EVENBET GAMING
The Future of Fantasy Sports
EvenBet Gaming CEO Dmitry Starostenkov discusses the merits of a strong daily fantasy sports offering, and how it can prove a key retention tool across the verticals.
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“authentic” fans simply rooting for their team with their eyes glued to the match is as tired a notion as it is one-dimensional
“ ” 66 MARCH 2018 The idea of
n early 2017 some rather dogmatic detractors were saying that daily fantasy sports had run its race. Especially in territories which already boasted a mature sports betting market. Their gloomy narrative read: DFS had initially enjoyed
a blistering start from the blocks, before running out of steam, as sports betting closed and sped by – perhaps never to be caught. Succinctly put, there was only going to be one winner when it came to the contest between DFS and tradition sportsbook. However, those who predicted the demise of DFS did so prematurely, largely because they had failed to frame the contest correctly, mistaking sports betting’s success as a sign of DFS’ decline. Instead, sportsbook and DFS do not need to be viewed as rivals, but rather individual components of any strong sports betting offering. Both our research and core development has
shown that these two products can drive incremental growth when intelligently paired, as opposed to cannibalising each other. Despite sportsbook’s remarkable growth in recent
years, operators continue to face a challenge when it comes to truly engaging its customers. After all, betting endures as a private, even secretive pastime, where people are often reluctant to share their adventures and activity, at least not until after the event.
Rules of engagement
DFS, on the other hand, by its nature starts more conversations, encouraging the exchange of thoughts and strategies with friends and colleagues in an engaging, communal way. As such, it’s a practical engagement tool which connects and complements sportsbook and casino offering alike. In this internet age, where loyalty can be
measured in terms of online minutes, the challenge is to involve your audience in new compelling ways.
It’s a battle for eye-ball attention, and DFS’s gamification of fandom is captivating because it delivers an all-encompassing application for sports fans’ enthusiasms and knowledge within a competitive framework. We have discovered that giving players the
opportunity to manage their fantasy team in real time during an event significantly increases the amount of time a player spends interacting with the product. Furthermore, furnishing players with the option to create their own matches and communicate with rivals throughout the action also serves to win users’ attention during game time. Over in the US, the NFL, the NBA and the MLB
have all converged in understanding that DFS brings another level of appreciation and deeper fan engagement, and other governing bodies are following suit around the world. Although football naturally remains the pre-eminent sport when it comes to DFS in Europe, we’ve found that our cricket product has enjoyed success in rapidly emerging markets, such as India. After all, as a sport which both intrinsically relies on and leverages its statistics, cricket has the potential to mirror the DFS stats- based success of American football and baseball in the US. So, although US sports initially led the DFS charge, that’s certainly no longer the case.
Split attention
At the end of the day, though, this “game on a game” format crystallises the chance for a supplementary event taking precedence over the main match, and occasionally surpassing it for enjoyment. The idea of “authentic” fans simply rooting for
their team with their eyes glued to the match is as tired a notion as it is one-dimensional. Just go to any stadium, and watch thousands of fans side- tracked by other options (social media, DFS, betting,
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