DraftKings’ daily fantasy sports launches in Arizona

Becomes the 44th state to feature the fantasy sports platform.

DraftKings, the US-based fantasy and sports betting platform, has today announced that its daily fantasy sports product will go live in Arizona on August 28. The launch, which is still pending regulatory approval, will make Arizona the 44th state to make the DraftKings platform available for sports fans.  

The service, which sees contest participants draft a team across multiple games by selecting players within a designated salary cap, is available for a number of different sports including the NFL, NBA and MLB. 

Arizona will see the launch of all four of DraftKings fantasy sports offerings. These include DraftKings Leagues, described as “the first ever offering where customers can create fully-customizable, private contests just for their friends or colleagues”; Classic Contests, which is the original form of fantasy sports DraftKings offered; and Showdown Contests which, similarly to the classic offering, sees players build a team and compete against each other and focuses on major sporting events such as the Super Bowl.  

DraftKings’ final offering to launch in Arizona will be Best Ball with snake drafts, a game variant with streamlined drafts, enabling customers to lock in player selections at the start of the season. Utilizing the snake draft format, pick order is reversed for each individual round. 

“There is no better time of the year to launch our leading daily fantasy sports app than ahead of the NFL season,” said Matt Kalish, co-founder and president of DraftKings North America. “We’re excited for the opportunity to provide Arizona sports fans with the thrill of having some skin in the game as we head into what we expect to be the busiest time of the year for our company.” 

The Arizona state government legalized sports betting in April 2021 with a provisional launch date of September 9 this year. From August 28, players will be able to register betting accounts, and fantasy sports platforms will launch across the state.  

DraftKings’ Sportsbook is live for land-based and mobile in several US regions including Colorado, Illinois, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia. Furthermore, the company’s fantasy offering is live in seven countries internationally.  

Gaming America recently reported that one in five Arizona residents plan to place sports wagers once it is officially legal to do so.  

Henry Moore

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