DraftDay Expands Services to Cater to Australia with the Launch of Draftstars
The daily fantasy sports (DFS) operator and B2B provider, DraftDay, has announced the launch of Draftstars – their new Australian venture. The DFS site is being launched under a partnership between, CrownBet, Austalia’s only online bookmaker that has total local ownership and their ESPN rival, Fox Sports Australia, owned by News Corporation Australia.
A new regulated market?
Rich Robers, the CEO of DraftDay expressed his excitement towards this new venture and said, “DraftDay is excited to be partnering with Draftstars to launch the defining daily fantasy sports website in Australia. DraftDay’s award-winning platform and B2B expertise will provide Draftstars with a market-leading daily fantasy sports technology platform, incorporating essential consumer-protection tools to enhance the player experience and increase brand loyalty.”
With this new operation, Draftstars plans to offer contests based on the Australian Football League (AFL), to begin with; and later expand to include matched for the National Rugby League (NRL) and the National Basketball League (NBL).
Draftstars is already making waves in Australia as they have already acquired a deal to be the Official Daily Sports Partner for the AFL.
Australia is crazy about sports and betting
Draftstars CEO, Matt Sanders is confident that Australia will be a good fit for fantasy sports. He said in a press release, “As Australians, we love our sport, we love to compete and we love to test our knowledge of sports against our mates. Anyone who lives and breathes AFL will love Draftstars for the exciting and engaging digital sporting experience our platform will deliver”.
DraftDay Gaming boast that their players can access all their offerings no matter which media platform they choose to use. They have a strong web functionality and work on most devices from personal computers to tablets and smartphones; they also have an optimised iOS and Android platform making it easy for players to access their services from any mobile device; finally, DraftDay are currently in the process of developing and releasing a new app. The company is said to be bringing all these services to the Australian market but with a brand new and personalised look catering specifically to the taste of their new fans Down Under.
No firstmover
Although the rise of daily fantasy sports seems to always address the American market, DFS is not new to Australia either. A DFS site called Moneyball, is already present in Australia and Draftstars will face some competition from them.
Moneyball provides daily and weekly contests for the NRL, AFL, EPL, NFL, RWC and NBA; with a wagering license for all the Australian states and territories, they aim to provide contests that are specifically tailored for the Aussie market. Moneyball wishes to increase fan engagement through fantasy sports and in turn help grow participation in crowd attendance, viewership and club memberships.
Draftstars have also acquired the necessary permits to operate in Australia and their website indicates that they are “licensed and regulated by the Northern Territory Government of Australia.”
DraftDay/ Draftstars is the first operator to move from the USA market to the Australian. Both the Market leaders, DraftKings and FanDuel are yet to make such a move. However, DraftKings have already launched in the UK earlier this year and FanDuel is in the process of acquiring the necessary licenses and permits for their British expansion.
New territories with US issues in the back
With the DFS companies under so much stress from lawmakers in the USA, expanding and moving to other markets seem like the most logical step to stay in business.
Mondogoal, a soccer only fantasy sports company, founded in the Isle of Man, has expanded from the UK to USA, Spain, Germany, France the most recently Italy. The offer both free and real cash competitions and allow players to engage in head to head of multi league matches.
DraftDay has also suggested that their expansion into Australia and launch of Draftstars “is the first of many international opportunities that DraftDay has in development.”
