Yahoo plans to expand fantasy sports app

Internet giant Yahoo has unveiled a retooled version of its fantasy-sports mobile app that allows users to wager real money daily and weekly against their friends and in major online tournaments.

The publication Cnet reports that Yahoo hopes to score by expanding its already popular app. into daily fantasy sports; previously, Yahoo’s service offered only season-long contests.

Yahoo is already a premier brand in the world of fantasy sports providers, along with companies like ESPN and CBS.

Cnet reports that fantasy sports users increased by 40 percent last year, with more than 56 million people playing in the United States and Canada, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. The average player also spends $465 a year on contest fees, according to the trade association.

With its new feature, Yahoo hopes to cash in on the growing popularity of daily contests, currently dominated by DraftKings and Fanduel. Adding daily games will help Yahoo’s app appeal to the “modern fan,” Simon Khalaf, SVP of Product and Engineering at Yahoo, said in a statement Wednesday.

Initially, Yahoo’s daily contests are only focused on Major League Baseball, but the company will add other sports as their professional seasons start. As of launch, entry into the daily games range from or as little as $1 or $5, and as high as $250. Prizes for winners can reach $50,000.

Yahoo will keep about 10 percent of the entry fees paid by players, Ken Fuchs, vice president of publisher products at Yahoo revealed.