Though esports are still a small part of DraftKings’ other fantasy betting business, it’s growing rapidly. In 2017, entry fees for its League of Legends fantasy games were up 59 percent year over year. Due to the massive interest this year;s grow rate is about to exceed last year ones.
“We are certainly aware of how fast the sport has grown,… One of the reasons we believe esports could be much bigger on DraftKings is we haven’t really penetrated to the full breadth of games.” stated Matt Kalish, chief revenue officer and co-founder of DraftKings for CNBC.
Since entering the world of esports in 2015, DraftKings has only offered fantasy games in League of Legends. This might change in the near future, though, with Kalish revealing plans to explore other games and more, including sponsorship opportunities.
DraftKings and its main competitor FanDuel created some buzz around their esports activities in 2015, when both companies entered the market at about the same time. The competitors went head-to-head in esports quite quickly, with FanDuel acquiring already established esports fantasy betting company AlphaDraft and sponsoring team organizations Fnatic, Team Dignitas , Luminosity Gaming , and Renegades , while DraftKings went into sponsorship agreements with Cloud9 , Counter Logic Gaming , and Team SoloMid .
Both DraftKings and FanDuel race cooled off as quickly as it heated up, however. DraftKings abandoned their sponsorships a half a year later, while AlphaDraft drooped it’s real money contests offerings, probably as a result of the increasing regulation.
Source: EsportsObserver
By George Miller
George Miller started his career in content marketing and has started working as an Editor/Content Manager for our company in 2016. George has acquired many experiences when it comes to interviews and newsworthy content becoming Head of Content in 2017. He is responsible for the news being shared on multiple websites that are part of the European Gaming Media Network.