TABLE OF CONTENTS
With the evolution of online fantasy sports industry across the world in the last decade, the industry has faced many expected and unexpected challenges. The industry has been through a roller coaster ride in different geographies due to various reasons. From insider trading to untrusted transactions to fair gameplay to legal cases to licensing. The seriousness of legality and fair gaming can be understood from the fact that both Draftkings and Fanduel ended up paying $12 million collectively to settle New York Daily Fantasy Sports case.
We reviewed things in detail and zeroed down everything to 3 major problems that lie in the roots and can be considered as key reasons behind all these challenges. These apply to almost all online gaming platforms.
- Fair Gameplays – The question in a fantasy sports player’s mind today is “Am I playing on a platform which offers fair gameplay”?
- Trusted Platforms – Is the fantasy sports platform trustworthy? Is my information safe or not and the platforms stats are not hacked, manipulated or reused?
- Reward Distribution – Will I get my winnings back? Will I get the returns on time? Are there any hidden terms or any deductions I am not aware of?
A fantasy sports platform which can overcome these 3 challenges is the ideal platforms for any fantasy sports participant.
An Introduction to Blockchain Technology
For those who don’t want to take a deep dive now, let’s keep things very simple. “Blockchain is the technology behind Bitcoin”. It has now evolved manifolds in the last decade from just a cryptocurrency technology to a distributed ledger technology that is taking different industries by storm (read here).
This technology ensures immutability, tough security, anonymity, transparency, disintermediation, validation and authentication in the system where it is implemented. Blockchain has already disrupted the way businesses are done by inheriting trust and transparency in the entire ecosystem.
Blockchain’s Answers to the Fantasy Sports Challenges
Fair Gameplays
The need for Fair games, incorruptible account balances is the real bonus that comes with blockchain based token balances (read more). Implementation of token balances has given birth to a new avatar of the gambling industry, a foundation for p2p markets and foolproof customer protection.
Some of the gaming platform leveraging the benefits of blockchain technology for a fast peer to peer interactions are
iDice – A gambling platform with its beta already processed nearly $450,000 worth of Ethereum in winnings becomes the 1st blockchain gambling Dapp to announce ICO (initial coin offering) i.e. crowdfunding via cryptocurrency.
Funfair.io – The world’s fastest Ethereum casino platform raised $26m in a matter of hours after releasing over 17 million tokens in just 1 week. The platforms powered by Ethereum smart contracts offering instant gaming, transparent code, lower operating costs and consequently the possibility of higher payouts.
Pokereum – A secure peer-to-peer (p2p) version of traditional online poker
MiniWagor – Win ether playing games built with smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. (Pool games with smart contracts holding the fees in escrow)
Trusted Platforms
Blockchain technology offers everything in its core to solve this challenge because that’s exactly what smart contracts allows us to do – automate parts where trust is usually concentrated. By implementing smart contracts in fantasy sports modules like the execution of fantasy sports scoring rules, assigning expertise level to a fantasy sports player (beginner, intermediate or expert), determining the winners of a fantasy league and much more.
In terms of blockchain implementation in fantasy sports. We can write a blockchain smart contract on scoring rules of a fantasy league. The scoring calculation based on real player’s performance on the ground will be done through this immutable and unchangeable smart contract. This ensures that the scoring parameters cannot be tempered by anyone in the future, not even by the fantasy sports platform operator himself.
Reward Distribution (payments and money transfers)
Blockchain ensures that money transfers between payers and payee (in our case users and fantasy sports platforms) are done directly without any 3rd party involvement, at a super-fast pace and ultra-low fees. With blockchain-based money transfers, a fantasy sports platform can ensure direct, safer, cheap and quick alternate of any 3rd party payment system.
Consider All the financial transactions like entry fees and winnings withdrawal can be done using cryptocurrency on blockchain technology. This helps in reducing frauds, immediate settlements, drastically lower fees. The biggest benefit of implementing cryptocurrency is that it opens your fantasy sports platforms to the world as cryptocurrency is free from any government oversight and is not bound by the exchange rates, interest rates, transactions charges or other charges of any country. So, it can be used at international level transactions with ease.
How our team can help you?Blockchain and iGaming consultants at GammaStack understand the industry trends and their dynamics better than anyone else out there. We have been instrumental in multiple fantasy sports website design, development and implementations and works as a technology partner for clients worldwide. By combining our fantasy sports and sports betting experience with blockchain expertise, we are helping online gaming operators to offer an engaging, trustworthy, fair and rewarding gaming environment.
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