If you haven't already heard about the phenomenon that is daily fantasy sports then you soon will. That's because it's taken the US by storm over the last few years and it's just arrived in the UK with a vengeance.
Like the name suggests, its roots are in the fantasy sports leagues that have been a workplace favourite over here for so long and which depend on a player's skill and judgement, plus more than just a little bit of luck, to emerge victorious over a whole season's sport.
Where daily fantasy sports differ is that they give the player the chance to win in a single week and to start afresh the next week, changing their team completely if they want or sticking with their best-performing players.
Whereas traditional sports gaming revolves around whether a team will win, lose or draw or on a number of other events that can happen in the course of a match it could be argued that the players of daily fantasy sports are slightly more in control of the outcome as they can put together a "dream team" to compete. But the chances, however remote, of a big odds win that traditional gamblers can sometimes enjoy reflect the greater risk involved in this kind of play.
Daily fantasy sports can provide almost instant rewards for the player and, as already mentioned, this means the slate is wiped clean after each round. It's certainly proved to be a winner with players in the States and Canada, especially with the increasing popularity of smartphones which allows users to bet and instantly change their line-ups on the go. This has contributed to the rise of the number of Fantasy Sports Bettors taking part, seeing the total number of users more than triple between 2003 and 2010.
On the other hand most fantasy leagues currently in operation in the UK offer prizes for the winning managers at the end of each month with the ultimate prize being awarded at the end of the season. While this gives players the chance to gradually improve their team's performance over the season, and also to overcome poor weeks by following them up with more successful ones, it can be frustrating to have to wait for so long to see any returns.
On the other side of the Atlantic there are two major names in daily fantasy sports marketing and these are DraftKings and FanDuel. The former have already formed partnerships with both Arsenal FC and one of the biggest names in fantasy football leagues in the UK, the Daily Telegraph.
There's every reason to believe that daily fantasy sports is going to capture the imagination of football fans here, and also to gradually move into other sports like rugby, cricket and even golf - although it's also quite likely that fans of other kinds of gaming, either longer form fantasy leagues or betting on events themselves, will continue to participate in their own preferred activities. Findings in the States suggest that traditional betting has also increased in line with more and more people taking part in online daily fantasy sports – and there's every reason to believe that the same will be true over here.
