Late last week it was announced that DraftKings has decided to pull its sponsorships of major esports organisations.
It’s believed that this is due to the mounting costs of the daily fantasy sports operator’s numerous legal battles in states throughout the US. In September DraftKings was one of many companies committing to esports financially, and it agreed deals with the likes of Cloud9, Team SoloMid, mousesports, Counter Logic Gaming, compLexity Gaming and SK Gaming.
It was reported on The Daily Dot that DraftKings has now removed its sponsorship of all six of these organisations. The company has also ended its sponsorship of some NFL and NBA events and it’s been reported that its television advertising budget is being reduced as it looks to save money.
DraftKings was one of a number of fantasy sites to get involved in the esports scene last year, as the likes of Unikrn, Vulcun and AlphaDraft all joined in in some form. AlphaDraft was later taken over by FanDuel, a DFS operator in the same legal battles boat as DraftKings.