Monkey Knife Fight, a pioneer in the daily fantasy sports (DFS) space owned by Bally’s, has announced plans to shutter the company after five years
Monkey Knife Fight was a DFS platform that offered daily contests in a range of professional sports such as NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, soccer and NASCAR, as well as eSports leagues. Founded in 2018 by Bill Asher, the business experienced rapid growth and became the third-largest DFS company in North America, behind FanDuel and DraftKings.
The company achieved its explosive growth thanks to its unique, fun, and engaging style of mobile sports gaming that leveled the playing field for the average fantasy sports player. Unlike most DFS sites, where average sports fans are forced to play against professionals and rarely win, MKF offered its loyal users a dynamic, creative, and ever-expanding slate of daily sports and esports contests, where having fun and winning were part of the experience. Instead of the more traditional salary cap-style games, contestants played “against the house” and would choose over/under combinations in an effort to win money.
Such was their success that the company was named as a finalist in the 2019 American Gambling Awards’ Fantasy Sports Operator of the Year category and in the same year, won two awards from the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association for Rookie of the Year and Disruptor of the Year.
In 2020, MKF partnered with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) in a deal that would be the first time that the players have ever had an ownership stake in a daily fantasy sports company. The multi-year deal (facilitated through OneTeam) included a long-term licensing agreement, joint marketing commitment, and significant player involvement via an assortment of MKF activities.
Due to the business continued success, MKF was approached and subsequently acquired by Bally’s in January 2021, for a figure of approximately $90 million.
Monkey Knife Fight was legal in 37 states at the time of Bally’s purchase and the gaming company was bullish on the DFS site’s future.
Bally’s had hoped to convert MKF’s user base to its other gambling products and was part of the global gaming giant’s self-proclaimed “long-term growth and diversification strategy”, to become the first truly vertically integrated online sports betting site and online casino company in the United States.
During the same press release, Bally’s noted that they thought MKF would “support Bally’s plans to develop a potential sports bettors database in states such as California, Florida, and Texas, which are expected to account for 20-25% of U.S. sports betting revenues (according to Wall Street analyst research estimates). However, things didn’t exactly work out as planned as California, Florida, and Texas still remain on the sports betting sidelines.
Sadly, MKF’s revenue dipped after the purchase with the site reporting net revenue of $4.7 million in 2022, or a 36% year-over-year decline, and just two years later, Bally’s North American Interactive Division — which included BallyBet, Bally’s online casino and MKF, has lost an estimated $428 million.
In its preliminary Q4 earnings report that was released last Monday, Bally revealed that it was effectively writing off its entire investment in MKF, part of a massive $390.7 million “impairment charge” that also applied to its other U.S. online gaming acquisition, Bet.Works Corp who were acquired for $125 million in 2020.
In a recent earnings call, newly appointed CEO Robeson Reeves referenced MKF among several “mistakes” Bally’s had made in its initial foray into sports, alongside Bet.Works. “We’re not going to make the same mistakes we made previously, so we’re looking at all adoptions to [grow] in the most profitable way,” Reeves said. “On sports, we recognize that the Bet.Works acquisition did not give us the platform required to develop a competitive product. We didn’t react fast enough there, and this will not happen again.”
The divestiture of MKF is merely the first major step in Bally’s determination to stop the hemorrhaging of its North American Interactive unit. Despite attempts to sell and salvage the Monkey Knife Fight business, which still maintains a passionate user base, a deal to keep the site active couldn’t be reached and as such, Bally’s has decided to shut the site down.
During their albeit brief but notable tenure, Monkey Knife Fight separated themselves from the competition by noticing that there was an overly saturated market for DFS and set about introducing an innovative new way to play. The company helped to engineer the hybridization of player props, parlays and DFS, something that PrizePicks, No House Advantage and Underdog Fantasy continue to do, and are sites at which current MKF users can find similar offerings.
