INSIGHT
NOW IS THE TIME
TO APPRECIATE DAILY
FANTASY SPORTS AGAIN
The relationship between daily fantasy sports and affiliates is going through a rocky patch, says James Pope
of Fanto Gaming, but there could be huge rewards for those backing a reconciliation
EYES MEET ACROSS A CROWDED
ROOM. There is a spark and a moment.
I imagine this is how it all started in
the early noughties with online poker
and affiliates: a match made in heaven,
expected to stand the course of time.
After all, aren’t poker sites and affiliates
perfect bedfellows, only ever going from
strength to strength?
Sadly, not all relationships are quite so
Hollywood. Just as in some marriages,
there are bumps in the road, some divorces
and many issues to work on to find
common ground.
Daily fantasy sports (DFS) and affiliates
are most certainly currently in marriage
counselling. They are wondering if they ever
actually liked each other in the first place.
For the time being DFS cannot even get
itself a Tinder date: it doesn’t even register
on any affiliate’s radar. Outside of the two
big US operators you would struggle to find
an example of any DFS programmes and
affiliates working together with any level
of significance.
I recently attended the affiliates’
conference in Amsterdam and not a single
talk was offered for DFS. Is fantasy sports as
a concept really that bad a proposition? For
me the answer is a resounding no. For the
time being it is just a bit of an ugly duckling
— and we all know how that turns out!
44
iGB Affiliate Issue 65 OCT/NOV 2017
Without much further ado, let’s take
the three biggest concerns/complaints/
untruths that affiliates have with DFS.
Then let’s challenge them and see if some
bridges can start to be built.
Affiliate concern 1:
Not in vogue
DFS has had a rough time of it recently.
Only 18 months ago US$400m (£300m)
of venture capitalist money was being
pumped into the market. Was this
another gold rush? You would think
It didn’t stop the public associating risks
with Toyota cars and they are still recovering
from this misunderstanding.
DFS is still reeling from uncertainty
created by the big two.
Affiliates and igaming are wary
because of all the bad press, but does this
mean there is a lack of good companies
with a solid strategy to be worked with
out there? Scratch the surface and you will
find some nice little gems with a unique
proposition in both the mass market and
niche areas.
“You will find some nice little gems with a unique
proposition in both the mass market and niche areas”
so with the number of new products
entering the market. Sadly, the bubble
burst following some dubious activities
and storm clouds have been growing ever
since. No one wants to go on holiday
where it rains.
And why does bad press matter?
Let’s share the story of Toyota recalling
5.2m cars in January 2010 as a
precautionary measure after an increased
number of accidents. It turned out that
the cars were no less safe than any other,
just plagued by an unfortunate number of
bad drivers creating a statistical anomaly.
Affiliate concern 2:
Volume and scale
An affiliate’s dream. Volume and scale.
A rising tide lifts all ships: a concept in
high demand makes converting incoming
traffic simple for the operators — and like
shooting fish in a barrel for affiliates.
Sadly, ‘build it and they will come’ has
not yet really happened and instead DFS is
more like A Tale of Two Cities (“It is the
best of times and the worst of times”).
The US market speaks for itself and as
a proxy gambling option in the US DFS
affords significant opportunities.