Kindred Group makes daily fantasy sports play
Beta version of Unibet-branded product to launch in Sweden in the next few weeks ahead of a wider rollout in other markets
Kindred Group is planning to enter the daily fantasy sports (DFS) market with the launch of a new Europe-facing product, EGR Intel has learned.
The operator’s DFS product was made available to a limited number of Swedish customers last week on an invite-only basis, with plans to launch in beta mode in the coming weeks.
The product was developed in collaboration with long-term partner Relax Gaming – which also powers Kindred Group’s poker and bingo products – and will initially be integrated into the Unibet sportsbook.
The beta version will only offer contests on Premier League and Champions League football matches but Kindred plans to expand product into new leagues and different sports in the future. Meanwhile a separate DFS mobile app is also under development.
Kindred Group’s sportsbook business development manager, Mattias Aminoff, told EGR Intel the operator believed DFS would complement its existing sportsbook and appeal to a wider segment of sports fans.
“Fantasy sports is a great way for everyone with as little as an ounce of sports interest to get really engaged with the sports – so even if there is still uncertainty whether it is going to work in Europe, we find it to be a product that will fit in nicely into our product portfolio,” he said.
“Therefore we saw it as an opportunity that was really interesting for us to experiment with, rather than stand on the side-line and not do anything,” Aminoff added.
Kindred will be up against stiff competition in DFS as it expands into new markets, with DFS giants DraftKings and FanDuel already live in the UK and ready to expand into additional European markets.
However, Aminoff said Kindred was confident it can more than compete with the established DFS players.
“Product-wise we are obviously far behind many of the pure fantasy sports operators at this stage. We do, however, have a strong background and competence in regards to gamification of sports, have high ambitions with the product and see extremely interesting possibilities with potential cross-product integrations,” he said.
“We have a bunch of upcoming dynamic and innovative additions in the pipeline that will help the product to stand out in the space.
“We also have an existing customer base that we can work with and we are confident that Fantasy Sports will add another dimension to our sportsbook proposition and thus add to the overall customer experience.”
Kindred has previous when it comes to innovation around sports – last year the firm launched in-play pool game BetUp, powered by Commologic.
