Draft Kings Launch
Quick Summary
Draft Kings has finally launched in the UK with a number of high profile sponsorships of UK football clubs and the promise of a bigger launch at the start of the football (soccer) season.
Gambling Industry Sentiment
It’s clear that the gambling industry as a whole does not believe that Draft Kings will succeed in the UK. Mainly due to the large number of legal betting options available to players.
Our View
We completely disagree. Far more people play fantasy sport in the UK than there are active gamblers. If the Draft Kings marketing targets this fantasy demographic they can quickly gain a sizeable market share.
So Who Are The Competitors?
From a gambling industry perspective we see two products that should be worried:
- Sky Bet Super 6 – We believe Super 6 has the most to lose, but as a free to play product and with the media exposure on Sky Sports it will be a toe to toe fight between the two brands.
- Colossus FreePlay 6 – New product from Colossus Bets that offers a 1 million jackpot and partial cash-out. We feel that this product if it doesn’t get significant media exposure is the one at biggest risk from the Draft Kings juggernaut.
Draft Kings is Good For Gambling
We believe that Draft Kings as long as they target the existing fantasy sports user base is great for the gambling industry. Draft Kings marketing spend will grow the total number of people willing to gamble in the UK and enable growth for everyone.
Why You Shouldn’t Use Bit.ly for Marketing
Fintan made a comment on a panel discussion last week that surprised a number of people, he said you should not use bit.ly for marketing. Here is why:
- Take any bit.ly link and add a + symbol at the end of the URL.
- You can now see the full click stats of the URL
To avoid embarrassing anyone we’ve take a very old url from William Hill as an example Tweet:
- Original bit.ly url: bit.ly/o065od
- Modified bit.ly url: bit.ly/o065od+
Best way to find such urls is:
- https://twitter.com/search-advanced
- All of these words: bit.ly
- From these accounts: type in name of twitter account
Intertain vs The Short Sellers
We’ll let the lawyers argue this one out, but in the vain of Say No To Coral
- Intertain have released their independent committee findings
- The Short seller report that kicked it all off
Would you like to ask a question or continue the discussion? Please feel to contact me directly using any of your preferred methods below and I will put you in touch with the relevant team member.