Australia's most popular daily fantasy sports (DFS) platform, owned by PlayUp Limited, will break its own record in prize pools with this seasons AFL tournament
Draftstars Partners with Kayo to Deliver Largest Fantasy AFL Prize Pool in History
Sydney, May 22, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Within a year of acquiring Draftstars from CrownBet, PlayUp Limited has continued its trend of offering record-breaking prize pools as Australia's official number one Daily Fantasy Sport Provider.
Following on from its innovative $150,000 Biggest Bash Live Final, Draftstars, in conjunction with Kayo Sports and the Colonial Brewing Company, will break its own record with the Kayo $200K live final competition. $50k will be awarded to the victor, with each of the top 100 contestants receiving a "golden ticket" that includes a cash prize plus flights, 5-star accommodation and entry to the hottest VIP fantasy sports event in Australian history.
The popular live-final format is a Draftstars innovation, where 100 of Australia's best fantasy sports players are flown from across the country to compete in the same place at the same time on a single match.
The live-final format has been credited with the growth of the Draftstars platform, which has continued to break Australian records for fantasy prize pools since the acquisition of the platform from CrownBet by PlayUp Limited.
Draftstars will partner with the ground-breaking sports streaming service Kayo, which offers over 50 sports from Australia and overseas live and on demand to Australian sports fans. The Colonial Brewing Company, which is a sponsor of Essendon in the AFL, has also partnered with Draftstars and will host the live final VIP event at its brewery in Port Melbourne.
Winners of specially-marked qualifiers for $2 and $50 contests will book their place in the VIP event. The final will be held on Sunday August 11th, where the $200K prize will be paid out to each of the 100 lucky winners in the showdown between the Adelaide Crows and West Coast Eagles.
Given the greater popularity of Fantasy AFL and record prize pool, Draftstars are anticipating strong competition to secure one of only 100 golden tickets. Over 650,000 Australians participate in Fantasy AFL each year, a significant portion of the 1.6 million fantasy players across all sports, a number that is rapidly growing each year.
Draftstars has also recently expanded its operations to India, where an estimated 20 million people engage in fantasy sports annually, 74% of which play weekly. India represents the largest market on the planet, with TenCent, China's largest social media and gaming company, purchasing a $100 million stake in India's leading fantasy sports operator, Dream11, as part of its Series D funding last year.
The partnership with Kayo will provide new ways for both brands to connect with more Australians. DFS has proven to be hugely significant in driving fan engagement, with users who regularly participate in DFS estimated to consume as much as 40% more sport-related content.
Ryan Bowman, CMO of Draftstars, hailed the competition as setting a new benchmark in Australian Fantasy Sport.
"We took a risk offering this innovative format with such a high prize pool without really knowing how well the concept would be received. The response has been overwhelming," he said.
"We were thrilled that fellow innovators such as Kayo and Colonial Brewing have recognised the popularity of the DFS industry in Australia, and the huge potential of the AFL Live Final. We look forward to delivering a fantastic experience to our customers through this partnership."
About Fantasy Sports
Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) is an emerging global phenomenon with roots stemming from traditional season long Fantasy Sports. Unlike the traditional model, DFS players are not required to wait an entire season to determine the victor.
DFS entrants play against their peers in online challenges spanning one or several sporting events. Each entrant is required to create their own line-up of individual real-life sports persons, involved in real-life games(s), match(s), round(s), season(s), tournament(s) or series. As sporting events unfold in real time, players accrue points based on their actions. Fantasy Teams comprising of the best performing players will climb to the top and win the prizes.
About Draftstars
Draftstars is Australia's leading fantasy sports platform and is owned by PlayUp Limited. The platform was launched in 2016 by CrownBet, Channel 7 and FoxSports. Following the divesting of CrownBet, the platform was acquired by PlayUp Limited in 2018. PlayUp Limited is a Universal Gaming Operator offering Daily Fantasy Sports, sports and race betting, fantasy stables, eSports, and casino table games. PlayUp makes up the team behind the PlayChip and operates PlayUp.com, ClassicBet, Draftstars, TopBetta, and MadBookie.
About Kayo
Kayo Sports is a game-changing multi-sport streaming service, offering over 50 sports from Australia and overseas with ground-breaking features. Fans can stream over 30,000 hours of content on their favourite device including iOS and Android devices, laptop, PC and on TV with Telstra TV, compatible Android TV devices, Apple TV and Chromecast Ultra.
About Colonial Brewing Company
Colonial Brewing Company was established in Margaret River, WA in 2004. With a simple mandate of delivering a great-tasting and uncomplicated beer, the company expanded to establish its Port Melbourne brewery in 2015. Colonial Brewing offers six different beers across its core range, and a further 13 in special seasonal and project offerings which are available all around the country.
About PlayUp
PlayUp is a next generation entertainment and technology group that enriches the lives of its clients by providing an entertaining, rewarding, and responsible online betting service. At its core, PlayUp develops innovative betting technologies in-house to power its brands and deliver world-class user experiences. Its energies are focused on fulfilling the needs of dedicated and passionate users who seek a deeper connection to the games they play.
PlayUp's mission is to unify online betting into one platform inclusive of Sports Betting, Fixed-Odds Racing (Horses and Greyhounds), iGaming, Esports and Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) where it now hosts Australia's largest and indeed some of the world's biggest prize pools in competitive peer-to-peer online betting.
The company holds online betting licenses in multiple jurisdictions and currently operates in Australia, New Zealand, India and several regulated USA states.
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