TotelFootball today fought off the challenge of 11 igaming industry rivals to win the inaugural edition of The Pitch at EiG (European iGaming Congress and Expo) in Barcelona.

Following the Dragons Den-style presentations from a key member of each team, the audience voted to say how much they would invest in each company: €100,000, €50,000, €20,000, €5,000 or nothing.

With the company’s business development director Keith McDonnell taking centre stage, TotelFootball claimed the victory after it received the highest figure.

McDonnell highlighted the vast opportunities TotelFootball’s innovative game brings to both new and emerging markets in his pitch, as well as the player retention strengths and customer acquisition benefits to operators, who can easily integrate this new revenue stream via OpenBet.

McDonnell said:

“Winning The Pitch at EiG is a fantastic reward for TotelFootball after all the hard work we have put into developing the company and the product over the past few years.”

Declan O’Sullivan, TotelFootball founder, said:

“We are ecstatic to have landed this prize. The fact that we were up against such strong competition and that we were chosen by fellow members of our profession makes it an even bigger endorsement.

TotelFootball offers a unique opportunity to engage with the millions of fantasy players and sports bettors worldwide. The World Cup is just around the corner and for operators looking to capitalise on Brazil 2014 in a new and exciting way, we have the answer.”

TotelFootball also lands the prize of a free speaking slot at one of the eight conferences at ICE Totally Gaming, held at London’s ExCeL in February 2014.

The Pitch comprised 12 x 15-minute presentations over the three-day event at Fira in Barcelona where each company pitched their innovative and landmark offerings to the EiG audience, before a five minute question and answer session.

Keith McDonnell is CEO of kmigaming.com and business development director at TotelFootball, the groundbreaking fantasy sports pools betting product. He will be representing TotelFootball in The Pitch at EiG 2013.

Keith has extensive experience of global gaming markets, having previously served as managing director of Bodog Europe and Bodog Asia, while other previous roles include being head of online at Tote and global affiliate marketing manager at William Hill.

SBC: Hi Keith great to meet you, can you tell our readers more about TotelFootball and how you have developed and progressed your product from idea stage through to actual production?

TotelFootball is a real money fantasy sports betting business. Initially starting with football, we are giving fantasy enthusiasts the opportunity to monetise their game play more effectively by betting on their team for each round of matches. While traditional fantasy tends to focus on longer periods with players competing for set prizes, we offer multiple opportunities to bet each week across all the top football leagues in Europe.

After listening to some frustrations with traditional fantasy game play, we have delivered a product that offers value, entertainment, a social experience and large numbers of betting opportunities. What we have now is just the start for what we expect will be a product that tackles all key sports globally.

Q2. SBC: What attracted you to monetise the popular fantasy football game – a traditional free game format?

We knew that there was a demand so we decided to meet that. We listened to what the market feedback was for traditional gameplay and delivered products to address it. People talk about social betting being a recent phenomenon, but fantasy sports have been around for years and with features such as private leagues, leaderboards and an abundance of content, fantasy sports invented social gambling.

We have added more opportunity to transact and bet and give fantasy sports enthusiasts more reasons to play a game they love.

Q3. SBC: Your product is unique in its offering to operators, however how would you define your product and how do you see it fit within the igaming product arc?

TotelFootball has an acquisition element to it as operators can use it to get in front of customer demographics that they otherwise would be unable to with their core gambling product offering. However, it is really the retention aspect where we think successful Operators will benefit.

Our product – due to the vast number of events – will give customers a reason to come back time and again, stay within the operator’s site and transact. I would argue games like TotelFootball are simply must haves. Dare betting and gaming companies risk their customers going elsewhere to play fantasy sports and potentially stay away for their core betting? We can ensure there is no need for them to leave the environment in the first place. Just look at the stats. Three million active fantasy players in the UK and 30 million in the US tells us the market size – which continues to grow – is significant, with undoubted overlap with core gambling.

No doubt the igaming legal landscape in the US has helped grow the fantasy player base, but that just goes to show how important it is ahead of the market opening up, and when you look at emerging markets, fantasy can play a vital role as a soft entry for players and operators to the market place.

Q4. Most start-ups will be launched by first time entrepreneurs that may not know the finer details of financing and equity for their ventures. How much of a hindrance is this and can this be taught or learned in the start-ups journey?

Seasoned entrepreneurs undoubtedly have an advantage – at least the successful ones do – as they can lean on their network of investor contacts. As a first-timer raising finance there are simply no shortcuts. It’s about identifying the right profile of investor and building a case that matches their typical investment criteria. The amount of time required to be consumed here can often be underestimated.

Q5. Examining investment in igaming start-ups, are investors, whether they be private or institutional, put off by investing in ventures where the markets have very convoluted regulatory procedures that may not be completely defined?

Undefined regulatory frameworks may actually represent opportunities for certain types of investors as they see less opportunity for serious competition from big multi-national and publicly listed organisations. However, it is crucial to have an understanding of how individual marketplaces work, whether that is from personal experience or by having reliable and trustworthy agents or partners on the ground. Every country and region has its own customs and players will have preferred methods of engaging and transacting.

Understanding what is “black” and what is “grey” is key here but there is no doubt that in combining fantasy sports with social, TotelFootball fits neatly into an open market in some very large gambling territories.

Q6. What advice would you give start-ups attending the EIG start-up launch pad – what do they need to be doing in order to be thought of as an attractive proposition for potential investors?

Be very clear about what the market opportunity is, understand why your product can be successful in capitalising on it and develop a common sense exit plan that sees investors’ interests showing favourable returns. And make it interesting – we are in the entertainment business after all – something we have tried to keep at the core of our development with TotelFootball.

TotelFootball will be competing in The Pitch at EiG and has been assigned the 11:40-12:00 slot on day three (Thursday, October 10, 2013) of the show at Fira Barcelona.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013 (London, UK) – TotelFootball has increased its global footprint by forming a supply partnership with Ocho Gaming, the leading operator and provider of online gaming to the Latin American market, though its JuegaOcho.com brand.

The agreement will see JuegaOcho.com members presented with a localised TotelFootball offering this season, ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Players in the soccer-obsessed region will benefit from joining the worldwide TotelFootball prize pool, which ensures liquidity and bigger payouts, as they wager on the performance of teams selected from top European competitions, including the Premier League, Champions League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga.

“This partnership with Ocho Gaming marks an important step in the growth of our business and demonstrates the worldwide appeal of TotelFootball,” said Keith McDonnell, TotelFootball’s business development director. “Our strategy is focussed on increasing the reach of our product as we strive to become the global destination for fantasy sports betting.”

Headquartered in Lima, Peru, JuegaOcho.com was launched in 2012 to provide real-money wagering opportunities to the emerging Latin American market. Available in Spanish, Peruvian Spanish and English, JuegaOcho.com will offer TotelFootball alongside its extensive suite of online casino and slot games, sports betting and bingo products.

“It is impossible to overestimate the popularity of the beautiful game and the passion of its supporters in Latin America, so bringing TotelFootball to JuegaOcho.com gives us a real point of differentiation in the market,” said Jeff Cooper, CEO of Ocho Global. “The game will be a valuable asset as we look to grow and diversify our customer base as well as a key offering to current players.” 

Thursday, August 15, 2013 (London, UK) – Fans of unique fantasy sports betting game TotelFootball, which allows players to place cash wagers on the performance of their dream teams, have even more reason to look forward to the new Premier League campaign following the introduction of a tantalising £100k jackpot.

The six-figure prize will be won if a manager’s team scores maximum points in a single game week and is up for grabs during each round of fixtures.

Being a TotelFootball fantasy manager will require even more selection skills this season with the introduction of team captains and a variety of formations.

Following user feedback, assigning a team captain – who earn double points – is now required, while a choice must be made from one of six 11-a-side formations. When lining up for a six-a-side game, there will be three options.

And securing the bragging rights is vital as TotelFootball has implemented a friends and messaging system to enable private messaging and encourage public banter.

“We’ve had an intensive pre-season at TotelFootball and are very happy with the progress that the game has made,” said Keith McDonnell, TotelFootball’s business development director.

“We’re continually looking to evolve and improve our product and the best people to help us do that are the players. The new features we have implemented are designed to make TotelFootball even more enjoyable – and to separate the Mourinhos from the McClarens.”

The wait is almost over. There are just four days to go before the English Premier League kicks off in what is expected to be one of the closest fought contests in its 21 year history.

But that won’t be the only closely fought rivalry. As legendary Liverpool Football Club manager Bill Shankly famously said: “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that”.

And for the millions of office workers who play Fantasy Football it is just that. Topping their private company league at the end of the season is arguably more important than which professional team ends up lifting the coveted trophy. Pride and, above all, punters’ reputations, are at stake.

For many, including 3.3m North Americans that contribute around £3bn to participate in NFL fantasy games the honour and the slim hope of winning a grand prize of, for example, VIP tickets to the 2014 NFL Pro Bowl in Oahu, Hawaii is all that is at stake with real-money sports betting restricted to just four States, while online betting is strictly off limits nationwide.

Fantasy sports betting, however, is an area that has only recently been exploited with only two million of a total of around 5.5m to 7.5m UK players ever having placed a real-money bet.

But the appetite for this type of product is huge and, with the rise in popularity of social gaming on Facebook online and on mobile, traditional real-money operators are increasingly keen to use fantasy to attract an entirely new audience.

In regulated markets such as the UK, for example, a number of innovative products including Totelfootball have recently begun to whet the appetite of fantasy players who increasingly want to put their money where their mouth is. Bragging, banter and betting go hand-in-hand.

Fantasy is the ideal product to achieve that goal. Whereas traditional fantasy game play is not regulated under gambling legislation, betting on fantasy is and it is this type of game, under appropriate licensing, where we see the real upside for operators. Using fantasy as a Trojan horse for their core products, operators can hook players in and convert them having initially shown them a softer side to their gambling brand. We believe the fantasy channel will be hugely profitable in its own right for partner operators given the high margins associated with the product – which are guaranteed.

In the past many fantasy products have struggled due to the duration of the game with players losing interest as they fall down the leaderboard. This has been addressed, to an extent, with weekly and monthly prizes.

We see the potential as enormous. Liquidity will breed liquidity and, as players see others scooping six-figure prizes and games that are inherently enjoyable, player numbers and spend will increase.

Fantasy appeals to anyone who loves sport, likes a rush of adrenalin with a small wager and enjoys the process of being a football manager for the season. Anyone can play and it’s incredible how much more entertaining games become when one of your players is involved.

Monday, August 05, 2013 (London, UK) – TotelFootball has signed a partner agreement with OpenBet, the leading sportsbook and online gaming software provider, in time for the 2013/14 football season.

TotelFootball’s flagship fantasy sports pools betting product will be accessible to all companies integrated to OpenBet, including more than 20 of the world’s largest sportsbooks and gaming operators, allowing them to broaden their portfolio with this unique offering. 

“OpenBet has been successfully providing sportsbook software to major operators for more than 15 years so this is a hugely significant deal for TotelFootball,” said Keith McDonnell, TotelFootball’s business development director. “We have created a product that has the winning combination of being simple to understand, play and very easy to integrate. With fantasy games viewed as being integral to social strategies, TotelFootball is a versatile product that penetrates beyond the sportsbook environment.” 

Providing the chance of high rewards for low stakes, TotelFootball is a fully-localised white-label solution, with liquidity shared across a global network of players. “Fantasy games are wildly popular all around the world and TotelFootball has captured their most appealing aspects and added the all important sports betting element,” said Max Francis, OpenBet’s commercial partner manager. “There really isn’t another product like it on the market. It is proven to attract new players and I am sure it will only become a more important acquisition tool given the size of the fantasy sports market.” 

TotelFootball allows players to combine fantasy football management with sports betting by wagering on the performance of their line-ups from top European competitions, including the Premier League, Champions League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga. 

Unlike traditional fantasy games, TotelFootball competitions only span the course of one round of fixtures to ensure renewed interest for each game week. Stakes are variable and the total collected creates the prize pool, with payouts determined by bet levels and points accumulated through the performance of team selections.

For more information about TotelFootball, please contact:

Square in the Air Communications

131-151 Great Titchfield Street, London, W1W 5BB | +44 (0) 20 3586 8266 | [email protected] 

For more information about OpenBet, please contact: 

Yeemay Huang, Marketing Manager

E: [email protected] 

T: +44 (0)20 8742 1600

Following January’s announcement that Betfred had signed a deal with TotelFootball to make pool betting on fantasy football available to their customers, the game launched this week on Totepool.com. The integration signals the Tote’s (now owned by Betfred) first venture into pool betting outside of horse racing.

TotelFootball have been operating the fantasy football game on their own platform for over three years, Betfred are the first bookmakers to plug into the TotelFootball network. The game mimics most aspects of traditional fantasy football games, but with two key twists. Firstly, competitions only span the course of a weekend, so each gameweek brings a brand new chance of success. Secondly, this is very much a pool betting product with customers able to set variable stakes and win large cash prizes.

Customers can enter teams from a variety of top leagues including the English Premier League, the Champions League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga. The success of each customer’s team depends on the real-life performance of their selected players (e.g. players earn points for

appearance minutes, goals and assists; whilst goals conceded and cards lose points for a player). The better the players perform, the more points each team earns with the top 10% of teams after the weekend’s fixtures sharing the prize pool.

For the bettor seeking a quicker turnaround, then the 6-aside competitions on live televised fixtures will appeal where the excitement is played out over one or more live games.

Keith McDonnell, Business Development Director for TotelFootball says “Liquidity is key to the success of any pools betting service and in working with Totepool.com we can quickly drive liquidity which will transform an already great game into an attractive betting proposition offering high returns.”

Eddie Bennett, Head of Totepool.com, commented “We are excited to expand our range of pool betting products into football. Given the popularity of fantasy football we view TotelFootball’s fantasy football solution as a logical fit for our ever expanding “Fantasy Pools” proposition.”

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Media Contact:

Chris Cullinane

+353 (0) 64 6620012

[email protected]

Hot on the heels of announcing partnerships with the UK Tote and Goal.com, TotelFootball is pleased to unveil its latest product innovation which enables football clubs of all sizes to fundraise in a fun and exciting manner.

TotelFootball operates a service which brings the excitement of pool betting to the millions of fantasy football managers around the planet. We have adapted our main game to offer football clubs their own private pool facility, giving fans a chance to win cash, claim those all important bragging rights and raise funds for their club all at the same time.

The popularity of fantasy football is currently at an all­time high in the UK with an estimated 4 million people regularly participating in such games. TotelFootball’s latest development affords football clubs an opportunity to deeply engage their fanbase, whilst monetising the phenomenon that is fantasy football.

Keith McDonnell, TotelFootball’s Business Development Director is excited by the potential:

“Our new feature can cater for clubs of any size. Whether a club has a home attendance of 50,000 or 50 our game can prove a worthwhile stream of added revenue. We can now offer a hassle free and low maintenance fundraising solution which is sure to captivate any football audience.”

For more info see https://totelfootball.com/clubs

TotelFootball is exhibiting at the Soccerex European Forum (stand 156) on April 10th and 11th.

Media Contact:
Chris Cullinane
+353 (0) 64 66 20012

[email protected]

By Donal Hickey

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

It is a soccer fantasy project set to create 30 real jobs.

TotelFootball.com, a Kerry company now set for growth after a period of development, operates a successful internet-based game fusing the popular concepts of sports betting and fantasy football. 

Killarney is the centre of operations and the game, brainchild of local man Declan O’Sullivan, was developed while he was on the Endeavour business start-up programme. 

It is based on England’s Premier League, with weekly matches, but the company plans to expand into other sports, including cricket, golf, and rugby. 

Fantasy sports has been a huge phenomenon in the US since the late 1950s, where over $3bn (€2.3bn) is now spent annually on league entry fees. 

Around 35m people play fantasy sports games in the US and 4m across Britain.