Canada’s foremost iGaming company Amaya Inc. has launched initiatives for entering the fantasy sports betting market through acquisition of Texas-based Victiv, a daily fantasy sports (DFS) website offering fantasy sports competitions for MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, NMA, and PGA. This was announced last Thursday (August 13, 2015) along with plans for re-launching Victiv under a new brand as StarsDraft, before the start of the 2015 National Football League (NFL) season this September.
Accordingly, the Victiv platform and offerings will also include European fantasy-soccer leagues under the StarsDraft brand. It was also announced that the PokerStars online poker platform would later integrate the innovative Victiv software as additional website offering.
About the Victiv Platform
Victiv, as noted by Amaya is a DFS website that has received considerable attention particularly from new fantasy sports players, ever since the site launched in September of last year. The existing Victiv team will continue to manage the fantasy sports betting website in certain U.S. markets, even after it has rebranded into StarsDraft.com.
Accordingly, the site’s main drawing power lies in its user-friendly and novel software. Featuring the “Bankroll Builder,” this Victiv offering gives new players a chance to learn about the game and develop their fantasy sports betting skills, risk free. Newbies can join fee-less contests that give them a chance to win real money without the need to make a deposit.
Currently, Victiv is available in 45 U.S. jurisdictions but is not operational in the States of Arizona, Washington, Montana, Louisiana, and Iowa, where DFS is not recognized as legal. The fantasy sports betting website awards payouts of up to US$15,000 to winners of regular DFS plays.
About Amaya’s StarsDraft Intiatives
According to Amaya observers, the company had long hinted of plans to enter the DFS market before the start of the 2015 NFL season. Eilers Research (ER) noted that in light of the target date set by the company, the Canadian iGaming firm has taken the acquisition route to achieve its DFS goal, instead of building a DFS product organically.
ER expects that Amaya’s DFS initiatives do not entail competing with industry giants like Fan Duel and Draft Kings, as doing so would likely erode the Canadian firm’s profit margins. The research company believes Amaya will take a conservative approach into sales and marketing campaigns, instead of making material investments that match the customer acquisition spends of the two DFS front-runners.
Amaya CEO David Baazov said they had chosen Victiv after scrutinizing the gaming technology of twelve (12) other companies. Although the financial details and terms of agreement of the acquisition deal were not disclosed in the announcement, CEO Baazov described the money involved as “immaterial.”
According to the Legal Sports Report dotcom site, Mr. Baazov had conveyed that the company has no plans of making significant investments on the Victiv venture, as the immediate goal is to start out by leveraging their customer database and cross-sell to the U.S. adult players. Mr. Baazov voiced opinion that the fantasy sports betting market needs to mature more, and grow to a size that merits significant investment.
Matthew Primeaux, the CEO of Victiv and former Chief Risk Officer of PokerStrategy.com, said that the plan is to harness Victiv’s seasoned DFS team in introducing StarsDraft and the innovative Victiv platform to Amaya’s wide-ranging consumer base. The Victiv CEO said that they intend to capitalize on what they believe in, as a strong intersecting point between DFS and online poker players.