Can Fantasy Sports Be the Next Big Thing in Asia?
Now in America, fantasy sports in almost every sports enthusiast’s DNA. Europe is also moving along similar lines. Growth of fantasy sports is exponential! The next one on the cards is definitely Asia.
Considering the fact that 60% of the world’s population lives in Asia, sport is something very close to many people’s hearts. Most of the people resort to sports to keep themselves going through the day. Sports like cricket, football, basketball, ping pong, badminton are indispensable from people’s life.
In Asia, most of the countries do not have any regulatory laws related to fantasy sports.
→ In countries like Australia, Russia, Philippines, Thailand license is required.
→ In countries like Bangladesh, Bruni, Kuwait, Lebanon, UAE fantasy sports is not legal.
→ In countries like China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Pakistan, Taiwan, Vietnam nothing concrete is set.
However, the silver lining to this is that about 4 billion people live here. One can imagine the size of the emerging markets. And the companies which sense emerging markets before they emerge are the ones who become the giants.
Let’s keep in mind that India and China are world’s biggest economies, so a fresh industry like fantasy sports won’t see closed doors anytime soon. Many gaming leagues are particularly common in India like Indian Premier League (IPL), Indian Super League (ISL) etc. Such leagues attract a lot of viewers. The idea is to convert these viewers into active fans. Clearly, fantasy sports is legal in most of the countries or nothing has been decided yet.
60% of the world’s millenials are estimated to live in Asia by 2020. And as the habits tell, fantasy sports is most likely to be accessed via smartphones rather than PCs. So to speak, smartphone traffic has seen a great surge in Asia. It has seen a spectacular rise in India after the rise of telecom giant Reliance Jio. Similar is the case with other countries like China, South Korea. People spend hours and hours straight on their mobile handsets looking for entertainment.
Since all the odds are in the favour of the success of this industry, it’s no surprise that the industry has caught the attention of investors. MyDFS, the blockchain fantasy sports platform, has received $1 million in funding from LD Capital, one of the largest crypto investment firms in China to reshape the Asian fantasy sports market. MyDFS differs from traditional platforms in that it uses blockchain technology to give global access and increased transparency to its users. In addition, the associated cryptocurrency can be used as in-game currency to enter games, draft lineups, and play against other users on the platform.
These are clear signs of multi-billion dollar business opportunities. There is a gap that needs to be bridged between entertainment and sports. The concept of fantasy sports would be something totally different and new for most of the Asian countries, so the element of surprise and excitement will make a huge customer base. With upcoming technologies like machine learning, blockchain when amalgamated with fantasy sports will set a new benchmark in the industry in terms of transparency and user experience. The storm of fantasy sports is brewing slowly and steadily and very soon Asia will face the winds which would foreseeably be positive.
