SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Yahoo has released an updated version of their popular mobile fantasy multi-sports app, which will now include daily and weekly competitions in which players can bet real money.
The aim is to compete with the major players in this field; FanDuel and DraftKings, and for Yahoo to secure a piece of this increasingly lucrative market. Yahoo itself is already a renowned brand in the fantasy sports world, but previously the app offered solely season long contests.
The amount of fantasy sports users rose dramatically last year, to the tune of 40%. The Fantasy Sports Association have stated that there were more than 56 million playing in the US and Canada alone.
The appeal of daily and weekly games is evident in the successes of both FanDuel and DraftKings, and Yahoo SVP of Product and Engineering, Simon Khalaf, stated that this addition to the app would help it appeal to the “modern fan”.
The daily contests will primarily be only for Major League Baseball, but other top sports leagues will be added as their new seasons get underway. Currently the entry fees for these daily games vary from $1 to $5 (£0.65 to £3.25), and up to $250 (£160). Prizes meanwhile can be as high as $50,000 (£32,000).
Ken Fuchs, Vice President of Publisher Products at Yahoo, stated during an event announcing the app, that the company would retain about 10% of the entry fees paid by players.
