Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUL 2019年7月 亞博匯 74 L ittle did Daniel Simic know when he embarked on a short trip to the United States in 2015 that he would return with an idea to dominate the global fantasy sports world, transform online betting and pave the way for the future of cryptocurrency in gambling. Fast forward four years and the Australian entrepreneur’s business, PlayUp, is turning over almost AU$300 million annually, has launched its own cryptocurrency called the PlayChip and is in the midst of global expansion with interests in the US, UK, India and China. “PlayUp is essentially an online gaming business that has free-to-play and pay-to-play by both fiat and cryptocurrency,” Simic explains from his office in Sydney. “We’re trying to build one portal that caters for everyone on a global basis, not only by offering a full suite of products to satisfy whatever they might want to play but also using one-off KYC, one-off AML and one- off sign-up, all into our digital wallet which is attached to all of our different games. “The actual smarts are in the wallet as to what you can do within your jurisdiction. If you’re in America and you can play fantasy sports but you can’t bet on sports within your state, the wallet simply won’t let you bet on sports. “It’s about ease of play and allowing the player to decide what he wants to do.” While the PlayUp model envisions a single, global ecosystem offering “something for everyone”, the original concept was far less ambitious. After recognizing the potential of Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) during his 2015 trip to the US, Simic returned to Australia and set to work developing his own fantasy sports software. The software showed promise from the outset, but coincided with the launch of a rival DFS operator called DraftStars – owned by James Packer’s CrownBet. “They came in, pumped a serious amount of money PlayUp CEO Daniel Simic PlayUp首席執行官Daniel Simic IGAMING BLUE PAGES