newspaper signs FSB Tech for World Cup fantasy football

METRO, the free newspaper for urban public transport users, has signed sports betting software business FSB Technology to provide live performance ratings for its Metro Free World Cup Fantasy Football competition in the UK.

The application, to be launched in mid-May, will see FSB provide live performance ratings for every player appearing in the Finals for punters in the Metro Fantasy Football contest, which combines fantasy sports and social gaming, with players awarded points for performance criteria such as goals, bookings or tackles.

FSB chief executive Dave McDowell said: “We are already working with SkyBet and 188Bet on the fixed-odds betting side, and this deal completes our vision of bridging the gap between fantasy sports and sports betting. This is the first time that football fans have been able to select a player for their fantasy team and place a bet on that same player using the same performance rating system. “

Metro product manager Rory Miller-Cheevers said: “The introduction of the FSB points system into our Fantasy Football game offers more in-depth player performance measurement than any other fantasy points system. We have worked hard to develop a World Cup game that we hope will deliver the best user-experience available and this innovative new points system is a big part of that.”

For more egaming-media deals, see our handy round-up of the key egaming media deals for the last year and a quarter, which first appeared in the April issue of eGaming Review.