BOSTON (AP) – A bid to grow daily fantasy sports overseas doesn’t appear to be gaining much traction as the industry fights for survival on its home front.
Gambling analysts say DraftKings, the industry’s second largest company, has struggled to break into Great Britain’s well established sports betting industry since it launched to fanfare in February.
“They have had virtually no traction whatsoever,” said David Copeland, CEO at SuperLobby.com, a United Kingdom-based website that tracks betting activity on DraftKings and other daily fantasy sports sites. “The casual U.K. bettor has probably never heard of DraftKings.”
But Jeffrey Haas, DraftKings’ London-based chief international officer, challenged that assessment shared by other analysts.
“We’re getting a very favorable response,” he told The Associated Press, though he declined to provide data or documents to support the claim. “I can’t quantify that specifically, but from a trend perspective, it’s going in the right direction for us.”