may not have the financial resources or otherwise be able to obtain a director and officer liability insurance at reasonable cost or terms in the future. These issues have also led to material adverse impacts on our operations, our reputation and our relationships with business partners, as well as material adverse impacts on our financial position, including incurred costs and expenses and our ability to raise new capital in the future. Further, our senior management team has devoted significant time to facilitate the Internal Investigation and is expected to continue to devote significant time and efforts to address the impacts associated with or arising from the Internal Investigation.
We cannot predict all impacts on the Company in connection with or arising from any of the foregoing. Any unknown or new risks might result in a material adverse effect on us.
Taxation & Government Incentives2 | 2.4%
Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 1
Federal and State Tax FilingsAdded
Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 2
Tax and other regulatory authorities may successfully assert that we have not properly collected or remitted withholding taxes, and as a result may successfully impose additional obligations, fines, penalties or other financial liability on us, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.Federal tax rules generally require payers to report payments to unrelated parties to the Internal Revenue Service. In the event of our failure to comply with such reporting obligations, due to failure in the application of our judgment in evaluating our obligations, our effective compliance with our internal process and its execution, or with respect to the process and manner in which we calculate and remit amounts due and owing to taxing authorities timely or at all, could subject us to brand and reputational damage, fines, penalties, and other financial liability, any of which could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
In certain instances, we have collected and remitted applicable withholding taxes in the claims and redemption process. Regulatory and tax authorities may raise questions about, or challenge or disagree with, this practice, or in the application of our judgment in evaluating our obligations, our effective compliance with our internal process and its execution, or with respect to the process and the manner in which taxes are calculated, remitted and withheld as a result. A successful assertion by one or more regulatory or tax authorities requiring us to alter our practice could result in brand and reputational damage, fines, penalties and other financial liability, or discourage our users and commercial partners from using our Platform, any of which could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Environmental / Social1 | 1.2%
Environmental / Social - Risk 1
Because we maintain certain information about our users, we are subject to various privacy laws both in the U.S. and internationally. Our failure to comply with such laws could expose us to penalties, fines, and litigation, and it could adversely impact our reputation and brand, any of which could adversely affect our business.Tech & Innovation
Total Risks: 14/82 (17%)Above Sector Average
Innovation / R&D2 | 2.4%
Innovation / R&D - Risk 1
Our growth prospects may suffer if we are unable to develop successful offerings or if we fail to pursue additional offerings. In addition, if we fail to make the right investment decisions in our offerings and technology, we may not attract and retain key users and customers and our revenue, business, financial condition, and results of operations may decline.Innovation / R&D - Risk 2
We operate in a rapidly evolving industry and if we fail to successfully develop, market, or sell new products or adopt new technology platforms, it could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.Our Platform and other software products are in a market characterized by rapid technological advances, evolving standards in software and hardware technology, and frequent new product introductions and enhancements that may render existing products, services, and systems obsolete. Competitors are continuously upgrading their product offerings with new features, functions, and content. In addition, we may be required to refine our software and technology platform to address regulatory changes in the markets in which we operate or plan to operate. In order to become competitive, we may need to periodically modify and enhance our technology platform and service offerings.
We cannot assure you that we will be able to respond to rapid technological or regulatory changes in our industry. In addition, the introduction of new products or updated versions of existing products and the underlying technology that supports such products has inherent risks, including, but not limited to, risks concerning:
- product quality, including the possibility of software defects, which could result in claims against us or the inability to sell our products; - the accuracy of our estimates of user or customer demand, and the fit of the new products and features with users' or customers' needs; - the need to educate our sales, marketing and services personnel to work with the new products and features, which may strain our resources and lengthen sales cycles; - market acceptance of initial product releases; and - competitor product introductions or regulatory changes that render our new products obsolete.
Developing, enhancing and localizing software is expensive, and the investment in product development may involve a long payback cycle. However, we believe that we must dedicate a significant amount of resources to our developmental efforts to maintain our competitive position. However, funding for such development efforts may not be available on favorable terms if at all, and we may not receive significant revenue from these investments for several years, if at all. In addition, as we or our competitors introduce new or enhanced offerings, the demand for our offerings, may decline.
Trade Secrets4 | 4.9%
Trade Secrets - Risk 1
We may be unable to continue to use the domain names that we use in our business or prevent third parties from acquiring and using domain names that infringe on, are similar to, or otherwise decrease the value of our brand, trademarks, or service marks.Trade Secrets - Risk 2
If we cannot license rights to use third-party technologies on reasonable terms, we may not be able to commercialize new products or services in the future.In the future, we may license third-party technology to develop or commercialize new products or offer new services. In return for the use of a third-party's technology, we may agree to pay the licensor royalties based on sales of our products or services. Royalties are a component of cost of revenue and affect the margins on our products. We may also need to negotiate licenses to use third-party intellectual property. Our business may suffer if we are unable to enter into the necessary licenses on acceptable terms, or at all, if any necessary licenses are subsequently terminated, if the licensors fail to abide by the terms of the license or fail to prevent infringement by third parties, or if the licensed patents or other rights are found to be invalid or unenforceable.
Trade Secrets - Risk 3
The intellectual property rights of others, including claims of third parties that we are infringing on their intellectual property and proprietary rights, may prevent us from developing new products, services and systems, entering new markets or may expose us to significant license fees, liability, or costly litigation.Our success depends, in part, on our ability to continually adapt our business activities, products, services, and systems to incorporate new technologies and to expand into entertainment and gaming markets that may be created by new technologies. If technologies are protected by the intellectual property rights of others, including our competitors, we may be prevented from introducing products, services or systems based on these technologies or expanding into markets created by these technologies. If the intellectual property rights of others prevent us from taking advantage of innovative technologies, our prospects, results of operations, cash flows, and financial condition may be adversely affected.
Our business activities, products, services, and systems may infringe upon the proprietary rights of others, and other parties may assert infringement claims against us. In addition to infringement claims, third parties may allege claims of invalidity or unenforceability against us or against our licensees or manufacturers in connection with their use of our technology. A successful challenge to, or invalidation of, one of our intellectual property interests, a successful claim of infringement by a third party against us, our business activities, products, services and systems, or one of our licensees in connection with the use of our technologies, or an unsuccessful claim of infringement made by us against a third party or its business activities, products, services and systems could adversely affect our business or cause us financial harm. Any such claim and any resulting litigation, should it occur, could:
- be expensive and time consuming to defend or require us to pay significant amounts in damages; - invalidate our proprietary rights; - cause us to cease making, licensing or using products, services or systems that incorporate the challenged intellectual property; - require us to redesign, reengineer or rebrand our products, services or systems or limit our ability to bring new products, services or systems to the market in the future; - require us to enter into costly or burdensome royalty, licensing or settlement agreements in order to obtain the right to undertake a business activity or use a product, process or component; - impact the commercial viability of the products, services and systems that are the subject of the claim during the pendency of such claim; and - require us by way of injunction to remove products, services, or systems or stop implementing the business practice, or stop selling or offering new products, services.
Trade Secrets - Risk 4
If we are unable to protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights or prevent its unauthorized use by third parties, our ability to compete in the market or our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be harmed.We have and continue to seek to protect our intellectual property to ensure that our competitors do not use such intellectual property. However, intellectual property laws in the U.S. and in other jurisdictions may afford differing and limited protection, may not permit us to gain or maintain a competitive advantage, and may not prevent our competitors from duplicating our products, designing around our proprietary products or technology, or gaining access to our proprietary information and technology, and are costly and time consuming.
Our success may depend, in part, on our ability to obtain trademark protection for the names or symbols under which we market our products and to obtain copyright protection, which may not always be successful. Also, we are continually evaluating opportunities to file patents. Any future patent applications we hold or have rights to may not result in an issued patent, and if patents are issued, they may not necessarily provide meaningful protection against competitors and competitive technologies or adequately protect our then-current technologies. Additionally, even if granted, we may not be able to build and maintain goodwill in our trademarks or obtain trademark or patent protection, and there can be no assurance that any trademark, copyright, or issued patent will provide competitive advantages for us or that our intellectual property will not be successfully challenged or circumvented by competitors.
As of December 31, 2023, we had one trademark, "Lottery.com", registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. . As of December 31, 2022, the registration of our LOTTERY.COM, AUTOLOTTO and SPORTS.COM word marks and SPORTS.COM logo were pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In March 2023, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied the registration of the SPORTS.COM word mark and the appeal period has expired. The registration of the SPORTS.COM logo has also been denied and the Company is currently considering whether to appeal such denial. We are also using and/or have common-law trademark rights in the trademarks AUTOLOTTO, SPORTS.COM, and "TAP, TAP, TICKET."
We may not be able to prevent the unauthorized disclosure or use of our technical knowledge or trade secrets. For example, there can be no assurance that consultants, vendors, partners, former employees, or current employees and contractors will not breach their obligations regarding non-disclosure and restrictions on use. Anyone could seek to challenge, invalidate, circumvent, or render unenforceable any trademark or patent that we seek protection over in the future. We may not be able to detect the unauthorized use of our intellectual property, prevent breaches of our cybersecurity efforts, or take appropriate steps to enforce our proprietary or intellectual property rights effectively. In addition, certain contractual provisions, including restrictions on use, copying, transfer, and disclosure of software, may be unenforceable under the laws of certain jurisdictions.
We intend to enforce our intellectual property rights, and from time to time may initiate claims against third parties that we believe are infringing our intellectual property rights. Litigation brought to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights could be costly, time-consuming, and distracting to management, could fail to obtain the results sought, and could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, business, and financial condition.
Cyber Security1 | 1.2%
Cyber Security - Risk 1
Despite our security measures, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers, breached due to employee or contractor error, malfeasance, or other cybersecurity risks or disruptions. Any such breach could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any such access, disclosure, or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, and regulatory penalties, fines, and the payment of damages, restrictions on our ability to use data, disruption of our operations and the services we provide to users, damage to our reputation, and a loss of confidence in our products, services, and systems, which could adversely affect our business.Technology7 | 8.5%
Technology - Risk 1
We rely on information technology and other systems and services, and any failures, errors, defects, or disruptions in our systems or the availability of our services could diminish our brand and reputation, subject us to liability, disrupt our business, affect our ability to scale our technical infrastructure, and adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects. Our software applications and systems, and the third-party platforms upon which they are made available, could contain undetected errors.Technology - Risk 2
Our business could be adversely impacted by changes in the Internet and mobile device accessibility of users.Our business depends on users' access to our offerings via a mobile device or personal computer and the Internet. We may operate in jurisdictions that provide limited data or Internet connectivity, particularly as we expand into foreign markets. Internet access and access to a mobile device or personal computer are frequently provided by companies with significant market power that could take actions that degrade, disrupt, or increase the cost of consumers' ability to access our offerings. In addition, the Internet infrastructure that we and our users rely on in any particular geographic area may be unable to support the demands placed upon it and could interfere with the speed and availability of our offerings. Any such failure in Internet or mobile device or computer accessibility, even for a short period of time, could adversely affect our results of business, financial condition, and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Technology - Risk 3
Our Platform may be vulnerable to risks, both foreseen and unforeseen, arising from our application of distributed ledger technology.Prior to the Operational Cessation, our Platform utilized distributed ledger technology by preserving a cryptographic ledger of the user identification, draw identification, ticket identification, and game numbers into an immutable ledger. The distributed ledger was append-only and kept a complete record of all changes to the provided data that could not be deleted, modified, or overwritten. Distributed ledger technology is a relatively new, evolving technology. Accordingly, the further development and future viability of this technology is generally undetermined with practical and ideological challenges which may affect its further development or integration into our Platform.
Technology - Risk 4
We may not timely and effectively scale and adapt our technology and network infrastructure to ensure that our Platform is accessible, which would adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, and results of operations.Once it becomes operational, we expect to make significant investments to improve the availability of our Platform and to enable rapid releases of new features and services, funding permitting. However, it may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve the availability of our Platform, especially during peak usage times and as our Platform becomes more complex and if our user and customer traffic increase. If our Platform is unavailable when users and customers attempt to access it or it does not respond as quickly as they expect or it experiences capacity constraints due to an overwhelming number of users or customers accessing our Platform simultaneously, users or customers may seek other offerings, and may not return to our Platform as often in the future, or at all. This would adversely affect our ability to attract users and customers and decrease the frequency with which they use our Platform. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed, or develop our technology and network architecture to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business, reputation, financial condition, and results of operations would be adversely affected.
Technology - Risk 5
Prior to the Operationally Cessation, Internet search engines drove traffic to our B2C Platform and our user growth could decline and our business, financial condition, and results of operations would be adversely affected if we fail to appear prominently in search results when we recommence operations.Our success depends in part on our ability to attract users through unpaid Internet search results on search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. The number of users we attract to our B2C Platform from search engines is due, in large part, to how and where our website ranks in unpaid search results. These rankings can be affected by a number of factors, many of which are not under our direct control and may change frequently. For example, a search engine may change its ranking algorithms, methodologies, or design layouts. As a result, links to our web-based properties may not be prominent enough to drive traffic, and we may not know how or otherwise be in a position to influence the results. In some instances, search engine companies may change these rankings in a way that promotes their own competing products or services or the products or services of one or more of our competitors. Search engines may also adopt a more aggressive auction-pricing system for keywords that would cause us to incur higher advertising costs or reduce our market visibility to prospective players. Our websites have experienced fluctuations in search result rankings in the past, and we anticipate similar fluctuations in the future. Any reduction in the number of users directed to our B2C Platform could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Technology - Risk 6
Our technology contains third-party open-source software components, and failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open-source software licenses could restrict our ability to provide our offerings.Our technology contains software modules licensed to us by third-party authors under "open source" licenses, including the distributed ledger technology, which we currently use and intend to continue to use in our Platform. Use and distribution of open-source software may entail greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open-source licensors generally do not provide support, warranties, indemnification or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the code. In addition, the public availability of such software may make it easier for others to compromise our technology.
Some open-source licenses contain requirements that we make available source code for modifications or derivative works we create based upon the type of open-source software we use or grant other licenses to our intellectual property. If we combine our software with open-source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain open-source licenses, be required to release the source code of our software to the public. This would allow our competitors to create similar offerings with lower development effort and time and ultimately could result in a loss of our competitive advantages. Alternatively, to avoid the public release of the affected portions of our source code, we could be required to expend substantial time and resources to re-engineer some or all of our software.
Although we monitor our use of open-source software to avoid subjecting our technology to conditions we do not intend, the terms of many open-source licenses have not been interpreted by U.S. or foreign courts, and there is a risk that these licenses could be construed in a way that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to provide or distribute our technology. From time to time, there have been claims challenging the ownership of open-source software against companies that incorporate open-source software into their solutions. As a result, we could be subject to lawsuits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open-source software. Moreover, we cannot assure you that our processes for controlling our use of open-source software in our technology will be effective. If we are held to have breached or failed to fully comply with all the terms and conditions of an open source software license, we could face infringement or other liability, or be required to seek costly licenses from third parties to continue providing our offerings on terms that are not economically feasible, to re-engineer our technology, to discontinue or delay the provision of our offerings if re-engineering could not be accomplished on a timely basis or to make generally available, in source code form, our proprietary code, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Technology - Risk 7
Our business model depends upon the compatibility between our B2C Platform and the major mobile and other operating systems and upon third-party platforms for the distribution of our product offerings. If Google Play or the Apple App Store or other mobile download sites prevent users from downloading our apps or if our advertising is blocked or rejected from being delivered to our users, our ability to grow our revenue, profitability, and prospects may be adversely affected.When operational, our users access our B2C Platform product offerings on mobile devices and various web applications, and accordingly, our business model depends upon the compatibility between our application and all major mobile and web operating systems. Third parties with whom we do not have any formal relationships control the design of such devices and operating systems. These parties frequently introduce new devices, and from time to time they may introduce new operating systems or modify existing ones. Network carriers may also impact the ability to download applications or access specified content on mobile devices.
In addition, when operational, we rely upon third-party platforms for distribution of our product offerings. The Google Play store and Apple App Store are global application distribution platforms and have been the main distribution channels for our application. As such, the promotion, distribution and operation of our application are subject to the respective distribution platforms' standard terms and policies for application developers which are very broad and subject to frequent changes and interpretations. Furthermore, the distribution platforms may not enforce their standard terms and policies for application developers consistently and uniformly across all applications and with such publishers.
There is no guarantee that popular mobile devices will support or feature our product offerings when operational, or that mobile device users will continue to use our product offerings rather than competing products. We are dependent on the interoperability of our technology with popular mobile and web operating systems, technologies, networks and standards that we do not control, such as the Android and iOS operating systems, and any changes, bugs, technical or regulatory issues in such systems, our relationships with mobile manufacturers and carriers, or in their terms of service or policies that degrade our offerings' functionality, reduce or eliminate our ability to distribute our offerings, give preferential treatment to competitive products, limit our ability to deliver high quality offerings, or impose fees or other charges related to delivering our offerings, could adversely affect our product usage and monetization on mobile devices.
Furthermore, we may not successfully cultivate relationships with key industry participants or develop product offerings that operate effectively with these technologies, systems, networks, regulations, or standards. If it is difficult for our users to access and use our offerings on their mobile devices, if our users choose not to access or use our offerings on their mobile devices, or if our users choose to use mobile products that do not offer access to our offerings, our user growth, retention, and engagement could be seriously harmed. In addition, if any of the third-party platforms used for distribution of our product offerings were to limit or disable advertising on their platforms, either because of technological constraints or because the managers of these distribution platforms wished to impair our ability to serve ads on them, our ability to generate revenue could be harmed. Also, technologies may be developed that can block the display of our ads. These changes could materially impact the way we do business, and if we or our advertising partners are unable to quickly and effectively adjust to those changes, there could be an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Ability to Sell
Total Risks: 14/82 (17%)Below Sector Average
Competition2 | 2.4%
Competition - Risk 1
Competition in the sports media market could impair our ability to generate revenue from Sports.comAdded
Competition - Risk 2
Competition within the global entertainment and gaming industries is intense and if we fail to compete effectively, our users may be attracted to our competitors or to competing forms of entertainment including those on mobile devices and web applications, such as streaming, online gaming, esports, and online sports betting. If our offerings are not popular, we could experience price reductions, reduced margins, loss of market share, and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be harmed.Our users have a vast array of entertainment choices, including television, movies, sporting events, in-person lottery gaming, real money gaming, and sports betting, all of which are more established and may be perceived by our users to offer greater variety, affordability, interactivity, and enjoyment than our offerings. We compete with these and other forms of entertainment for our users' discretionary time and income. If we are unable to sustain sufficient interest in our product offerings in comparison to other forms of entertainment, including new and emerging forms of entertainment available on mobile devices and web applications, such as streaming, online gaming, esports, and online sports betting, our business model may not continue to be viable.
In addition, the specific industries in which we have historically operated are characterized by dynamic consumer demand and technological advances, and there is intense competition amongst providers to the lottery, online gaming, sports betting, and promotions industries. Specifically, a number of established, well-financed third-party lottery application companies, online gaming providers, sports betting, and interactive entertainment companies have competed with our offerings, and other well-capitalized companies may introduce competitive services that achieve greater market acceptance. Such competitors may spend more money and time on developing and testing products, services, and systems, undertake more extensive marketing campaigns, adopt more aggressive pricing or promotional policies, or otherwise develop more commercially successful products, services, or systems than we are able, which could negatively impact our business. Furthermore, new competitors may enter the mobile lottery industry, and government lottery operators may introduce forms of online lottery gaming that compete with our services. There has also been, and continues to be, considerable consolidation among competitors in the entertainment, gaming, and lottery industries, and such consolidation, and future consolidation, could result in the formation of larger competitors with increased financial resources and altered cost structures, which may enable them to offer more competitive products, gain a larger market share, expand offerings, and broaden their geographic scope of operations. If we are not able to achieve some market share, if our offerings are not popular, or if we are not able to provide competitive products, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be harmed.
Demand4 | 4.9%
Demand - Risk 1
Consumer trends in paying for streaming content may have an adverse impact on the Sports.com subscription service.Added
Demand - Risk 2
Reductions in discretionary consumer spending could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.Our business is particularly sensitive to reductions from time to time in discretionary consumer spending. Demand for entertainment and leisure activities, including lottery play, can be affected by changes in the economy and consumer tastes, both of which are difficult to predict and beyond our control. Unfavorable changes in general economic conditions, including recessions, economic slowdowns, sustained high levels of unemployment, and rising prices and inflation, or the perception by consumers of weak or weakening economic conditions, may reduce our users' disposable income or result in fewer individuals engaging in entertainment and leisure activities, such as purchasing lottery games through remote channels. Several factors relating to this economic downturn, including reductions in discretionary income due to changes in employment conditions, as well as customer preferences regarding discretionary spending habits, have caused and will likely continue to cause a reduction in consumer spending. As a result, fewer individuals may engage in gaming and lottery activities. The effect of a decrease in consumer spending on entertainment and leisure activities due to unfavorable market conditions could reduce the Company's cash flows and revenues, and therefore have a material and adverse impact on our results of operations. As a result, we cannot ensure that demand for our offerings will remain constant or achieve our anticipated growth.
Adverse developments affecting economies throughout the world, including a general tightening of availability of credit, decreased liquidity in certain financial markets, increased interest rates and inflation, foreign exchange fluctuations, increased energy costs, acts or perceived threats of war or terrorism, transportation disruptions, natural disasters, declining consumer confidence, sustained high levels of unemployment, or significant declines in stock markets, natural disasters, as well as concerns regarding pandemics, epidemics, and the spread of contagious diseases, could lead to a further reduction in discretionary spending on entertainment and leisure activities, such as lottery play and participation in sweepstakes. Any significant or prolonged decrease in consumer spending on entertainment or leisure activities could adversely affect the demand for our offerings, reducing our cash flows and revenues, and thereby materially harming our business, financial condition, and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Demand - Risk 3
We may not be able to capitalize on trends and changes in the gaming and lottery industries, including due to the operational costs involved, the laws and regulations governing these industries in various jurisdictions, and other factors.We participate in new and evolving aspects of the mobile gaming and lottery industries. Part of our strategy, when we have sufficient funding, is to take advantage of the liberalization of regulations covering these industries on a global basis. These industries involve significant risks and uncertainties, including legal, business, and financial risks. The fast-changing environment in these industries can make it difficult to plan strategically and can provide opportunities for competitors to grow their businesses at our expense. Consequently, our future results of operations, cash flows, and financial condition are difficult to predict and may not grow at the rates we expect.
To the extent that we enter into any business that is determined to be internet gaming, any jurisdiction in which our existing business is deemed to be internet gaming, or our customers offer internet gaming, it is important to recognize that the laws relating to internet gaming are evolving literally by jurisdiction. To varying degrees, governments have taken steps to change the regulation of internet wagering through the implementation of new or revised licensing and taxation regimes, including the possible imposition of sanctions on unlicensed providers. We cannot predict the timing, scope or terms of the implementation or revision of any such state, federal or foreign laws or regulations, or the extent to which any such laws and regulations may facilitate or hinder our strategy or be applicable to or impactful on our business, operations and financial condition.
In jurisdictions that authorize internet gaming, we may not be successful in offering our technology, content and services to internet gaming operators, We expect to face intense competition from our traditional competitors in the gaming and lottery industries, as well as a number of other domestic and foreign competitors (and, in some cases, the operators themselves), many of which have substantially greater financial resources or experience in this area than we do.
Know-your-customer and geo-location programs and technologies supplied to us by third parties are an important aspect of certain internet and mobile gaming products, services, and systems, because they can confirm certain information with respect to players and prospective players, such as age, identity, and location. Payment processing programs and technologies, typically provided by third parties, are also a necessary feature of interactive and mobile wagering products, services, and systems. Moreover, we cannot provide any assurance that programs or technologies supplied to us by third parties will always meet regulatory standards, which constitutes an economic and regulatory risk to us. Additionally, these programs and technologies are costly to implement, and our use of them may have an adverse impact on our results of operations, cash flows, and our financial condition and overall business risk Also, our products or services containing these programs and technologies may not be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all, and may not perform accurately or otherwise in accordance with required specifications, all of which may have a negative impact on our business, results of operations, and financial condition and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Demand - Risk 4
Our business may be materially adversely affected if our products, technology, services, and solutions do not achieve and maintain broad market acceptance, if we are unable to keep pace with or adapt to rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, and changing regulatory requirements, or if we do not invest in product and systems development and provide services that are attractive to our users and customers.Our future business and financial success will depend on our ability to anticipate the needs of potential users and customers, to achieve and maintain broad market acceptance for our existing and future products, services, and systems, to successfully introduce new and upgraded products, services, and systems, and to successfully implement our current and future geographic expansion plans. To be successful, we must be able to quickly adapt to changes in technology, industry standards, and regulatory requirements by continually enhancing our technology, services, and solutions. Developing new services and upgrades to services, as well as integrating and coordinating current services, imposes burdens on our internal teams, including management, compliance, and product development. These processes are costly, and our efforts to develop, integrate, and enhance our products, services, and systems may not be successful. In addition, successfully launching a new or upgraded product or expanding into a new jurisdiction will put additional strains on our financial, technology and marketing resources. Expanding into new markets and investing resources towards increasing the depth of our coverage within existing markets impose additional burdens on our research, systems development, sales, marketing, and general managerial resources. If we are unable to manage our expansion efforts effectively, obtain greater market share or obtain widespread adoption of new or upgraded products, services, and systems, we may not be able to offset the expenses associated with the launch and marketing of the new or upgraded products, services, and systems, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial results. If we introduce new or expand existing offerings for our business, we may incur losses or otherwise fail to enter these markets successfully. Our expansion into these markets will place us in competitive and regulatory environments with which we are unfamiliar and involve various risks, including the need to invest significant resources and the possibility that returns on such investments will not be achieved for several years, if at all.
If we are unable to develop new or upgraded offerings or decide to combine, shift focus from, or phase out a service, then our users or customers may choose a competitive offering over ours, our revenues may decline, and our profitability may be reduced. If we incur significant costs in developing new or upgraded systems, products or services, or combining and maintaining existing systems, if we are not successful in marketing and selling these new products or upgrades, or if our users or customers fail to accept these new or combined products, then there could be a material adverse effect on our results of operations due to a decrease of our revenues. If we eliminate or phase out a product and are not able to offer and successfully market and sell an alternative product, our revenue may decrease, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
Our future success will largely depend on our ability to make continuous improvements to provide products, services, and systems that are attractive to our users and customers. As a result, we will need to continually invest resources in product development and successfully incorporate and develop new technology. If we are unable to do so or otherwise provide products, services, and systems that users and customers want, then our users or customers may become dissatisfied and use competitors' services. If we are unable to continue offering innovative products, services, and systems, we may be unable to attract additional users or customers or retain our existing users or customers, which could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Sales & Marketing5 | 6.1%
Sales & Marketing - Risk 1
If we fail to detect fraud or misappropriation of proprietary information, including by our users, customers, and employees and contractors, our reputation and brand may suffer, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations and can subject us to investigations and litigation.Sales & Marketing - Risk 2
Our marketing efforts to help grow our business may not be effective.Promoting awareness of our Platform is important to our ability to grow our business and to attract new users and customers in the future, which can be costly. We believe that much of the growth in the number of users of our B2C Platform prior to the Operational Cessation was attributable to our paid marketing initiatives. Our future marketing efforts may include a combination of bonus offerings, affiliate marketing programs, social media engagement, radio, video, podcasts, search engine optimization, and keyword search campaigns. Our marketing initiatives may become increasingly expensive and generating a meaningful return on these initiatives may become difficult. Even if we successfully increase revenue as a result of these marketing efforts, it may not offset the additional marketing expenses we incur. If our marketing efforts intended to help grow our business are not effective, we expect that our business, financial condition, and results of operations would be adversely affected.
Sales & Marketing - Risk 3
Our future growth will depend largely on our ability to attract players and retain users, and the loss of our users, failure to attract new users in a cost-effective manner, or failure to effectively manage our growth could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.Our ability to achieve growth in revenue in the future will depend, in large part, upon our ability to attract new players to our offerings, retain existing users of our offerings, and reactivate users in a cost-effective manner. Achieving growth in our community of users may require us to increasingly engage in sophisticated and costly sales and marketing efforts, which may not make sense in terms of return on investment. We have used and expect to continue to use a variety of free and paid marketing channels, in combination with the promotional activity of in-state and multi-state issued lottery games, to achieve our objectives. For paid marketing, we intend to leverage a broad array of advertising channels, which may include a combination of radio and social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter), affiliate marketing, paid and organic search engines, and other digital channels, such as mobile display. If the search engines on which we rely modify their algorithms, change their terms around gaming and lottery, or if the prices at which we may purchase listings increase, then our costs could increase, and fewer users may click through to our websites or download our application. If links to our websites or application are not displayed prominently in online search results, if fewer users click through to our websites or application, if our other digital marketing campaigns are not effective, or if the costs of attracting users via any of our current methods significantly increase, then our ability to efficiently attract new users could be reduced, our revenue could decline, and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be harmed and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
In addition, our ability to increase the number of users of our offerings will depend on user adoption of playing lottery games remotely via a third-party application. Growth in the mobile and online lottery industry and the level of demand for and market acceptance of our product offerings is subject to a high degree of uncertainty. We cannot ensure that players will use our products or that the industry will achieve more widespread acceptance.
Additionally, as technological or regulatory standards change and we modify our offerings to comply with those standards, we may need users to take certain actions to continue playing, such as performing age verification and location checks or accepting new terms and conditions, including those regarding responsible gaming. Users may stop using our offerings at any time, including if the quality of the user experience or our support capabilities in the event of a user concern, does not meet their expectations or keep pace with the quality of the customer experience generally offered by competitive offerings. This could seriously harm our business, financial condition and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Sales & Marketing - Risk 4
Any failure to offer high-quality user support may harm our relationships with users and could adversely affect our reputation, brand, business, financial condition, and results of operations.Our ability to attract and retain qualified support personnel is dependent in part on the ease and reliability of our offerings, including our ability to provide high-quality support. Users on our Platform have and will continue to depend on our support organization to resolve any issues relating to our offerings, such as technical questions around how to use our app and web-based properties or information regarding our Data Services. Our ability to provide effective and timely support when operations resume will be largely dependent on our ability to attract and retain service providers who are qualified to support users and sufficiently knowledgeable regarding our offerings. As we restart our business and reintroduce and improve our offerings, we will face challenges related to providing quality support services at scale. As users in new domestic and international jurisdictions acquire our services, our support organization will face additional challenges, including those associated with delivering support in languages other than English. The complex employment market and low unemployment rates may impact the availability of service providers and as a result, our ability to provide effective and timely support and an increase in response time. Any failure to provide efficient user support, or a market perception that we do not maintain high-quality support, could adversely affect our reputation, brand, business, financial condition, and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Sales & Marketing - Risk 5
Illegal, improper, or otherwise inappropriate activity of our couriers, whether or not occurring while performing their duties for us, could expose us to liability and adversely affect our business, reputation, brand, financial condition, and results of operations.Illegal, improper, or otherwise inappropriate activities by our couriers, including the activities of individuals who may have previously engaged with, but are not then receiving or providing services offered through, our Platform or individuals who are intentionally impersonating users or couriers or the activities of couriers while purchasing lottery game tickets, may occur, which could adversely affect our reputation, brand, business, financial condition, and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless. These activities may include attempted theft, unauthorized use of payment card or financial account information, user identity theft, theft of lottery games, and other misconduct. Such activities may result in injuries or damage for users and third parties, or business interruptions, reputational and brand damage, or other significant liabilities for us.
While we have implemented various measures intended to anticipate, identify, and address the risk of these types of activities, these measures may not adequately address or prevent all illegal, improper, or otherwise inappropriate activity by these parties from occurring and such conduct could expose us to liability, including through litigation, or adversely affect our brand or reputation. At the same time, if the measures we have taken to guard against these illegal, improper, or otherwise inappropriate activities, such as our requirement that all couriers undergo a background check, are too restrictive and inadvertently prevent couriers and users otherwise in good standing from using our Platform, or if we are unable to implement and communicate these measures fairly and transparently or are perceived to have failed to do so, the growth and engagement of the number of couriers and users on our Platform and their use of our Platform could be adversely affected. Any of the foregoing risks could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Brand / Reputation3 | 3.7%
Brand / Reputation - Risk 1
Negative events or negative media coverage relating to, or a declining popularity of, the lottery or lottery games in general, or other negative coverage relating to lottery, forms of online gaming or betting, or the gaming industry, may adversely impact our ability to retain or attract users, which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.Brand / Reputation - Risk 2
We are subject to risks related to corporate social responsibility, responsible gaming, reputation, and ethical conduct.Many factors influence our reputation and the value of our brands, including the perception held by our users, customers, business partners, investors, regulatory authorities, key stakeholders, and the communities in which we operate, such as our social responsibility, corporate governance, and responsible gaming practices. We have faced, and will likely continue to face, increased scrutiny related to social, governance and responsible gaming activities, and our reputation and the value of our brands can be materially adversely harmed if we fail to act responsibly in a number of areas, such as diversity and inclusion, workplace conduct, responsible gaming, human rights, philanthropy, and support for local communities. Any harm to our reputation could impact employee engagement and retention, and the willingness of users, customers and partners to do business with us, which could have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Illegal, unethical or fraudulent activities perpetrated by any of our members of management or Board, users, customers, or partners for personal gain could expose us to potential reputational damage and financial loss, which would negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations and could cause the value of our securities to decline or become worthless.
Brand / Reputation - Risk 3
Our business depends on a strong brand, and if we are not able to develop, maintain and enhance our brand and reputation, including as a result of negative publicity, our business and operating results may be harmed.We believe that developing, maintaining and enhancing our brand and reputation is critical to achieving widespread acceptance of our products, services, and systems, attracting and retaining users and customers, persuading users and customers to adopt additional products, services, and systems, and hiring and retaining our employees.
We believe that the importance of our brand will increase as competition in the markets in which we participate further intensifies. Successful promotion of our brand will depend on a number of factors, including the effectiveness of our marketing efforts, our ability to provide high-quality, reliable, and cost-effective products, services, and systems, the perceived value of our products, services, and systems, and our ability to provide quality user and customer success and support experience. Brand promotion activities require us to make substantial expenditures. The promotion of our brand, however, may not generate user and customer awareness or increase revenue to the extent we anticipate, or at all, and any increase in revenue may not offset the expenses we incur in building and maintaining our brand.
Additionally, the reputational impact of our Board and management changes, the Operational Cessation and the events contributing thereto have not been quantified. It may require significant investment to restore the value in our brand, and the value of our brand may never return to prior levels and/or may be permanently reduced as a result of recent events.
We, our employees, our affiliates, and others with whom we have contractual relationships also use social media to communicate externally. There is a risk that this use of social media to communicate about our business may give rise to liability or result in public exposure of personal information of our employees, our users, or others, each of which could affect our revenue, business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We operate in a public-facing industry where negative publicity, whether or not justified, can spread rapidly through, among other things, social media. To the extent that we are unable to respond timely and appropriately to negative publicity, our reputation and brand could be harmed. Moreover, even if we are able to respond in a timely and appropriate manner, we cannot be certain that it will be timely or sufficient to not cause us to suffer reputational and brand damage, which could affect our revenue, business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Production
Total Risks: 7/82 (9%)Below Sector Average
Employment / Personnel2 | 2.4%
Employment / Personnel - Risk 1
Our success will depend on our ability to hire employees in the future. Recruitment and retention of these individuals is vital to growing our business and our executing our business plans. The loss of any of our key executives or other key employees could harm our business.Employment / Personnel - Risk 2
In July 2022, the Company furloughed the majority of its employees and suspended lottery game sales operations after determining that it did not have sufficient financial resources to fund its operations or pay certain existing obligations, including payroll and related obligations. As a result, the Company may not be able to continue as a going concern.In July 2022, the Company furloughed the majority of our employees and ceased its operations after determining that it did not have sufficient financial resources to fund our operations or pay certain existing obligations, including payroll and related obligations. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owed approximately $1.6 million in outstanding payroll obligations, which amounts remain unpaid. Since our business is largely dependent on the efforts and talents of our employees and contractors, particularly those who are our developers and engineers, and the provision of ongoing services to customers by our employees and contractors, the loss of these employees and contractors has and may continue to result in the inability of the Company to operate its business and technology, meet its obligations to customers, maintain key customer relationships and revenue, and fulfill its contractual obligations.
In order for the Company to restart its operations, it must raise sufficient capital to re-hire or hire additional employees. Qualified employees may not be available for hire, and/or may require salaries or benefits in excess of what we paid persons in similar positions previously, due to among other things, inflation and other economic factors, the need to hire such persons away from their current jobs and the negative impact that the furlough has had on our reputation.
If we are not able to restart our operations, hire new employees and engage new contractors, and obtain funding sufficient to support and restart our operations, we may be forced to permanently cease our operations, sell off our assets and operations, and/or seek bankruptcy protection or a corporate reorganization, which could cause the value of our securities to become worthless, or at best, become devalued in the marketplace
These conditions, along with our current lack of material revenue producing activities, and significant debt, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern during the next 12 months. The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. Accordingly, the financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recoverability of assets and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should we be unable to continue as a going concern. The financial statements included herein also include a going concern footnote.
Supply Chain4 | 4.9%
Supply Chain - Risk 1
Failure to perform under agreements regarding our Platform or our Data Services, affiliate agreements, or other contracts that we are party to may result in litigation, substantial monetary liquidated damages and contract termination, which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.Supply Chain - Risk 2
We rely on relationships with lottery organizations from which we acquire lottery data information for the provision of our Data Services. Loss of existing relationships or failure to expand existing relationships may cause loss of competitive advantage or require us to modify, limit or discontinue certain offerings, which could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.We rely on relationships with lottery organizations from which we acquire rights to collect and supply lottery data that we provide to our users and customers. The future success of our Data Service business may depend, in part, on our ability to obtain, retain and expand relationships with lottery organizations. We have arrangements with lottery organizations for rights to their data. Our arrangements with lottery organizations may not continue to be available to us. In the event that we lose existing arrangements or cannot continue and expand existing arrangements, we may lose our competitive advantage or be required to discontinue or limit our offerings or services. The loss of such arrangements may cause loss of competitive advantage and could materially adversely affect our financial condition, business and results of operations.
Supply Chain - Risk 3
We rely on third-party payment processors to process payments and withdrawals made by our users, and if we cannot manage our relationships with such third parties and other payment-related risks, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.When operational, we rely on a limited number of third-party payment processors to process payments and withdrawals made by our users. If any of our third-party payment processors terminates its relationship with us or refuses to renew their agreements with us on commercially reasonable terms, we would need to find an alternate payment processors, and may not be able to secure similar terms or replace such payment processors in an acceptable time frame. Further, the software and services provided by our third-party payment processors may not meet our expectations, contain errors or vulnerabilities, be compromised or experience outages. Any of these risks could cause us to lose our ability to accept payments or other payment transactions or make timely payments to our users, any of which could make our technology less trustworthy and convenient and adversely affect our ability to attract and retain our users.
Nearly all of our payments have been made by credit card, debit card, automated clearing house transaction, or through other third-party payment services, which subjects us to certain regulations and to the risk of fraud. We may in the future offer new payment options to users that may be subject to additional regulations and risks. We are also subject to a number of other laws and regulations relating to the payments we accept from our users and customers, including with respect to money laundering, money transfers, privacy, and information security. If we fail to comply with applicable rules and regulations, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties, fines and/or higher transaction fees and may lose our ability to accept online payments or other payment card transactions, which could make our offerings less convenient and attractive to our users and customers. If any of these events were to occur, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
For example, if we are deemed to be a money transmitter as defined by applicable regulation, we could be subject to certain laws, rules and regulations enforced by multiple authorities and governing bodies in the U.S. including numerous state and local agencies who may define money transmitter differently. Certain states in the U.S. may have a more expansive view of who qualifies as a money transmitter. Additionally, outside of the U.S., we could be subject to additional laws, rules and regulations related to the provision of payments and financial services, and if we expand into new jurisdictions, the foreign regulations and regulators governing our business that we are subject to will expand as well. If we are found to be a money transmitter under any applicable regulation and we are not in compliance with such regulations, we may be subject to fines or other penalties in one or more jurisdictions levied by federal, state or local regulators, including state Attorneys General, as well as those levied by foreign regulators. In addition to fines, penalties for failing to comply with applicable rules and regulations could include criminal and civil proceedings, forfeiture of significant assets or other enforcement actions. We could also be required to make changes to our business practices or compliance programs as a result of regulatory scrutiny.
Additionally, our payment processors require us to comply with payment card network operating rules, which are set and interpreted by the payment card networks. The payment card networks could adopt new operating rules or interpret or reinterpret existing rules in ways that might restrict or prohibit us from using certain payment methods in providing certain offerings to some users, be costly to implement or difficult to implement. We have agreed to reimburse our payment processors for fines they are assessed by payment card networks if we or our users violate these rules. Any of the foregoing risks could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Supply Chain - Risk 4
We rely on third-party providers for validation services regarding our users, and if such providers fail to perform adequately, provide inaccurate information, or we do not maintain business relationships with them, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.We have relied and expect to rely in the future on third-party providers to assist in some or all of the required validation of the identity, verification of the age, or geo-location of our prospective users, however, there is no guarantee that such third-party systems will perform adequately, or at all, or be effective. To the extent that we rely on third parties for our identity, age, or geolocation systems to ensure that we are in compliance with certain laws and regulations, any service disruption to those systems would prohibit us from operating our offerings and would adversely affect our business. Additionally, incorrect or misleading geolocation, age, and identity verification data with respect to current or potential users received from third-party service providers may result in us inadvertently allowing access to our offerings to individuals who should not be permitted to access them, or otherwise inadvertently deny access to individuals who should be able to access our offerings, in each case based on inaccurate identity or geographic location determination. When operational, our third-party geolocation services provider relies on its ability to obtain information necessary to determine geolocation from mobile devices, operating systems, and other sources. When operational, changes, disruptions, or temporary or permanent failure to access such sources by our third-party services providers may result in their inability to accurately determine the location of our users. Moreover, our inability to maintain our contracts with third-party services providers, or to replace them with equivalent third parties, may result in our inability to access geolocation, age and identity verification data necessary for our day-to-day operations. If any of these risks materializes, we may be subject to disciplinary action, fines, lawsuits, and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Costs1 | 1.2%
Costs - Risk 1
Our insurance coverage is not adequate to cover all possible losses that we could suffer, and our insurance costs may increase.Macro & Political
Total Risks: 3/82 (4%)Below Sector Average
Economy & Political Environment1 | 1.2%
Economy & Political Environment - Risk 1
Economic downturns, inflation, and political and market conditions beyond our control could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.International Operations1 | 1.2%
International Operations - Risk 1
The international scope of our operations may expose us to increased legal and regulatory risks, and our international operations and corporate and financing structure may expose us to potentially adverse tax consequences.Capital Markets1 | 1.2%
Capital Markets - Risk 1
Fluctuating foreign currency and exchange rates may negatively impact our business, results of operations, and financial position.See a full breakdown of risk according to category and subcategory. The list starts with the category with the most risk. Click on subcategories to read relevant extracts from the most recent report.
FAQ
What are “Risk Factors”?
Risk factors are any situations or occurrences that could make investing in a company risky.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that publicly traded companies disclose their most significant risk factors. This is so that potential investors can consider any risks before they make an investment.
They also offer companies protection, as a company can use risk factors as liability protection. This could happen if a company underperforms and investors take legal action as a result.
It is worth noting that smaller companies, that is those with a public float of under $75 million on the last business day, do not have to include risk factors in their 10-K and 10-Q forms, although some may choose to do so.
How do companies disclose their risk factors?
Publicly traded companies initially disclose their risk factors to the SEC through their S-1 filings as part of the IPO process.
Additionally, companies must provide a complete list of risk factors in their Annual Reports (Form 10-K) or (Form 20-F) for “foreign private issuers”.
Quarterly Reports also include a section on risk factors (Form 10-Q) where companies are only required to update any changes since the previous report.
According to the SEC, risk factors should be reported concisely, logically and in “plain English” so investors can understand them.
How can I use TipRanks risk factors in my stock research?
Use the Risk Factors tab to get data about the risk factors of any company in which you are considering investing.
You can easily see the most significant risks a company is facing. Additionally, you can find out which risk factors a company has added, removed or adjusted since its previous disclosure. You can also see how a company’s risk factors compare to others in its sector.
Without reading company reports or participating in conference calls, you would most likely not have access to this sort of information, which is usually not included in press releases or other public announcements.
A simplified analysis of risk factors is unique to TipRanks.
What are all the risk factor categories?
TipRanks has identified 6 major categories of risk factors and a number of subcategories for each. You can see how these categories are broken down in the list below.
1. Financial & Corporate
- Accounting & Financial Operations - risks related to accounting loss, value of intangible assets, financial statements, value of intangible assets, financial reporting, estimates, guidance, company profitability, dividends, fluctuating results.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights – risks related to things that impact share prices and the rights of shareholders, including analyst ratings, major shareholder activity, trade volatility, liquidity of shares, anti-takeover provisions, international listing, dual listing.
- Debt & Financing – risks related to debt, funding, financing and interest rates, financial investments.
- Corporate Activity and Growth – risks related to restructuring, M&As, joint ventures, execution of corporate strategy, strategic alliances.
2. Legal & Regulatory
- Litigation and Legal Liabilities – risks related to litigation/ lawsuits against the company.
- Regulation – risks related to compliance, GDPR, and new legislation.
- Environmental / Social – risks related to environmental regulation and to data privacy.
- Taxation & Government Incentives – risks related to taxation and changes in government incentives.
3. Production
- Costs – risks related to costs of production including commodity prices, future contracts, inventory.
- Supply Chain – risks related to the company’s suppliers.
- Manufacturing – risks related to the company’s manufacturing process including product quality and product recalls.
- Human Capital – risks related to recruitment, training and retention of key employees, employee relationships & unions labor disputes, pension, and post retirement benefits, medical, health and welfare benefits, employee misconduct, employee litigation.
4. Technology & Innovation
- Innovation / R&D – risks related to innovation and new product development.
- Technology – risks related to the company’s reliance on technology.
- Cyber Security – risks related to securing the company’s digital assets and from cyber attacks.
- Trade Secrets & Patents – risks related to the company’s ability to protect its intellectual property and to infringement claims against the company as well as piracy and unlicensed copying.
5. Ability to Sell
- Demand – risks related to the demand of the company’s goods and services including seasonality, reliance on key customers.
- Competition – risks related to the company’s competition including substitutes.
- Sales & Marketing – risks related to sales, marketing, and distribution channels, pricing, and market penetration.
- Brand & Reputation – risks related to the company’s brand and reputation.
6. Macro & Political
- Economy & Political Environment – risks related to changes in economic and political conditions.
- Natural and Human Disruptions – risks related to catastrophes, floods, storms, terror, earthquakes, coronavirus pandemic/COVID-19.
- International Operations – risks related to the global nature of the company.
- Capital Markets – risks related to exchange rates and trade, cryptocurrency.