FanDuel Launches AlphaDraft for Fantasy eSports

FanDuel sent out an e-mail today announcing its entry to daily fantasy eSports powered by AlphaDraft’s existing platform. Technically, FanDuel didn’t “launch” AlphaDraft since it has already been live and hosting contests for some time now. However, today’s e-mail represents the launch of fantasy eSports under the FanDuel banner.

FanDuel wasted no time in going live with AlphaDraft since announcing its acquisition of the eSports fantasy site last week. There don’t appear to be any major changes as of yet – and that should explain the quick turnaround. In an earlier press release, FanDuel’s CEO mentioned taking advantage of AlphaDraft’s experience to quickly enter the eSports fantasy market.

That same press release also included a quote from the FanDuel CEO in which he predicted a lack of crossover appeal between traditional fantasy sports and eSports. Even so, FanDuel went fishing today for potential eSports players with the mass e-mail to FanDuel customers letting them know about the new offering.

eSports may not be making big waves among your typical sports fan here in the States, but the industry is growing at an impressive clip. Just a few years ago, video game competitions were chiefly played among amateurs. Now, there are entire professional leagues complete with organized teams, team managers, sponsorships and millions of dollars to be earned.

To put it in perspective, last year’s League of Legends World Championships attracted over 27 million online viewers. That’s more than the average viewership of the 2014 World Series, NBA Finals and World Cup. Last month, Eilers Researched published a white paper on eSports betting and estimated that fans will wager more than $250 million on eSports events in 2015 and more than $23 billion by 2020. As incredible as the growth we’ve already seen may be, what we’ve seen so far is just the beginning.

Both FanDuel and DraftKings are ready to hitch a ride on the accelerating eSports train. Considering the projected revenue numbers being bandied about for betting on eSports, it only makes sense. DraftKings beat FanDuel to the punch with fantasy League of Legends contests last week, but now FanDuel has an entire website dedicated to eSports.

What AlphaDraft Has to Offer

FanDuel’s fantasy eSports selection is still hosted entirely at AlphaDraft.com. I can’t yet tell if the plan is to keep both sites separate or if FanDuel will eventually roll its eSports leagues into FanDuel.com. Whatever the future may be, AlphaDraft.com is live now with fantasy leagues for the following games:

• League of Legends
• Counterstrike: Go
• DOTA 2
• Smite
• Hearthstone

The basic setup as far as joining contests and competing is the same for eSports as it is for traditional fantasy sports. If you’re familiar with FanDuel, you won’t have any trouble adjusting to AlphaDraft. The lobby, contest types (GPP, 50/50, heads-up, etc.) and drafting process will all be recognizable to experienced fantasy players. The only difference here is that instead of drafting athletes from professional sports teams, you draft eSports athletes and accumulate fantasy points based on their in-game performances.

AlphaDraft even has a welcome bonus similar to what FanDuel has had on offer forever. The first time you log in to your account and visit the cashier, you’ll be greeted to a new player bonus offer that ranges from 25% to 100% of your initial deposit. At the upper end, you can get up to $1,000 added to your first deposit. And also like FanDuel, the bonus screen includes a 10-minute timer that pretends to count down the time before the bonus offer expires (the offer never actually expires).

AlphaDraft only launched earlier this year but its contests are already growing in size and scope. As I look at the contest lobby right now, there are numerous paid contests with hundreds of entries and one free contest with more than 85,000 entries. That’s not bad when you consider how many traditional fantasy sports sites still struggle years later to even fill their basic NFL and MLB contests. With personalities like Colin Cowherd and Jimmy Kimmel taking note, I have a feeling that eSports won’t be flying under the radar much longer.