DURHAM – FANDEX, a marketplace for fantasy sports that enables users to buy and sell virtual shares, has received a patent for its key technology.

“This is a huge moment for us here at Fandex as our team has worked hard since 2017 to create this patented platform and we look forward to speaking with the market leaders in iGaming to discuss licensing and other partnerships” said Matt D’Alessandro, CEO of Fandex, in a statement. “The patent not only adds to our intellectual property portfolio covering our novel fantasy sports exchange, but it also strengthens our competitive advantage.”

The company calls its platform “new and addictive” in the statement and notes that the platform has tens of thousands of users and has given away “thousands of dollars.”

Here’s how the company’s platform works, according to the firm’s website:

  • Users create an account and log in to the marketplace
  • Users can then “pick teams like they’re stocks, buy, sell, & short shares”
  • Trading occurs on the platform with other users

The firm gives a $50 weekly prize to the user with the highest percentage gain in their portfolio and a $100 monthly prize for the highest percentage gain.

But to play, users do not pay a fee.  Users must be at least 18 years of age to participate, the company website notes.

According to the website, the platform provides users to trade in markets for sports leagues including the NFL, NBA, college football, college basketball, MLB, and the English Premier League, among others.

Gambling.com Group, fresh off IPO earlier this year, to acquire RotoWire in $27.5M deal

Increased interest in gaming, gambling with fantasy sports

FANDEX is just one North Carolina company that’s looking to capitalize on fan interest in sports and fantasy gaming.

Publicly-traded The Gambling Group, based in Charlotte, bought the fantasy sports news website RotoWire for $27.5 million in the last 12 months.

“The Group will leverage RotoWire’s existing audience, content library, talented workforce, media partnerships and trust with U.S. sports fans to further accelerate the Group’s already fast-growing business in the U.S. online sports betting market,” a statement from The Gambling Group noted last year.