June 3, 2024 3 min read

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FanDuel Finally Acquires BeyondPlay, Names CEO Pelc as VP

Following the completion of BeyondPlay’s acquisition by FanDuel, the latter has appointed founder and CEO Karolina Pelc as vice presiden

The news that Flutter’s sports betting and fantasy sports brand, FanDuel, decided to acquire next-gen engagement software company BeyondPlay first emerged to the public at the beginning of the year

At the time, while expressing excitement about the announcement, FanDuel Casino managing director Asaf Noifeld (former PokerStars director) did not comment on role distribution

Now that the acquisition has been finally completed, we finally have a name for the vice president position. 

BeyondPlay’s founder and chief executive officer, Karolina Pelc, has been appointed as “Vice President BeyondPlay- at FanDuel, part of Flutter Entertainment,” as disclosed by the CEO via a LinkedIn post.

“Something Pretty Special”

In February, the former LeoVegas and SG Digital head who established BeyondPlay in 2021 expressed her feelings on the upcoming acquisition, which she called “the most amazing opportunity” she had come across as a founder of the startup.

“Proud, thrilled, excited… There simply aren’t the right words in the unpublished LinkedIn announcement dictionary to describe how sharing today’s news feels,” Pelc said. 

Taking to LinkedIn to comment on her appointment, the new VP described seeing the brand name that she “once came up with” be featured in her job title, “working for one of the most influential gaming companies in the world” as “something pretty special.” 

The founder of the innovative startup aimed at disrupting the world of real-money gaming and redefining the playing experience also spent more than a year as Gaming Innovation Group’s board member between May 2023 and May 2024

She also owned Basic Strategy, an online gaming consulting services company between October 2018 and April 2021, was group chief product officer for Games Marketing Ltd between May 2019 and December 2019, and spent eight months as vice president of casino innovation for SG Digital (Division of Scientific Games Corporation) between October 2018 and May 2019

She also spent close to four years with LeoVegas as casino director and head of casino. 

BeyondPlay to Bring More Gains to FanDuel’s Online Casino Arm

Since its launch in 2021, her company, which she led next to William Hill’s former head Jacqui Gatt as chief operating officer, reached a team of 40 staff members and created flagship products in the form of a jackpot management system and a social gaming product.

The latter enables multiple players to engage in the same online casino session. The jackpot management tool is used by operators to create “highly customized” jackpot campaigns.  

Since its launch, BeyondPlay has raised three rounds of investment and over €7 million in capital from the leading VCs, Family Offices, and Angels.

Now, FanDuel plans to harness the three-year-old brand’s power to deliver more gains to its online casino branch and automatically push its operations to the next level in the United States.

According to Flutter data for the first quarter of the year, FanDuel Casino was ranked the first online casino brand in the market thanks to a gross gaming revenue market share that reached 27%.

The same division jumped 34% on a YoY basis in terms of active monthly players and 49% in terms of revenue growth.

Earlier this month, FanDuel reaffirmed its domination over the US market share in April, closely followed by rival DraftKings as confirmed by expert market analysts, JMP Securities. 

Last week, Flutter further proved its commitment to the opportunity presented by the US market by completing its transition to having its primary share listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

After finishing her master's in publishing and writing, Melanie began her career as an online editor for a large gaming blog and has now transitioned over towards the iGaming industry. She helps to ensure that our news pieces are written to the highest standard possible under the guidance of senior management.

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