How a startup is bringing no-gambling fantasy sports to Asia

Photo credit: Pixabay.

Fantasy football.

Sam Jones, founder and CEO of Ballr.

Those words may bring to mind a beer-bellied man who likes to get together with his buds over the weekend and yell at sports players on television, then either celebrates or laments the outcome with a smorgasbord of unhealthy food. At its heart, though, fantasy sports is a number crunching game.

Generally, people take part in fantasy sports by building teams with real players. The score of that fantasy team is determined by how those same players perform in real life. The teams of the players don’t matter as long as they play in an appropriate sports league (NBA, NFL, MLB, etc.). The fantasy fan gets points for particular actions that are determined by fantasy sport rules, like one of their selected players getting put into the game, scoring points, or moving the ball a certain distance.

At its heart, though, fantasy sports is a number crunching game.

At the end of a period determined by the fantasy league – a week, a month, a whole season – the points are tallied, and the winner can receive a number of prizes ranging from the satisfaction of great prediction skills to actual prize money (which has been raising a few eyebrows about its connection to gambling).

Fantasy American football has become a giant market – in the US, an estimated one in six people play. Fantasy soccer, basketball, and baseball have gained their own fanbases, and Singapore-based Ballr wants to bring that enthusiasm to Asia.

Founder Sam Jones was inspired by the simple user interfaces for apps like Tinder and Uber. He found his opening in Asia’s sports. An estimated 300 million people in China play basketball, and the NBA season has gained in popularity since its introduction in 2004. The IIC Cricket World Cup last year was the most watched event in India, garnering 635 million viewers. Throw in soccer, the most popular sport in the world, and Asia’s rising smartphone usage, and Sam’s path was clear.

Ballr, an app which launches next month, will offer a social, smartphone-based fantasy sport experience for soccer. It plans to launch fantasy cricket in India as well as fantasy soccer and basketball games in China, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Eye on the prize

Photo credit: Pixabay.

Much like other fantasy sport leagues, Ballr gets its data from companies that track sports and sell information to sports reporting agencies (think ESPN or Fox Sports) and gambling firms.

Play ball