\nBy CHRIS SIEROTY
\n\tLAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL<\/p>\n
\tSports betting is big business in Nevada with $3.45 billion wagered in race and sports books statewide in the last reporting year. It also helps bring in millions of tourists annually to wager on the Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournament.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSports betting has been tremendous for us this year,\u201d said Matthew Holt, vice president of business development at CG Technology, formerly Cantor Gaming. \u201cWe expect huge numbers this weekend from the final four in the NFL playoffs. Denver versus New England and Seattle against San Francisco will do very well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBut Las Vegas casinos and sports books are still trying to figure out how to attract fantasy sports players and their disposable income to the Strip. Holt on Thursday floated the idea of casinos using fantasy sports as a promotional driver.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cDaily fantasy in a casino has a lot of appeal,\u201d Holt told about 320 attendees gathered ast Bellagio for the Fantasy Sports Trade Association Winter Conference. \u201cFantasy sports offers opportunities to drive people into the door.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe concept of daily games is relatively new to fantasy sports. Like traditional fantasy sports, players draft a team of real athletes who then score fantasy points according to their performance and scoring rules. However, the games last just one day, not a whole season.<\/p>\n
\tHolt said fantasy sports\u2019 evolution in Las Vegas would be tied to properties creating fantasy games around a loyalty program that lets participants use points they earn for rewards, such as free rooms, meals or concerts.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cMost people these days expect rewards,\u201d Holt said. \u201cIt is an interesting way to reward people to come here. Las Vegas is a destination town, not just a gambling town.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe said poker and slot tournaments have been used for years to bring gamblers to Las Vegas. Hosting a fantasy sports tournament draws a specific demographic that also spends money on gambling. Holt described that demographic as the same one targeted by the millions of dollars invested in local nightclubs.<\/p>\n
\tThat demographic is 80 percent male, 89.8 percent white, and 51.5 percent unmarried, data from the Minneapolis-based Fantasy Sports Trade Association show. A fantasy sports player\u2019s average age is 34 and 78.1 percent hold college degrees or more, the data show.<\/p>\n
\tCG Technology entered the fantasy sports business in 2012, with its first betting option called the \u201cCantor 5.\u201d The bookmaker chose a team of five National Basketball Association players every day during the season and allowed bettors to do the same.<\/p>\n
\tBased on a scoring system similar to fantasy basketball, Cantor would set a line on the matchup. Bettors could wager on Cantor\u2019s team or their own against the spread. <\/p>\n
\tHolt, who previously served vice president of fantasy games, said the former Cantor Gaming introduced \u201cCantor 7\u201d for the National Football League and \u201cCantor 6\u201d for Major League Baseball. He said players could wager up to $5,000 on a football game, and $2,000 on baseball.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt was very popular,\u201d said Holt, who participated with Rob Phythian of SportsData LLC in a talk called \u201cFantasy Sports on the Strip.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt was very similar to and predates daily fantasy games for real money,\u201d Phythian said. \u201cWe decided to avoid conflicts with our (sports books) and discontinued it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tCantor Fitzgerald, the financial services company and parent of CG Technology, remains involved in fantasy sports with a $25 million investment from its Cantor Ventures arm into TopLine Game Labs in Los Angeles. TopLine, who hired David Geller away from Yahoo Sports to run the business, focuses on fast-growing short-duration fantasy sports games.<\/p>\n
\tFantasy Sports Network to launch in March<\/p>\n
\tThere is the NHL and NFL networks as well as the Red Zone channel to watch every scoring play on Sunday during football season. Now a New York-based media company is betting there is demand for the Fantasy Sports Network.<\/p>\n
\tThe first ever 24-hour channel dedicated to fantasy sports will launch on March 4. The Fantasy Sports Network will offer live call in shows, panels, celebrity and expert drafts, reality programming, and on site commentary from sports venues.<\/p>\n
\t"This project has been two years in the making," said Leonard Asper, president and CEO of Anthem Media Group Inc., owner of the niche network.<\/p>\n
\tIn addition to a daily flagship studio program, Anthem has an agreement with SiriusXM Radio to simulcast three daily hours of its morning drive-time program "RotoExperts in the Morning," from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.<\/p>\n
\t"The metrics behind our mission are mind boggling," said Louis Maione, chief strategy officer of the Fantasy Sports Network. "With the fantasy sports industry growing more rapidly and arguably larger than the business of underlying sports themselves, the time to create a multi-faceted media property of this industry is now."<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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