Nicholas Caramatti, CEO of FANTASYTEAM, one of the first movers of DFS market in Italy, takes stock of a market that, after nearly a year from its launch in Italy, is in a growth and development phase both in collection numbers and in the structure of the sector with the entrance of new players.
"With Euro 2016, albeit in a bit alternately way, the interest on daily fantasy sports has considerably increased and has confirmed the excellent numbers recorded after the end of the football season. All this despite the natural decline of the summer period, where online gaming suffers". These are the words of Niccolò Caramatti, FANTASYTEAM administrator, who takes stock of the Italian DFS market.
How the market is going between the end of the championship, the European Football Championship and the prospect of the new season? "In fact, we recently started. We went online at the end of February for the last two months of the championship, creating clients from scratch. Euro 2016 was the first real test of audience and we can say it went very well. All this without spending a lot in terms of marketing. Some interventions in the newspapers, online, radio and of course on social networks. But it wasn't a massive campaign."
And this game is still basically unknown: "Absolutely, even because the word of mouth there isn't yet. It is important that operators such as Sisal and Lottomatica entered, it means that they believe on it and the market wants to invest on DFS. We think we have the best platform and I believe that the quality over time repays as it happens in other sectors. I have a very important team behind me, even for marketing and this comforts me and makes me optimistic for the future".
Now it is important that people know the game and understand how fun it is, right? "I'm not a big football fan, but I started to see all the matches of these European Championships in France. Even those that you would never have seen keep you very close to the TV, because all of them become important. I never thought in my life to see Portugal - Hungary and Austria - Iceland. Unfortunately, I can't play for obvious security reasons, but we have our tournaments in test area to test various products and there we have a lot of fun. In general, it becomes much more fun than a bet because a pass, a shot, an assist, everything can change the outcome of a tournament”, Caramatti continues.
DFS started in the USA where, however, there are many problems: "On the contrary, in Italy our regulator had a perfect foresight. We are considered skill games and everything is regulated, controlled and managed by operators and Adm. Even the action of Francesco Rodano, former director of online gaming, has been perfect and Italy is at the forefront in this game".
We talked about skill and chance, what do you think about it? "When in a game you voluntarily can and want to lose, it is not considered gambling. Sometimes you can even win playing poker, if you go all-in with 7 and 2 against two aces. Here, if you deploy a line up of players who don't play you certainly lose. Then there are a whole series of assessments to be done both pre, and after the creation of the team"
What users think about it? "Everyone has experienced a remarkable ease both in enrolling for the training and in multi training on Fantasyteam. Follow live matches is magnificent, and more beautiful the live experiences, more appeal it has on the player. When a forward scores and soon the user can see the updated goal it is perfect. Our team often updates players' wages based on their performance and this is critical to the quality of service. We are the true fantasysports, others are fantasy-football. We also have MotoGP and Formula1 and I am extremely confident it is the best platform".
User experience and loyalty: what do you say about these two key words of a business such as yours? "We pushed user's game experience to the limit on the platform which, as already said, we believe is the best one. Precisely for this reason we waited to launch the app and the mobile version because we had to be sure that they were on the same level with the online portal. It is essential for the development on external devices, otherwise we lose value. Concerning loyalty, we note that the accounts 'mortality' rate is very low: user who starts playing, is having fun and experience and goes on. We were surprised by games such as the America's Cup or the Major League Usa for example."
Some are already calling for the NBA! Is it different from football, that is the most popular sport in Italy? "Next season we will also be ready for that and US basketball is a less niche sport than what we think. It is not true that American sports are more statistical. Our Opta provider has a lot of stats for football, which is a very statistical sport unlike what we think. Now for coaches and observers they are essential to their work."
After this broad overview let's try to create some scenarios: what is missing for the final launch of DFS in Italy? "We need an aggregate investment in communication. Like in other sectors, the individual company that communicatews is not enough, but we need a number of companies able to move larger budgets. Also in online poker we had the dot com foundation, that we don't have in DFS. Also the big win achieved thanks to the fantasy football knowledges is missing. There isn't a word of mouth telling everyone that they can win at this game. Yet, some people have already won several thousands of Euro. When we will create a network with important numbers and figures even bigger everything will be easier", CEO Caramatti ends.
Game Fantasy: the first real network of Daily Sports in Italy
Game Fantasy is moving a lot on the integration of the first operators who will be part of a fantasy sports network at the beginning of next sports season. "Some have joined and many are confirming interest and we expect a significant number to create a reference point for DFS - Game Fantasy explains - but we want to avoid, as in the dot it online poker, to create 4-5 networks: we definitely prefer gather cash in a couple of networks".
The dream of the field? "Surely it is to reach 1 million Euro up for grabs in a daily fantasy sports tournament. It is not a pipe dream. We have seen that numbers increase faster and we are moving in a very dynamic way on this."
Ready to join a dot it operators network already existing in gaming world and, following the call for tenders on online game, some new licenses could come: "The doors are open to those interested to know us. They are all very excited and with high expectations. Software is of course the one of Fantasyteam platform. We expect a varied and entertaining program, including cars, football and basketball, and we expect a lor of cash", Game Fantasy ends.
Sisal and Lottomatica land in DFS
Even Sisal and Lottomatica launched the vertical of Daily Fantasy Sports shortly before the beginning of European Football Championships. A new dimension of play that brings in the world of online gaming the great appeal of Fantasy Football.
You can try the game right now also on the move, and users can experience the thrills checking their position in real time during the matches. Prizes will be immediately distributed at the end of each tournament, even on a daily basis.
There will be a whole online section dedicated to MasterGoal, to live the thrilling experience of the coach, from the selection to the purchase of the football player to send to play and thus build their own successful team.
With MasterGoal each useful element will be made available to players: from the more detailed statistics on last performance of players, divided for the role played in the field, until the disposal of the team according to the strategy considered the most successful one. With the outcomes of the matches included in the schedule to a new way to consider the final score, no longer tied to the judjments of the journalists of the field, but entrusted to specific algorithms that can send back real-time data about the real performance of each player ( shots on goal, fouls committed and/or suffered, goals scored, etc). The game, presented in the vertical FantasySport of Lottomatica.it gaming portal, is offered through the Mondogoal gaming platform to strengthen, thanks to the partnership with Sisal, the leadership of the largest network of existing DFS in Italy.
"We launched and offered to our customers a new important proposal of Fantasy Sports, which will be enriched over time with further innovations, to meet the needs of all players, from the most curious and attracted by novelties players to the most experienced in football strategy”, Fabrizio Virtuani, Head of Lottomatica Scommesse's 'Digital and betting', comments.
Gioconews survey: there is a huge margin for growth!
The figure emerging from a survey conducted among Gioconews.it readers is not positive on the spread of DFS, but it shows how more needs to be done among Italian players for the growth of this game.
Many players not yet know the game, more than 50%: a wide market where we can draw new collection!
The question asked to Gn readers: What do you think about Fantasy Sports?
I don't know Fantasy Sports - 32.5%
I play Fantasy Football, but I don't know DFS - 21.3%
I play Fantasy Football, but I never would play with real money - 5%
I play Fantasy Football with real money - 6.3%
Great gaming offer that immediately seduced me – 11.3%
DFS are the future of gaming - 23.8%