SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The sports betting and igaming industries are witnessing the fast growth of the US based daily fantasy sports market, debate has arisen as to whether fantasy sports product can develop and grow within international markets. Marc Saba, Director of start-up fantasy football platform FootballFanager.com, talks to SBC about his product and the opportunities it can provide for the gaming industry.
___________________________
SBC: Hi Marc, great to meet you. Can you detail to SBC readers more about Football Fanager and how you have developed your services and progressed your product from idea stage through to product launch?
MS: Great to meet you too SBC….I came up with the idea for Football Fanager about six years ago while I was studying for my Master’s degree in the US. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 had reshaped the online gaming space, paving the way for growth in the fantasy sports industry across the country.
During that time, I witnessed the rise of Daily Fantasy Sports pioneer FanDuel, but I was attracted by another site called One Season, where users could buy and sell virtual shares of professional athletes in the US.
There were flaws in its system, but the model of using a stock market simulation and applying it to sport inspired me to write my thesis on predictive markets in sports through fantasy leagues. After exploring opportunities to develop a game, I started working with a company ultimately more interested in a free to play fantasy sports model.
When I graduated I had a desire to develop a real-money platform in Europe, where I gained access to some of Europe’s leading football clubs.
With my partners I launched a fully-fledged free to play gaming company, MyFantasy11, in time for Euro 2012, quickly attracting regular users and creating a strong base. Soon, we felt ready to enter the UK market, which we always saw as our primary target, and successfully applied for a UK gambling license.
Following a beta test with 500 users, we launched as Football Fanager in time for the 2013-14 season and, without any marketing whatsoever, attracted over 1500 users.
Our official launch for the public was ahead of the 2014 World Cup and we ended the tournament with over 15,000 unique users.
Today, with over 20,000 regular players, Football Fanager is the leading daily and weekly football fantasy site in the UK.
SBC: What attracted you to monetise the popular fantasy football game, which is traditionally a free game format for European consumers?
MS: Two things – the fact that no-one was doing it properly and football’s huge potential.
Football is the world’s most popular sport with a total fan base of over 3.5 billion. A global audience of one billion watched the Brazil 2014 World Cup final, which included roughly a third of the whole UK population.
They are extraordinary figures, yet football still has massive opportunities for growth, particularly in large nations such as the US, China and India. These are hugely exciting and undeveloped markets, even amongst sometimes incredibly restrictive gambling laws.
Being a very casual gamer, I thoroughly enjoyed the social experience of fantasy sports while living in the US. I got to understand and appreciate the NFL as a sport, but also as arguably the most powerful sports brand anywhere and I think that fantasy sport was a catalyst for me in becoming a fan and consumer.
I wanted to replicate this successful model and apply it to football. The NFL has 350 million fans, the majority in the US – football has ten times that and is popular throughout the world.
Within five years I expect football will be by far the most popular fantasy sports game.
SBC: The success of US Fantasy Sports has become an intriguing subject matter for igaming operators. In your opinion what can igaming operations learn from the growth in popularity and player take up of fantasy sports products?
MS: The social aspect of fantasy sports is one of the main reasons for its success. As proven in the US, building up social connectivity and work circles is key to making fantasy sport grow in Europe. This has already been happening amongst igamers in games such as poker, which has thrived in the last decade, but it will be harder to replicate for a sportsbook.
It has proven important for poker operators to target groups that like to have their freedom when selecting game parameters, whether it’s the stakes, the number of people on a table and so on. It’s much harder to develop the same freedom for sports bookmakers, and that’s why fantasy sports is interesting for traditional igaming operators.
SBC: Daily fantasy sports is still a young industry. In order for continued progression should Fantasy Sports products look to be attached to the igaming industry or would they remain better off independently?
MS: In Europe, playing fantasy sport for money is clearly categorised as a gambling product. This means that a joint venture involving a fantasy sport product does offer a very interesting prospect for igaming operators, as it could open new games, new ways to bet, and allow for new and more casual users to be targeted.
This differs to the US, where internet gambling is illegal and fantasy sports are the closest things to a traditional wager on a sport result. Because of this, fantasy sports have been able to grow quickly and to a large scale. The daily playing aspect is the nearest thing an American can get to a traditional sports wager, which is very important to remember should the US legalize online gambling one day.
In the US, fantasy sport operators have remained independent and now boast over a million members, which is on par to some of Europe’s largest igaming operators.
SBS: As a new fantasy football product, what key metrics and key measurements are you looking to gain for the next football season?
MS: Our focus at the moment is on building a strong base of repeat players, before we look to develop them into recurring, paying players. We monitor usage and know that players spend on average nine minutes on our platform versus three minutes for traditional bookmakers, which shows that people are taking more time to play the game, pick their teams, looking at stats and researching team rosters. Those nine minutes gives us great leverage when it comes to dealing with partners that thrive for players’ attention span.
Once we develop our core base of players, we can then begin to look at other metrics in detail such as total number of paid league entries and rake commission as we look to increasingly monetise the site.
SBS: As a start-up, what are you company and product goals for the coming months?
MS: We’re in close discussion with world-renowned partners who we’re looking to start the next football season alongside.
Fantasy sport is on the verge of a boom in the UK and Europe and Fantasy Fanager is perfectly placed to ride the wave. We have the right product, vision and adaptability to enter new markets which means we’ll be at the forefront of this revolution.
_________________________
Marc Saba – Founder & Director – FootballFanager.com
