North America

William Hill will be paying over £60,000 to a Cornish Hotelier if Donald Trump wins the US Presidential Election. John Mappin has staked a series of bets – the most recent one of £1538.46 is the biggest, placed at odds of 13/2 on today – which will result in a £60,000+ payout if the one-time 150/1 outsider ends up in the …

DraftKings Inc., the troubled daily fantasy sports (DFS) platform, has teamed up with sports data provider Opta to supply all its live soccer performance statistics. DraftKings has engaged Opta in order to enhance the customer experience of its soccer product, in anticipation of an upcoming expansion into new markets. One of the main features that has changed is the increase …

This weekend saw American Pharoah sign off his career in style, winning the $5 million Breeders Classic Cup at Keeneland (Fort Knox – Kentucky). Pharoah was already the toast of US racing having completed the first Triple Crown in 32 years winning US grand slams’ at the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and The Belmont Stakes. However Saturday’s ‘Fort Knox’ victory …

Writing an open letter to the media and DFS consumers, Nigel Eccles CEO and Co-founder of FanDuel has called for the US federal government to begin to regulate the industry. Eccles who leads FanDuel operations from New York and Edinburgh, stated that government intervention was the only way to ensure consumer trust and protection in the DFS market. In his …

The Boston Business Journal reports that DraftKings is ‘quietly’ seeking to raise a further $200 million in investment. If the Boston based DFS operator achieves its target funding, the company will have an estimated $2 billion valuation according to VC research and intelligence firm PitchBook. In six rounds of venture funding DraftKings has raised $375 million in investment from a …

Media and games research and intelligence provider SuperData has speculated that the global eSports market will surpass $1.9 billion in revenues by 2018. A SuperData report forecasts that eSports growth will be driven by further promotion of events by major broadcast networks combined with popular uptake of new competitive games content and tournament formats. At present SuperData estimates that eSports …

US racing broadcaster TVG, has announced that acquired HRTV will rebrand its media assets to TVG2. TVG governance announced that the full rebrand has become effective as of 28 October, with TVG launching TVG2.com Betfair subsidiary TVG stated that the brand move would allow the broadcaster to better leverage its media inventory, production and broadcast infrastructure. The rebrand would further help …

Chinese lottery solutions provider DJI Holdings has moved to terminate CFO Rodney Davis contract, for failing to seek appropriate permission for the share disposals he made. Davis who was due to depart the company at the end of October, is reported to have sold 250,000 shares between 30 September and 20 October without notifying DJI governance, a director requisite required …

The Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA), which has represented the US fantasy sports industry since 1998, announced  that it will form the Fantasy Sports Control Agency (FSCA) and appoint Former Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Seth D. Harris to chair the independent agency. The FSCA will aim to create the following standards and practices for the industry: Standards: Develop a …

Sports data provider Sportradar has secured an all-star $44 million investment round led by Washington sports mogul Ted Leonsis investment firm Revolution Growth. Revolution Growth’s funding round saw, NBA legend and Charlotte Hornets franchise owner Michael Jordan contribute to investment, with Dallas Mavericks (NBA) owner Mark Cuban also participated in the round. Sportradar governance announced that Cuban and Jordan, would …