Global Daily Fantasy Sports plans UK Venture
NEW PROVIDER FOR U.K. DAILY FANTASY SPORTS MARKET
Toronto-listed Global Daily Fantasy Sports plans UK and European ventures later this year.
Global Daily Fantasy Sports, a publicly traded company on Canada’s TSX Venture Exchange, will be entering the DFS market in the United Kingdom as a B2B supplier later this year, according to chief operating officer Justin Shulman.
The move is part of a European-facing business initiative which will see the company target regulated markets, aided by a distribution agreement it has signed with NYX Digital Gaming, a part of the NYX Gaming Group.
NYX will offer its existing international gaming operators a new revenue stream in the form of Global’s DFS product through its sales and marketing arms. Clients already using NYX’s Open Gaming System (OGS) will be able to quickly and easily integrate the Global DFS vertical to diversify their commercial offering to punters.
Operators who join the Global network will be afforded the opportunity to run both ring-fenced contests exclusively for their customers and will benefit from Network contests where liquidity is shared amongst all operators under the Global umbrella.
Shulman says that Global has already raised $8 million – $6 million via a non-brokered private placement financing that was oversubscribed.
The COO recently joined the company, bringing experience in the United States DFS market, where he founded Fantasy Feud and has been immersed in the industry since 2011.
“Justin joins Global with a wealth of fantasy sports experience,” Darcy Krogh, Global’s president and CEO, said in a press release. “We look forward to expanding our operational team under his guidance as we get closer to the launch of our European facing daily fantasy sports product.”
Krogh is also an industry veteran; he is a former co-founder of Chartwell Technology, and has management experience with the NYX group.
Shulman says that Globals existing business relationship with NYX means that the company can bring its fantasy concept to the table with exclusive rights into the NYX OGS platform, providing market credibility from the start.
“We have built a true B2B product designed specifically for regulated markets with the operators needs top of mind rather than taking an existing consumer-facing platform and pivoting the business model,” he said.
Shulman revealed that the initial Global DFS platform will offer five major European soccer leagues: English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A for immediate play, along with contests based on the PGA Tour and the European Tour in golf. It will have a North American DFS feel with salary-cap and pick’em-style contests as staples.
Phase two of development will roll out additional sports and new innovative niche game types, a strategy that helped put Feud on the map.
Fantasy Feud – the DFS company that Shulman founded – recently sold its user base to another DFS operator, Fantasy Aces (see previous InfoPowa report).
Global will be entering an increasingly competitive DFS market in Europe; recent reported partnerships include Mondogoal with Microgame; Sisal with Lottomatica; Oulala with GIG, Winamax going it alone in France; and PlayON with European Tour.
