Monday, September 21, 2015

An Abbreviated History of Fanduel and Draft Kings

Both Fanduel and Draft Kings are apps where people are offered the opportunity to compete in daily and weekly fantasy sports contests for cash prizes in all of the six major sports (MLB, NHL, NFL, NBA, PGA, and MMA) as well as college basketball and football. These applications allow you to gamble online legally based on conducting a lineup of your favorite athletes with a specific salary with friends or random users through the app. The writer of the blog, Darren Heitner stated, “There are at least 20 million of us playing fantasy sports every year and yet in recent years it has seen very little innovation.  For many, one of the major problems with fantasy sports is the huge time-commitment involved – when you play fantasy, you have to play for the whole season – no breaks, no holidays, no excuses.  However, in this era of Facebook and Twitter people want instant gratification.” The beauty of both of these apps allow you to gamble money against online competitors and once the contest is terminated, the winner receives their cash deposited into their account. To be able to have the convenience of receiving money where it’s due, with no wait, is every online user’s dream.

One emphasized point from this article would be that no matter which application strives for supremacy; this type of online betting has taken gambling to the next level. Both have raised hundreds of millions of dollars as well as taking sponsorships to greater heights. Most places you look, affiliated to sports, contain the logo of these apps and they are only getting more popular. They both have plenty of TV advertisements, partnerships with professional sports teams, and on top of all that, they have large deals with media companies, including ESPN and FOX sports. As more start-ups begin to express their ideas of online gambling, Fanduel and Draft Kings are at the top of the charts and can now be recognized worldwide.


This article contained a lot of useful information following up with the background history of both Fanduel and Draft Kings. Both profitable companies who have made great successes internally and externally that are now known worldwide. As both these apps compete to gain supremacy of online fantasy sports gambling, one will have to come out on top with a more innovative strategy as we reach the end of 2015. As it says in the title of this article it is an “abbreviated history” of both these applications. I feel that the article overlooked the negative downsides that both these apps bring to the table. They are gambling apps and could lead to some serious problems that jeopardize people’s lives dramatically. I am a user of Draft Kings and have came out profitable sometimes, but other times I have lost a significant amount of money. There is only so much technology that can be done between the two apps (and start ups) but could these apps work together to stop gambling problems? Maybe link them together to show the inconsistency to win money and stop them from betting more money. It sounds unlikely to be done, but if such an issue, can it be done?  

Heitner, Darren. "An Abbreviated History of Fanduel and Draft Kings."Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 20 Sept. 2015. Web. 20 Sept. 2015.

Draft Kings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMLNxLpKd-4
Fanduel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ziAGGFet3g

1 comment:

  1. I also agree that while gambling sites such as Draft Kings and Fanduel seem like great ideas, there are some problems that need to be visited. In my opinion, the greatest problem sites like these create is the promotion of gambling toward children. Fantasy sports, while played by people of many different ages, is mostly directed toward, and advertised to, teenagers and young adults. Children who have already been playing fantasy sports (for free) on websites such as espn.go.com and yahoosports.com are now itching to get involved with the one-time fantasy games and maybe even make some easy money. There’s only one problem. What is stopping children under the age of 18 from participating in gambling on these websites? Although these websites require members to verify a birthdate, it is not difficult at all for a kid to submit a fake birthday and temporarily “borrow” a parent’s credit card. While I agree that Draft Kings and Fanduel can be a ton of fun to participate in, I think they can be detrimental at the same time. These sites need to be very careful that they do not allow underage gambling, and that is a tough thing to do with an online registration system.

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