Amaya Gaming has confirmed its intention to enter the fast-growing, and lucrative, fantasy sports market.
According to multiple published reports, the Montreal-based igaming giant will have its daily/weekly fantasy sports platform ready to go in time for the 2015 NFL season.
Amaya’s fantasy sports expansion is part of the company’s aggressive strategy to diversify its portfolio beyond the confines of online poker.
In a statement to the press, Amaya CEO David Baazov pointed out that fantasy sports and online poker are very compatible markets:
We have also taken the strategic decision to enter the daily fantasy sports category and are pursuing parallel tracks of internal development and strategic acquisition. We expect to provide more details on this strategy in the second half of 2015 but see a clear crossover from poker and daily fantasy sports.
Baazov went on to point out that fantasy sports, especially football, are a huge market in the United States that’s tough to overlook:
We clearly see a strong demand for it … a lot of the U.S. players that were formerly PokerStars players would like to see us launch fantasy sports.
The tone of Baazov’s comments suggests that Amaya will be either purchasing an existing fantasy sports property, or developing their own platform. Whichever route the company chooses to take, they’ve definitely got the financial and technical firepower to be a major player from day one.
Fantasy sports are rapidly growing worldwide gaming market but have been especially popular in the United States, where they quench a massive thirst for legalized sports. Last year Fantasy Kings and Fan Duel, the industry’s two major players, clocked in combined revenues of $77 million (USD).