Formula One makes major investment in PlayON

Formula One has made an investment in PlayON and launched new fantasy sports games based on the motor-racing championship.

Under the agreement, Formula One will now become an equity shareholder in PlayON at a company valuation of £30m (€34.5m/$42.6m).

PlayON will serve as the official daily fantasy partner of Formula One and run the new fantasy games.

The deal also includes a media rights element, with live races to be integrated via the new F1 TV OTT service on PlayON’s platform in various key markets.

“Formula One is continuously looking for ways to engage with new audiences, particularly in the digital space,” Formula One’s director of digital and new business, Frank Arthofer, said.

“Fantasy sports is an exciting industry and offers us the opportunity to engage with a young and vibrant fan base.

“We believe in PlayON, its product, leadership, and its strict approach to regulation, only operating real-money games in territories that have a clearly established regulatory framework in place: this enables F1 to enter the daily fantasy market without concern over legality.”

The new daily and traditional games will allow fans to select a team of five F1 drivers and one constructor for each race, with points awarded for factors such as finishing places, positions gained and fastest lap.

Games will be tailored to local audiences and offered in local languages.

Killian Jones, founder and chief executive of PlayON, added: “A key aspect of the deal relates to the live Formula One races being present on the PlayON platform.

“The combination of live sport and PlayON’s daily fantasy games will provide a fully immersive entertainment experience to our customers around the world.

“PlayON’s goal is to deliver the ultimate digital sports entertainment experience to sports fans and we look forward to working closely with the Formula One team in pursuit of this goal.

“In light of the regulatory environment around daily fantasy sports now being clearly established in multiple US states, PlayON today announces it will enter the US market in 2018 and will establish a US office to fuel our expansion efforts in North America.”

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