“This Week In Daily” is LegalSportsReport’s weekly wrap of key facts, happenings and miscellany from the daily fantasy sports industry.
Stories of note
Welcome, StarsDraft
Amaya’s entry in to daily fantasy sports is finally known. The parent company of PokerStars announced its purchase of Victiv on Thursday (terms not known). The DFS site will be rebranded as StarsDraft.
The biggest takeaway? Amaya is not interested in investing a ton of money in DFS, at least in the short term. So don’t expect either a huge marketing blitz, or big contests with a lot of overlay.
‘Fantasy gambling syndicates’?
Some high-profile columnists took aim at the DFS industry. The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick wrote a pair of stories this week, the first saying DFS sites and leagues are ripping off fans. The second theorized that sites are “fantasy gambling syndicates” and might be skimming more than rake.
The Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy also weighed in, more or less saying that fantasy is “ruining sports.”
You can disagree with them, or call them out of touch. At the same time, these are well-known, and well-read writers who appear highly ranked on internet news searches. And it’s yet another example of the media calling fantasy sports gambling, which, as we’ve said previously, could have huge implications for the industry as regulation efforts pop up.
Of the week
Read of the week
“Daily fantasy football: The DFS dictionary”
This is less of a must-read for the readers of this space; chances are most of you know all these terms. It’s important in that it’s the latest example of ESPN’s foray into daily fantasy sports; evidencing its partnership with DraftKings and its growing focus on DFS and integration into its media platforms.
We’ve already seen an increasing amount of DFS content at ESPN and other mainstream outlets in the past year, and this educational piece is setting the stage for the idea that we’re going to see even more come NFL season.
Tweet of the week
#Cowboys sponsorship deal likely to result in @DraftKings ‘Lounge’ (massive ground-level sports bar) at @ATTStadium @1053thefan
— mike fisher (@fishsports) August 10, 2015
Number of the week
187,310
The total number of entries for DraftKings’ PGA Championship Millionaire Maker Contest, which fell just short of selling out.
In case you missed it
Other news and stories from the world of DFS:
- A Q&A with DraftKings co-founder Matt Kalish.
- A look at all the TV and DFS partnerships as they currently stand.
- Cyberattacks have an impact on the world of fantasy eSports.
- DraftKings partners with a number of NASCAR venues.
