PokerStars Targets Potential United States DFS Players with Market Survey
PokerStars’ previously announced intent to enter the daily fantasy sports (DFS) market space has moved forward in recent days with the publication of a survey designed to gauge the interest of consumers — and in particular, United States-based consumers — of a PokerStars-branded DFS site.
News of the survey was first released in an update at OPR, including a link to the actual survey, which has been published under the PokerStars brand name by Stars’ parent company, Amaya Gaming. The middle-level survey takes 10-15 minutes to complete. Invitations were sent out to an unknown number of PokerStars’ previous US customers. Stars left the US market in April of 2011, following the US’s legal “Black Friday” of most major US-facing sites, and Stars has been searching for return channels to the US market ever since.
The survey itself (complete text below) appears open to anyone and probably can’t be described as overly scientific. Nor is PokerStars likely to release its findings. Several reports on Stars’ DFS survey, including the one at OPR, suggest that Stars and parent company are still eyeing a real-money DFS launch in time for the NFL regular season, which begins in late August.
It’s all interesting because it gives away some information as to how PokerStars itself thinks about the DFS market, as well as offering a bit of an advertisement (see Question #5, and the Stars-related items in Questions #9 and #10, for examples). For instance, Stars currently views the DFS as a two-horse race, specifically asking about Fan Duel and DraftKings, the market’s two largest sites, while ignoring all other players.
The survey also includes “soccer” as a leading item on the list of possible DFS soorts respondents are asked to consider, an Americanization if ever one existed on an international survey. Soccer, or football as it’s known elsewhere around the globe, isn’t even a big deal in the US portion of the DFS market, but would likely be pushed heavily toward Stars’ existing, Euro-centric customer base. The survey doesn’t even mention cricket, which has virtually no US exposure but would be a natural for DFS adaptation in the UK and Australia, among other countries.
The survey also includes a couple of mechanical clunkers, such as forcing respondents to complete every single question, even if they might not have much experience with or knowledge of the specific line items. Such oversights tend to skew survey results by several percentage points.
Still, it’s an interesting marketing experiment. Will Stars learn anything significant from the survey? For all the small stuff included in the survey, probably not. Instead, the worthwhile data is simply whether or not contacted US players are likely to take part on a Stars-branded DFS site, if given the chance. All else is secondary to that concern.
Here’s the survey, in case one would like to read it without actually answering the entire thing:
1. Have you ever played any Fantasy Sports? (Yes / No)
2. Have you ever played any Daily Fantasy Sports – where you pick a fantasy team for a heads up or league tournament with the results dependent on just one days/weekend’s set of result? (Yes / No)
2a (if “Yes” to 2). Which Fantasy Sports have you ever played?
Soccer
Nascar
Hockey (NHL)
Basketball (NBA)
Baseball (MLB)
Football (NFL)
Golf (PGA)
Other, please state: _________________
3. Do you play Daily Fantasy Sports for money? (Yes / No)
4. How often do you play Daily Fantasy Sports?
Daily
Most weeks
Every couple of weeks
Once a month or so
Less than once a month
I don’t play Daily Fantasy Sports anymore
5. Are you aware that Daily Fantasy Sports games are now legal to play for real money in the US? (Yes / No)
6. Which of these Daily Fantasy Sports operators have you heard of?
Fan Duel
Draft Kings
Neither
7. How important are/would the following be in your choice of a Daily Fantasy Sports provider?
[Each of these is to be rated on a scale of 1 (Not important at all) to 5 (Very important)]
Ease of use/user experience
Payment options available
Mobile offer
Prize pool available
Sports offered
Challenge your friends option
Recommendation from a friend
Celebrity endorsement
Promotions/offers
Trust in the providers name/brand
Variety of stake levels
Pay out speed
Free play available
8. Are there any other important FACTORS in your choice of a Daily Fantasy Sports provider? ___________________________________
9. If PokerStars were to offer Daily Fantasy Sports how likely would you be to play on PokerStars or a PokerStars’ backed site?
I would play
I would be very likely to play
I would probably play
I might play
I wouldn’t play
9a. Are there any specific things that PokerStars could do to make you come and have a trial of a Daily Fantasy Sports offer? _________________________________________
10. How much do you agree/disagree with the following statements?
[Each of these is to be rated on a scale of 1 (Not important at all) to 5 (Very important)]
PokerStars is a brand I trust
I’d only play Daily Fantasy Sports with a brand I knew
PokerStars would be better sticking to poker
Poker and Daily Fantasy Sports are quite similar disciplines
There’s a lot of skill in Daily Fantasy Sports
11. How important are/would be the following as motivations around playing Daily Fantasy Sports?
[Each of these is to be rated on a scale of 1 (Not important at all) to 5 (Very important)]
Fun
Adding something extra to the days/weekends sports fixtures
Opportunity to use my interest/knowledge in sport
Competition
The personal challenge
Opportunities to challenge friends
Opportunity to make money
12. Have you any other comment around Daily Fantasy Sports and PokerStars’ potential involvement in this area? _________________________________________
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