Danske Spil purchases 60% stake in fantasy sports firm

Danish state operator Danske Spil has purchased a 60% stake in fantasy sports provider Swush as the operator looks to scale up its activity in a vertical where it predicts “considerable” growth in the next few years.

Swush was founded in 2000 and has supplied Danske Spil with its fantasy sports product for the last three years, and while terms of the deal were not disclosed Swush reported a profit of DKR4.5m (£340,000) in 2014.

The firm has also worked in partnership with a number of major Scandinavian media companies to provide fantasy sports and has broader European agreements in place with ESPN and Eurosport.

Amendments to Denmark’s online gambling legislation, which included the creation of a new type of licence covering daily fantasy sports, were given the green light by the European Commission in May and should be implemented by the end of the year.

Swush had previously been awarded an income-restricted licence, designed to allow smaller firms take part in the licensing process, before Denmark’s regulatory framework launched in January 2012.

Niels Folmann, CEO of Danske Spil’s online subsidiary Danske Licens Spil, told eGaming Review the acquisition was an opportunity to expand into a growing vertical.

“We had worked with Swush for the past three years and we could see a positive development in fantasy gaming,” Folmann said.

“We see a growth in the fantasy games sector including esports and hope that through this acquisition we are able to promote this part of our business,” he added.

The Daily Fantasy Sports vertical has long been touted to repeat its US success in Europe and Folmann said he expects Swush to grow “considerably” in the next three to five years, adding that the firm took a 60% stake to leave the founders with an incentive.

Swush’s team will remain untouched and the firm will also stay in its Copenhagen headquarters, with Folmann saying Swush can “prosper and develop much faster by being themselves”.