- Feisty, competitive sports fan forum building mobile betting app platform
- U.S. High Court okays state-by-state legalization of sports betting
- Mobile gaming surpassed $50 billion mark during 2017, with e-sports comprising a burgeoning element of the industry
A new era of sports fan marketing opened when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling on May 14 that found decades-old laws prohibiting gambling on athletics to be unconstitutional, and FANDOM SPORTS Media Corp. (CSE: FDM) (OTC: FDMSF) (FRANKFURT: TQ42) sees the decision as an opportunity to drive for the end zone with development of its own trademark wagering app on mobile devices.
FANDOM SPORTS is forming up behind its existing trash-talk-friendly fan platform available on the Google Play store for Android devices, which plays on sports audiences’ competitive passions by encouraging them to engage each other in a distinct social media arena that is uncensored and polarizing. The FANDOM SPORTS App is geared toward rewarding its users based on their ability to draw in other participants either in support of a fan favorite or in derision of their most hated opponents.
In addition to bragging rights based on players’ performance, the app’s FANCOIN virtual currency will allow users to pay for exclusive content, swag and other prizes. As the company works through the development challenges of its new wagering platform, it is creating an economy built on blockchain technology that will manage any operational risks related to the gaming transactions during peer-to-peer micro betting by its users.
Until the Supreme Court’s ruling, sports betting was legal only in Nevada – not that federal law prevented a huge number of sports fans from placing friendly wagers on the outcome of a given event or season. A recent Chicago Tribune report (http://nnw.fm/Tn2aU) estimates that close to 60 million people in the United States and Canada are already involved in fantasy sports leagues, many of which involve money bets. Media outlets debate the amount of money that changes hands, but agree that it figures in the billions (http://nnw.fm/x0Q9s).
Gambling was once a risqué subject that figured in the province of underworld criminals and closed, smoke-filled rooms, but, in recent decades, acceptable financial risk promotion has come to signify not only stock market investment but lottery tickets, office pools, local fantasy leagues and online gaming with international connections. Casinos now are legal in 40 states, and lotteries are welcome in 44. The Chicago Tribune story reports that about half of all American adults acknowledge having bought lottery tickets during the past year, and some 81 million people patronized casinos last year.
Mobile device users approached a benchmark 50 percent of the total worldwide gaming market’s devotees last year, showing the “anywhere you are” sports following’s clout as smartphones, in particular, become nearly ubiquitous in society (http://nnw.fm/6g09W).
“Exactly 10 years ago, the launch of the iPhone ignited a revolution in games, creating a new market segment that is this year worth around $50 billion,” a November article in Newzoo states (http://nnw.fm/50uQC). “The past years have seen the rise of esports, taking the already popular activity of viewing game video content to a professional level.”
While hosts of companies are rushing the field to celebrate the Supreme Court’s ruling and look for ways to monetize it, the fact remains that the ruling simply left states in charge of establishing the legal framework for sports betting within their geography. Companies hoping to set up headquarters for gambling operations will still have to negotiate a patchwork of licensing laws and standards that will likely differ from one state to the next. States, for their part, will have to decide how to regulate mobile betting if it becomes as simple as playing a compulsive phone game courtside or at home during a competition.
“We won’t have a 50-state sports betting market in our lifetime,” Chris Grove, the managing director for research and consulting firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, predicts (http://nnw.fm/Go3NI).
Still, just as lotteries and casinos spread throughout the nation, a number of states have already enacted laws intended to regulate sports betting within their confines, including New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Connecticut and Mississippi. Massachusetts and Hawaii are studying sports betting legislation, and more than a dozen states from California to Rhode Island have seen bills to legalize sports betting introduced (http://nnw.fm/1PR0j).
FANDOM SPORTS is betting that there’s an open lane ahead for people who want to celebrate the triumph of their champions, make fun of their rivals’ defeat and, maybe, make a little money in the process.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.FANDOMSPORTS.net
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