Daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings has made its long-awaited launch in the UK market, although the product isn’t completely ready for prime time.
On Friday, DraftKings UK’s official Twitter feed announced the launch of its DraftKings.co.uk product. However, sign-ups are currently available only via Android and iOS apps, as the desktop product isn’t ready yet. The Twitter feed claimed the desktop web option was coming “very soon.”
Following the launch, UK players took to their own Twitter feeds to complain about DraftKings’ limited payment processing capabilities. Credit and debit card options are currently unavailable, and the site’s suggestions to use Paypal have been met with resistance by some who’d apparently prefer a more familiar method.
Precisely why DraftKings felt the urge to launch an unfinished product is a mystery, given the need to get off the right foot in its first foray outside its native North America. The oft-delayed UK launch was reportedly supposed to take place on Wednesday, but was pushed back to enable further tweaks.
Wednesday did see DraftKings announce some high-profile Premier League football partnerships, the timing of which may not have been easy to shift, and DraftKings may not have wanted to lose the momentum provided by the ensuing press coverage.
But given that DraftKings will be offering a relatively unfamiliar product to a UK audience that already has more legal sports betting options than any market on the planet, DraftKings’ urgency to back their three-wheeled UK car out of its garage seems misguided.
DraftKings UK will launch with 11 sports on offer, but DraftKings chief international officer Jeffrey Haas told Wired.co.uk that the company was “under no illusion that our top three sports here won’t be anything else than football, football and football.”
