Drastic staff lay-offs at daily fantasy sports firm

The e-gaming publication Gamasutra reports this week that daily fantasy eSports provider Vulcun may be considering a move away from the real-money sector, and has laid-off 14 people – a quarter of its staff.

Our readers may recall that Vulcun voluntarily exited the Nevada market late last year when the state regulator opined that daily fantasy sports real-money wagering constitutes gambling and requires a licence.

The Nevada opinion, along with a widespread political and enforcement examination of DFS, was triggered by an alleged insider betting scandal that embroiled both market leaders DraftKings and FanDuel, a situation that continues to reverberate through the DFS industry and seems set to result in radical regulatory changes across US states.

Gamasutra speculates that perhaps the heat in the kitchen has been enough to persuade Vulcun management that it should look for other and less troublesome business opportunities.

That suggestion appears to be supported by an email from Vulcun co-founder Ali Moiz, who reportedly wrote in an email:

“The company is transitioning to a new direction, and unfortunately this [the lay-offs] is a painful but necessary part of the process. We are actively helping these people look for new jobs, so if anyone is interested in hiring them, they can contact ali [at] vulcun. We’ll have more announcements about our new direction coming shortly in the next few weeks.”

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