Boom Fantasy Raises Money, Eyes Sports Betting Market

Daily fantasy predictions site Boom Fantasy announced Tuesday that it has raised another $4.5 million from investors in the wake of last month’s Supreme Court ruling that declared an end to the federal sports betting prohibition.

In a press release, Boom Fantasy said the new influx of cash will allow the company to “expand its development team, pursue strategic partnerships, and develop sports betting intellectual property and patented gameplay.”

The news comes as the United States embarks on a new era of legal sports betting. Last month, the Supreme Court issued its decision in a case involving New Jersey, the NCAA and the major professional sports leagues.

In that case, the sports leagues took New Jersey to court over a law passed in the Garden State legalizing sports betting. The leagues argued that New Jersey’s sports betting law was in direct violation of a federal law known as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA).

Multiple lower courts sided with the sports leagues, but lawyers representing New Jersey persisted on the basis that PASPA is unconstitutional. The case finally made it all the way to the Supreme Court last year. After deliberating the case, the Justices issued their decision last month: PASPA is unconstitutional and is stricken down in its entirety.

The decision was a win not just for New Jersey, but for sports betting fans across the country. With PASPA dead, individual states are now free to legalize and regulate sports betting as they wish. Multiple states have already enacted or are in the process of enacting laws to decriminalize sports betting. So far, Delaware and New Jersey have already completed the process and both states now have active sports wagering.

The decision is also important for daily fantasy sites such as DraftKings, FanDuel and Boom Fantasy. DraftKings and FanDuel have both stated their intent to enter the sports betting realm now that PASPA is out of the way. Boom Fantasy also confirmed on Tuesday that it has its eye on sports betting.

From the press release:

“Last month’s Supreme Court ruling was obviously welcome news for Boom Fantasy, as we had all the critical pieces in place to pursue this massive market. We have a great core team, a rigorous and focused approach to developing entertaining and profitable gameplay, and a real-money gaming platform that is live in 35 U.S. states

“Now, we have set our eyes squarely focused on the U.S. sports betting market with a resolve to create incredible, differentiated, and fun products for sports fans across the country.”

Boom Fantasy Was Already Flirting with Sports Betting

Tuesday’s announcement wasn’t the first indication Boom Fantasy has its eye on the US sports betting market. From the beginning, Boom Fantasy offered a style of gameplay that danced all around the legal line between daily fantasy sports and straight-up sports betting.

Boom Fantasy games do away with the salary cap model employed by more traditional fantasy sites such as FanDuel and DraftKings. In a Boom Fantasy contest, players make a series of predictions such as which of four NFL players will have the most receiving yards in their next game, how many points a particular NBA player will score in his next game or how many strikeouts a certain pitcher will have in his next game.

If you’re familiar with sports betting, you may notice these questions very closely resemble proposition bets offered by most sportsbooks. The Boom Fantasy model has so far managed to avoid being legally classified as sports betting by carefully organizing its contests to involve fantasy points and multiple games, but there’s no denying the similarity to traditional sports betting.

Now, Boom Fantasy finds itself in a fortunate position. The platform is well-established in 35 states and it won’t have change its core business a whole lot to ease into sports betting as more states consider legalization.

Another Recent Development: New Boom Fantasy Streaks

Boom Fantasy may be eyeing the sports betting market, but it has given no indications it will abandon its fantasy roots. Recently, Boom Fantasy expanded its game lineup to include jackpot contests called Boom Streaks that offer players as much as 10,000 times their original buyin.

These contests ask players just one question at a time. If the question is answered correctly, the player moves on to the next level and is asked another question. Eight straight predictions is good for a 10,000x payout.

Even more interestingly, Boom Fantasy has launched a marketplace where users can buy and sell active streaks. So, if you make it a few steps up the ladder and decide it’s time to stop pushing your luck, you can put your active streak on the market and sell it to the highest bidder. Or, if you want a head start, you can head to the marketplace to make your best offer on someone else’s active streak.