DraftKings goes live in Ireland and Austria
Operator plots continued European expansion, with UK entry fees up 51% year-on-year
DraftKings has gone live in Ireland and Austria as part of its continued strategy of international expansion, the firm announced today.
Players in both countries now have access to DraftKings’ full range of sports and contests, with a globally shared liquidity pool.
The Boston-based firm said it prioritized Ireland as an expansion market due to the country’s fervent sports fans.
“Ireland’s sports culture runs deep, with hundreds of thousands of passionate fans following both ‘proper football’ and ‘gridiron football’ across European and American sports leagues,” said Jeffrey Haas, DraftKings chief international officer.
“Irish football fans will find many opportunities to test their wits on DraftKings while enjoying a new way to sweat the action during fixtures.
“We enhance that connection with our exciting contests, innovative content and real-time sports analysis and data. DraftKings is essentially the second screen for sports fans watching a match at the pub, at home or on the go.”
According to The Philip Lee Sport Report II, there are 2.7 million people in Ireland interested in sports, with 2.1 million attending professional and amateur sporting events in 2016.
The Irish expansion comes 18 months after DraftKings first went live in Europe in the UK, and six months after its launch in Germany following the acquisition of a skill games licence in Malta.
The firm also said it intends to continue expanding its geographic footprint, both in Europe and elsewhere, after rival FanDuel dropped its UK product to focus on the US earlier this year.
DraftKings said its UK operations saw 51% year-over-year growth in entry fees and 31% year-over-year growth in new customers in September.
In Germany, September saw 46% month-over-month growth in registered customers, the largest monthly growth to-date.