Sportech chief: We wonât lead DraftDay into marketing war
Ian Penrose has no plans to take on FanDuel and DraftKings and will instead use DraftDay to boost its B2B offer
Sportech CEO Ian Penrose (pictured) said his firm has âno plansâ to join the fierce marketing war between daily fantasy sports (DFS) behemoths FanDuel and DraftKings if and when it completes its planned acquisition of DraftDay. [private]
An investment firm managed by Sportech agreed to acquire DFS firm DraftDay and B2B network MGT Sports from MGT Capital Investments back in June for approximately $7m, although terms of the deal have yet to be finalized.
â[If the DraftDay acquisition completes] we wouldnât go after FanDuel or DraftKings because thatâs a fight we would never win, so there is no point in starting that one,â Penrose told eGR North America after Sportech reported its H1 financial results yesterday.
FanDuel and DraftKings are locked in a fierce battle over player sign-ups, with the pair claiming around 95% of the DFS market. But their near-monopoly has not come cheap, with both operators committing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year in sponsorship and ad deals.
Instead of taking on the likes of FanDuel and DraftKings, Penrose said Sportech planned to use DraftDay and MGT Sports to offer its B2B customers a wider range of products. Amaya has adopted a similar strategy with its soon-to-launch StarsDraft offering, with CEO David Baazov saying his firm would ânot invest heavilyâ in the sector.
âWhat we are doing, and whether DraftDay happens or not, is to add more products, technology, and digital offerings to a customer base that we supply technology to. So the more products we can give to that customer base, the better. If we can extend that into fantasy sports, great,â he added.
The news come after Sportech has confirmed it had received a proposal from Toronto-based software supplier Contagious Gaming to acquire the London-based firm in its entirety.