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SatoshiDice Sells to Undisclosed Buyer for $11.5 Million

SatoshiDice is an Bitcoin gambling company with a simple concept: send Bitcoins to SatoshiDice, the dice are rolled, and your winnings are sent back to you within 30 seconds in Bitcoin. The company’s revenue model is to apply a transaction fees on each wager (win or lose) of 0.0005 BTC.

Founded by Erik Voorhees, who has recently been based out of Panama City to operate the company, SatoshiDice claims to be the biggest Bitcoin gambling company in the world.

SatoshiDice now also has a new accolade: the first major Bitcoin acquisition. Mr. Voorhees announced on the company’s forum that SatoshiDice was being acquired for 126,315 BTC, or around $11.5 million.

SatoshiDice is being sold, in full, to a new company that will take over all ownership, operations, and management.  The total sale price is 126,315 BTC, or 0.00126315 BTC per share.

To put the acquisition in perspective, the buyer paid about 1.1% of available Bitcoins to buy the company.

The buyer has not been disclosed, though some reports suggest the acquirer is a large gambling entity looking to expand into Bitcoin.

Up until the sale, shares of SatoshiDice have been traded on Romanian Bitcoin exchange MPEx under the ticker S.DICE. Voorhees clarified what this sale means for shareholders.

According to the MPEX Agreement, MPEX holders are entitled to receive 0.00126315 BTC per share, alongside other private owners. However, for the good of the MPEX holders and for the sake of the general Bitcoin community, which the site always has intended to support and nurture, SatoshiDice has arranged to pay MPEX holders an additional .00223685 BTC per share bringing the total to 0.0035 BTC per share.

This is a 277% premium over the sale price and a roughly 175% premium over the current market price of S.DICE shares on MPEX. It is also roughly equivalent to the average price of S.DICE shares at IPO (though BTC was $12 back then, and over $90 today).

As per the S.DICE agreement, asset owners do not have voting rights to effect operational changes, nor any rights to negotiate nor block a full buyout of the company.  Nevertheless, SatoshiDice has kept the interests of the asset holders in mind throughout this negotiation process, and has intended to treat these holders fairly, above and beyond contractual obligations.

The next day, Voorhees confirmed the acquisition.

UPDATE July 18, 2013: SatoshiDICE was sold in full to a private party. S.DICE has been delisted and closed.  S.DICE holders were paid .0035 BTC per share at close.

In liberty,
-Erik

SatoshiDice was launched in April 2012 when Voorhees acquired the technology from a Reddit forum user.

I have been running a bitcoin casino for a little over a week. It has made 146 BTC with an investment of around 45 BTC to get it started. I don’t want to run it any more because I am concerned about legal issues.

I’ve completed a deal with someone and the new site is up at http://satoshidice.com/

In 2012, SatoshiDice earned 33,310 BTC.

In March 2013, it started blocking IP addresses in the United States due to fears of U.S. regulation, given the laws governing online gaming. A company spokesperson told CoinDesk at the time, “SatoshiDice is building a ubiquitous global brand in the bitcoin space, and must take the coercive threat of government seriously.”

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