A bid to grow daily fantasy sports overseas does not appear to be gaining much traction as the industry fights for survival on its home front.
Gambling analysts say DraftKings, the industry’s second-largest company, has struggled to break into the UK’s well established sports betting industry since it launched to fanfare in February.
“They have had virtually no traction whatsoever,” said David Copeland, CEO at SuperLobby.com, a UK-based Web site that tracks betting activity on DraftKings and other daily fantasy sports sites. “The casual UK bettor has probably never heard of DraftKings.”
However, Jeffrey Haas, DraftKings’ London-based chief international officer, challenged that assessment shared by other analysts.
“We’re getting a very favorable response,” he told reporters, although he declined to provide data or documents to support the claim. “I can’t quantify that specifically, but from a trend perspective, it’s going in the right direction for us.”
Haas said “tens of thousands” of new UK players have already signed up and the Boston-based company remains on track to meet its target of enrolling about 100,000 new players in its first year.
DraftKings’ UK offerings are primarily focused on soccer, but players also have access to NBA, NFL, NHL and other sports competitions.
Like other licensed gambling companies, DraftKings is required to file regular reports accounting revenue, bets and other information to the gambling regulators, but those filings are not public.
Analysts suggest a number of factors are contributing to what they see as the company’s lackluster performance overseas.
Las Vegas-based gambling industry analyst Chris Grove said the legal debate over daily fantasy sports in the US has tied up financial resources and prevented DraftKings from a major advertising or marketing blitz in the UK, as it did to great effect in the US.
That puts DraftKings at a disadvantage to deep-pocketed UK sports betting companies like Ladbrokes, Bet365 or Paddy Power Betfair, he said.
A majority of US states are weighing legislation to regulate or ban the industry, which some consider illegal sports betting. Attorneys general in Illinois, Texas and other states have ordered the individual companies to cease operations outright.
Haas said DraftKings’ marketing efforts are largely focused on securing partnerships with popular UK soccer clubs, including Arsenal and Liverpool, in order to build “authenticity and credibility” in the competitive gambling market. The company also has a promotional agreement with one of London’s largest newspapers, the Daily Telegraph.
Other daily fantasy sports companies operating in the UK note that the format of the contests — where players pick teams of real-life athletes to compete in online contests for cash prizes — is still largely unfamiliar to bettors overseas.
“In Europe, they will need to work on convincing football fans that what they have to offer toward playing fantasy football is very different and a lot more spectacular than what they are already familiar with,” Malta-based Oulala cofounder Valery Bollier said of DraftKings. “We share this challenge.”
Haas said the company remains committed to growing its UK presence and that the “big test” will be August’s start of the massively popular English Premier League.
Rival daily fantasy sports operator FanDuel — the larger of the two companies — has also announced plans to enter the UK in time for the season’s start, a move Haas said does not threaten DraftKings.
“All the competition rushing to the UK market is good for us,” he said. “A rising tide lifts all ships, if you will.”
FanDuel spokeswoman Emily Bass said this week the company’s UK product is still in development and will be “custom-tailored” to the UK audience, with a “different look and feel” than what it currently offers in the US.
She declined to elaborate.
Analysts are not convinced FanDuel’s entry will move the needle much for daily fantasy sports in the UK.
“I don’t think they will do any better or worse,” Copeland said. “The UK eagerly awaits a company that has actually figured out how a UK betting customer behaves.”
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