Daily Fantasy Sports

Interview with Kristoffer Zvickell of FanTeam.com – FantasySports

Published

8 years ago

November 16, 2015

EEG: Hi Kristoffer and thank you for this interview, firstly we would like to get a deeper overview of your profile in the igaming industry. How long have you been involved in this activity and why Fantasy sports?

Kristoffer: I just joined Fanteam.com recently after over ten years in the igaming industry, focused on traditional sports betting. Fantasy betting is intriguing to me as the market outside of the US is rather untouched and there are endless opportunities for development.

EEG: Fantasy sports have been around for a while now in the US, but it’s relatively a new product in the Europe countries. Currently each country has a different vision regarding licensing for it, however most countries allowing fantasy sports have already included fantasy sports in their traditional igaming licenses. How are you dealing with licensing in Europe and what is your opinion about DFS being regulated? Where can you operate?

Kristoffer: Since both UK and Malta have included Fantasy betting in their pool betting licenses we operate with these and are able to reach every country that are not themselves regulated. We are yet to explore the possibilities in such countries as Spain and Italy, but we are definitely looking in that direction. What is now happening in the us has been long overdue, their view on Fantasy betting has been ridiculous as there is, in my opinion, very little differentiating it from traditional sports betting.

EEG: Fantasy sports are starting to gain traction in the industry and it’s certainly starting to get a better appeal to customers. We are certainly intrigued by the looks and feel of FanTeam, where do you think it stand in the market currently?

Kristoffer: I think we are in a good position, we are obviously not in the same league as the US giants, but in Europe we have a pretty decent market share. We are keeping up with the competition and in our target markets, such as Russia and Finland, we are definitely growing to be the go-to fantasy product. I believe we are above most in terms of offer and technology, which is of course a great advantage.

EEG: Competition is good, it keeps brands on the edge and always wanting to innovate. Which are the key elements for which users love and rate the experience spent on your portal?

Kristoffer: Obviously our continuing growing offer is the key part that initially attracts our customers. We are currently in the midst of updating all front end design but we are already by far the easiest-to-use fantasy site in my opinion. With a dedicated mobile app around the corner we cover a big need and step up our focus on customer experience even further. One step we took to address this was to launch our site in six languages, we are the only operator that offers Russian, German, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian sites and support.

EEG: Do you think the DFS can become a complementary product for the larger sport betting operators?

Kristoffer: This is definitely my firm believe. We are finalizing our work on becoming B2B-ready and hope to deliver our game to our first operator in Q1 of 2016. The fantasy set-up is very similar to poker and I have always vied it as complementary product to traditional sports betting, not competition.

EEG: Fantasy Sports in no doubt can offer richer experience, have you guys managed to attract many players that have become loyal players and maybe advocate for the niche with friends?

Kristoffer: We do see that loyalty is much higher in our product compared to traditional sports betting, but at the same time we must be realistic and understand that this is partly because we are the only operator facing our target markets. Anyhow, the entire fantasy concept is usually a little less fast-paced than other products and I believe this helps the customers form a bond with their provider as they spend more time playing around with their teams.

EEG: What is your opinion about the Eastern European markets for DFS? Are you guys looking to expand in these markets in the near future?

Kristoffer: Depending on what you define as Eastern Europe the answer is a bit different. We have our site in Russian language and promote towards Russia and Ukraine currently. We are not yet viewing other parts of Eastern Europe actively but with our B2B product in the works, we hope to see further cooperation in those areas.

EEG: Where do you see FanTeam.com and of course Fantasy Sports in 5 years from now?

Kristoffer: Five years is a long time. I would say that we maintain and develop our position as the leading provider in northern and hopefully Eastern Europe as well. At the same time I believe we will deliver our fantasy product to several platforms and standalone operators as a complementary product to their offer. Fantasy sports will continue to grow steadily but I do not foresee a new poker boom, this product will develop at a steadier pace.

Zoltan "Hawkie" Tundik

With an experience of over 8 years in the online gambling industry, as an affiliate, later affiliate manager and consultant, I consider myself a veteran of the industry and can guarantee that you will be served with the most accurate information.

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Daily Fantasy Sports

Scout Gaming provides DFS platform to Nordic Leisure

Published

6 years ago

December 22, 2017

George Miller

Scout Gaming is to enter the Latvian and Lithuanian markets for the first time after agreeing to deliver a daily fantasy sports (DFS) platform to Nordic Leisure.

The agreement gives Nordic Leisure, the owner of Optibet and Gold Club Casino, full access to Scout Gaming’s DFS platform enabling them to offer the service across its subsidiaries and to all of its customers.

Scout Gaming’s platform is expected to be fully integrated and operational at Nordic Leisure by the end of 2018.

“I’m pleased that the demand for our offering is increasing,” said Scout Gaming chief executive Andreas Ternström. “Nordic Leisure is a competent, fast growing company with a significant share of its revenues from regulated markets, and I believe they will be a strong partner in the future.”

Nordic Leisure will include all of the group’s brands in the liquidity network being established by Scout Gaming. The network includes or will include Betsson and Bethard, as well as Gofantasy, Fanteam and PAF which have already launched the Scout Gaming DFS product.

“We have strong knowledge about Daily Fantasy Sports internally and when we finally found a product that meet our quality requirements, it was an easy choice,” said Nordic Leisure chief executive Peter Åström. “DFS has a natural fit in our existing product offering, and we see clear synergies with our broader media- and sports activities within the group.”

Awards

Oulala Wins ‘Best DFS Product’ Award

Published

6 years ago

December 11, 2017

George Miller

Malta-based DFS firm beats six other finalists

Oulala, the daily fantasy sports (DFS) operator and B2B provider, clinched the ‘Best DFS Product’ award for the second year in a row at SBC Awards ceremony in London.

Hosted by former footballer Luis Garcia and sports presenter Matt Lorenzo, the event featured a full 28 award categories this year – 11 Operator/Affiliate awards and 17 Supplier awards.

Oulala was represented by Oliver Niner, the company’s Business Development Director. ”I would like to congratulate the SBC team for organising this splendid event as well as to express my sincere gratitude to the judges for showing their appreciation for our hard work,” said Niner after accepting the award. ”We are constantly striving to improve our product offer in order to provide our partners with the best Daily Fantasy Football platform on the market. Our latest deals with Marsbet, Safaribet Kenya and Bravio Gaming prove that we are moving in the right direction.”

A panel of 57 judges, most of whom are top executives in the business, selected Oulala as the best in class among seven finalists.

2017 has been another eventful and successful year for the Oulala team ‒ the company’s CEO, Valery Bollier won the ICE VOX Prophet award at ICE, while Oulala was also selected as a superfinalist at the World Football Summit StartCup Challenge by GSIC and the KPMG Game Changers Global Startup Competition. Additionally, Oulala was also nominated for ”Skill Games Supplier of the Year” at the EGR B2B Awards 2017 and for ”Fantasy Sports Operator Award” at the EGR Operator Awards 2017.

About Oulala

Oulala, a B2B-licensed fantasy sports provider, is the company behind an award-winning daily fantasy football management game launched in August 2013. Its highly innovative and advanced scoring system in fantasy football uses 70 different statistical criteria, which are then converted into fantasy points in real time accordingly. A monetised version of the site, launched at the end of 2015, is now used as a case study to present the efficiency of the game to future B2B partners. The latter may opt for a fully customised solution with API, Iframe and Turnkey delivery.

Daily Fantasy Sports

FanDuel CEO exits, former CFO returns to take his place

Published

6 years ago

November 22, 2017

George Miller

FanDuel has announced that Nigel Eccles has stepped down as chief executive, with former chief financial officer Matt King to move into the role.

Eccles led FanDuel since he co-founded the daily fantasy sports (DFS) company in 2009, but will now exit the business and also depart its board of directors in order to “focus on his next venture”.

King was chief financial officer at FanDuel from 2014 until 2016 and will now take up the position of chief executive and join the board with immediate effect.

Most recently, King served as president of regional operations and corporate development at Cottingham & Butler and, prior to his time with FanDuel, was also a director at Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts and Co., as well as a consultant at McKinsey & Company.

“With his strategic vision, range of experiences, and broad skillset, I cannot imagine a better individual to steer FanDuel forward,” Eccles said.

“With tremendous legislative strides in the past two years and the business moving into profitability in Q4, FanDuel is in a great position; I know Matt is the leader to capitalise on the momentum in the sports technology space to take FanDuel to the next level.”

The FanDuel Board also said in a statement: “Nigel achieved something remarkable, he completely redefined an existing industry; his passion, intelligence, and focus have been the bedrock of FanDuel’s success.

“We would like to offer our sincere thanks as he leaves to pursue his next venture.

“We are excited to work with Matt again; he is an exceptional executive who knows the business intimately, and has a clear vision for its next phase of growth.”

Speaking about his return to the company, King added: “Over the past eight years, Nigel has built one of the most disruptive companies in the sports world.

“I look forward to working with our talented team to make FanDuel the place for fans to engage with sports they love in new and exciting ways.”

Meanwhile, FanDuel has also confirmed the appointment of Carl Vogel as its new chairman of the board, while David Nathanson will now join the company as an independent director.

Vogel was previously vice-chairman and president of US satellite broadcaster Dish Network Corp., and also spent time as president and chief executive of Charter Communication.

Nathanson served in various senior roles during an 18-year spell with US media company 21st Century Fox, recently as head of business operations at Fox Sports Media Group.