DraftKings and FanDuel abandon fantasy sports merger

13 July 2017

Fantasy sports sites DraftKings and FanDuel have abandoned a plan to combine, less than a month after US competitors regulators looked for to obstruct the bet9ja's welcome offer.

The deal would have created a company with control over 90% of the marketplace for paid, daily dream sports contests, government authorities stated.

The companies stated the bet9ja's welcome offer would result in higher financial investment, supplying benefits for consumers.

They stated they would now look to grow independently.

FanDuel began in Scotland in 2009 and is now based in New york city. It is number 2 in the US for paid daily dream sports contests behind DraftKings, which started in Boston in 2012.

Fantasy sport company FanDuel cautions of risk from US policies

The two firms specialise in a subset of fantasy sports, in which fans pick gamers to create groups for single games, rather of the season, with the prospective to win prize money based upon the outcome.

In November, they said they had accepted combine. Terms were not disclosed.

At the yohaig code time, they said the bet9ja's welcome offer would permit them to combine forces on regulatory issues raised by US regulators, who had actually compared the market to unlawful gaming and banned the sites in some states.

Nigel Eccles, head of FanDuel, said it made good sense to move on independently.

"There is still massive, untapped market opportunity for FanDuel, and we will continue to execute our strategy to grow our business and more broaden the fantasy sports market," he stated in a declaration.

Draft Kings chief executive Jason Robbins likewise said ending the merger would allow the firm to "singularly focus" on development, consisting of globally.

Last year there were an estimated 57 million fantasy sports players in the US alone.