Casinos Buy Up DFS Mobile Apps like Hot Cakes

Daily Fantasy Sports Apps – Get ’em while they’re hot!

Ten years ago, only hard-core sports fans were familiar with the term “daily fantasy sports”, (or DFS for short). Fantasy sports in general have been around for about three decades, but the truncated variation (i.e. “daily”), which caters to the appeal of instant gratification (as opposed to a season-long wait), didn’t really take off until around 2012. That was the year DraftKings showed up to compete against FanDuel, bringing DFS into the limelight. It was a big market, filled with big opportunities, but not one that the world’s largest casino corporations had much interest in. That is, not until now…

Casinos Buying Up Daily Fantasy Sports Apps

The appeal for DFS mobile apps is greater than ever before. This week alone, two of the largest casino conglomerates this side of the planet spent millions of dollars to get in on the lucrative daily fantasy betting market; a trend that’s expected to continue alongside the growth of the online sports gambling industry in the United States.

Bally’s Scoops Up Monkey Knife Fight

On Monday, it was announced that Rhode Island-based Bally’s Corporation has acquired DFS App Monkey Knife Fight. Bally’s, which owns a dozen casino properties across seven US states, invested $90 million in the all-stock takeover of the daily fantasy brand.

This marks just one of many recent acquisitions for the growing gambling company. Other major moves include the purchase of Bally’s Atlantic City, a partnership with media giant Sinclair Broadcast Group, and the pending acquisition of Bet.Works sports betting software.

Monkey Knife Fight is a DFS mobile app that offers free play and paid betting services. The app currently has about 180,000 registered members, with approximately 80,000 users who deposit real money to play. Bally’s intends to expand Monkey Knife Fight’s presence to serve 37 US states, Washington, D.C., and Canada.

Caesar’s Buys Control of SuperDraft

This morning, word came down that Caesars Entertainment has invested in SuperDraft, another DFS betting app with good potential. Caesars operates more than 50 casino properties in North America, and a dozen more in Europe and Africa. Like Bally’s, Caesars is hoping to expand its presence in all legal US online betting verticals.

The company’s investment in SuperDraft makes Caesar’s Entertainment a minority equity holder, earning the company just enough control to integrate the SuperDraft system in all its iGaming portfolios. If all goes well, the agreement gives Caesars the option to purchase 100% stake in the DFS company at a later date.

SuperDraft isn’t as established as Monkey Knife Fight. In fact, it was probably Bally’s acquisition of the latter that drove Caesars to quickly secure the minority stake in SuperDraft, with the option to buy 100% later on.

Last November, SuperDraft founder and CEO Steve Wang estimated his daily fantasy sports app’s number of total registered users to be about 80,000, with 15,000 active paid accounts. In a statement following the agreement with Caesars, Wang expressed a positive outlook for the company’s future.

“SuperDraft is now well-positioned to accelerate its growth with financial staying power while broadening its consumer appeal with bigger contests and better rewards to players of all interest levels,” said Wang.