The US fantasy sports market is expected to grow by 8% per year and reach $8.3 billion in 2021, according to a new study. Despite the COVID-19 being a huge hit to the entire sector, SafeBettingSites.com finds that revenues are likely to return to pre-pandemic levels this year. Fantasy sports revenues had risen by 50% before the virus hit.
Nearly 70% of all revenues will come from the US and Canada in 2020, five times more than Europe, and these markets have grown significantly. Having best online master’s in sports management degree programs can also help in this regards.
According to the report, the business, like fantasy cricket apps, and other sports market was valued at $5.6 billion in 2014. However, over the next 12 months, the sector grew by a significant 35% and hit a $7.6 billion value, the highest annual growth to date.
It is estimated that revenues increased 50% more in 2019 than in 2014, jumping to around $8.5 billion. Revenues in 2020 were down 8.4% as a result of COVID-19. According to the report, revenue will increase by $600 million this year due to the influx of tech-savvy new players. Digital art has been taken by storm by NFTs. We’re sure you’ve heard about the boom in the news or even experienced it for yourself, especially with the $69 million sale of a digital art piece by Beeple Everydays.
NFTs are what?
To put it simply, NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are digital assets that can be traded between individuals, authenticated using blockchain technology, and that hold their value in form of a cryptocurrency, which can be easily bought or sold.
It is non-fungible
Those items that are neither interchangeable nor interchangeable are considered non-fungible. Imagine a five-dollar bill – each of them is the same value. The five dollar bill will still be in your pocket no matter how many times you exchange it. Items that aren’t interchangeable (or non-fungible) cannot be swapped for another item and are generally unique, such as the Mona Lisa. Replicas can be made indefinitely but they cannot be substituted.
Tokens
A token is a unit of value embedded in the blockchain and is used by the network to authenticate ownership of the NFT. A digital certificate allows you to claim ownership of a piece of digital art once it is purchased.
How do NFTs work?
The majority of NFTs are a part of the Ethereum blockchain (a cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin) that enables NFTs to be turned into music files, JPEGs, or GIFs through the addition of additional information. That’s why NFT replicas can’t be a part of the Ethereum blockchain even though they are essentially the same thing – the downloaded copy won’t include the stored information. Several blockchains have already implemented NFTs (and some have already done so), but Ethereum is currently leading the way.
Blockchain technology allows anyone to add virtually anything to the network, but not all items on the network can be valued in the millions – any collectible begins with its brand. Almost all NFTs are based on scarcity, and only when an audience has been identified and built will the scarcity effect take place. Non-fungible tokens are also valued based on their subject matter, usability, and expected future values, although it’s often the creator’s brand or partnerships, which cause the value of the token to soar – essentially, the bigger the audience, the higher the price. Furthermore, non-fungible tokens increase in value with every purchase.
A human or computer cannot forge records on the blockchain because of the creator’s “chain” to the original work, and millions of computers can track the NFT’s every move. The creator of the original work also receives a percentage of secondary sales.
The Portuguese fantasy expert gets NFT fever
RealFevr, a Portugal-based fantasy football start-up, also sells NFTs featuring the best moments of world-class players, like Bruno Fernandes, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Diogo Jota, which have generated $1.5 million in revenues. All 75,000 packs were sold within 24 hours of going on sale on August 12.
This year’s ‘First Edition Drop’ includes a unique National Football Team created around Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes, who scored a stunning volley for Sporting CP in 2017/18. Cristiano Ronaldo’s first official goal will be featured in the next drop, in which he was still a young Sporting CP prospect.