The venture, which has been established to purchase fantasy sports assets, is launching with the acquisition of DraftDay, the third-largest operator in the daily fantasy sports industry, from MGT Capital Investments.
More than 40 million people play season-long fantasy games annually in the US, but less than five per cent currently play daily fantasy sports, the companies said.
Sportech will manage the day-to-day operations of DraftDay, but will be the junior partner in the venture with 35% of the shareholding as opposed to Viggle with 44%.
MGT Capital and other shareholders will hold the balance. Robert Sillerman will be the chairman of the board while Rich Roberts, currently president of Sportech’s digital division, will also serve as DraftDay chief executive officer.
Nic Sulsky, formerly of Sportech Digital, will be DraftDay’s president, and John Small will act as the chief financial officer of both DraftDay and Viggle. Larry Kom, who served as MGT’s chief information officer, will join DraftDay as chief technology officer and be accompanied by the full product development team.
“DraftDay holds the potential to quickly disrupt the daily fantasy sports business with B2B partnerships including new ventures with companies within the regulated gaming industry,” Roberts said.
“Integrating DraftDay games within the Viggle app introduces significant potential to expand the user audience of US sports fans while creating more visibility for DraftDay which we expect will continue to build in the months and years ahead.”
Small added: “The combination of the DraftDay platform plus Sportech’s gaming experience logically aligns with our avid existing base of Viggle app sport fans.
“The merged assets of DraftDay Gaming Group create a compelling win-win for both sports enthusiasts and the advertisers aiming to reach this demographic in a very targeted way designed to build brand loyalty.
“We expect our investment in DraftDay to provide a new revenue source, as Viggle users and advertisers now have even more reasons to continue enjoying what the Viggle app has to offer.”
source : www.igamingbusiness.com
