FanDuel ready for football product launch

FANDUEL, the Edinburghbased fantasy sports specialist, has inched closer to taking its UK bow after successful tests were held during Euro 2016.

The rapidly-growing tech company said hundreds of players signed up to beta test the product during the championships in France.

And it declared players had provided invaluable for the launch of its inaugural football product, which will be available in time for the new English Premier League season.

FanDuel, which faces regulatory challenges in the US over the legal status of fantasy sports, will introduce the one-day fantasy football platform in August.

It will be the first time FanDuel has offered a product in its home market. Although developed in Edinburgh, its products have until now only been available in the US and Canada, focused on baseball, basketball, gridiron and ice hockey.

The UK product, which will be available online and as an app, has been developed by the same team.

Marketing chief Karol Corcoran said: “We’ve got a great team in the UK who have already done a tremendous job on our US products. They have taken the best of our US learnings, combined with local insight of the UK’s football scene, to build an authentic product from the ground up.”

The UK launch comes after FanDuel was boosted in May when the state of New York drafted legislation to regulate fantasy sports.

Chief executive Nigel Eccles said it did not have to merge with another business to fight the regulatory challenges it faces, after speculation linked FanDuel with a merger with US counterpart DraftKings.