Today’s guest columnist is Adam Wexler, CEO of PrizePicks.
Since its creation in the 1990s, online fantasy sports has become an American pastime. Today the industry is booming. In the last decade, the number of fantasy sports players across the U.S. and Canada nearly doubled from 32 million to more than 62 million.
A key driver of this growth is daily fantasy sports (DFS). Our daily contests—in which fans create rosters and compete based on how athletes will fare on a wide range of statistical targets—has made PrizePicks the largest paid-fantasy-sports operator in the country. Just this NFL season, we have already added nearly 250,000 additional members, and our hyper-engaged community is growing every day.
But rapid success puts a target on your back. As we face intense back-room competition from legacy fantasy sports companies, my promise to consumers is that we will continue responding with ongoing innovation. That’s because the way we watch sports, consume entertainment, and build community is changing: The future is screen upon screen, mobile-first, and is delivered in bite-sized chunks that fit into our busy lives.
What would the fantasy sports industry look like without innovations like DFS? In a word, stagnated. In the 1980s a group of baseball-obsessed fanatics created the first iteration of modern fantasy sports. During the 1990s’ dawn of the modern internet, companies such as Yahoo! and ESPN brought fantasy sports online, and in the 2010s, plucky startups such as DraftKings and FanDuel again revolutionized the industry with the introduction of DFS. The fantasy sports story is one of constant innovation and competition. Sadly, those original innovators of DFS are now a comfortable duopoly, focused on growing the profit margins of online casinos and sports betting. The dilemma they face is one countless innovators-turned-leaders have contemplated: Why innovate when you’re on top?
That might serve bottom lines temporarily, but it’s not good for fans. It’s only through new ideas that we will move the industry forward. This includes novel game creations, responsible play guardrails and modern consumer protections.
On responsible play, we must match the innovation of contests by taking steps to ensure that our industry is a positive force in our fans’ lives. In March, PrizePicks raised the minimum member age from the industry standard of 18 to 19. We allow fans to self-impose daily, weekly or monthly limits on entry amounts, and give our members the option to “self-exclude” for 30 days or more, which locks them out of their account and blocks all marketing notifications. While we are proud of these responsible play practices that go beyond legal requirements, we acknowledge this is a journey, not a sprint, and that more needs to be done.
Updating the existing hodgepodge of mismatched state legislation and regulation is another critical priority. Fans are rightly justified in expecting that their favorite fantasy sports contests remain legal and available. It’s also correct that policymakers have valid and important questions about DFS. We welcome these conversations, because we know these contests are games of skill and that the industry is best served by legal frameworks that provide clarity and certainty for our members.
What doesn’t serve anyone, except perhaps those committed to the status quo, is using what fantasy sports looked like a decade ago as the blueprint for the future. That kind of shortsighted approach turns away new fans, stymies innovation and decreases the collective value we all bring to the communities we serve.
Matching policy with the speed of the growth of daily fantasy sports will not be simple or easy. But I know that, ultimately, the industry is eager for this fight. Because at the end of the day, this is a battle for the soul of fantasy sports. A focus on innovation and fan-focused products has always been our true north. That’s what created this industry decades ago, and it’s what will drive our future success.
Wexler is the co-founder and CEO of PrizePicks, the largest independent daily fantasy sports operator in the United States. Wexler served on the Board of Directors for the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association for five years and was recognized as a “40 Under 40” recipient by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. He founded PrizePicks after more than a decade of building digital and mobile startups. Wexler is a graduate of the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.