Sportsbook and daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings has acquired rights to live stream soccer matches from Germany’s Bundesliga. 

Registered players in six different states will now be able to enjoy games from the country’s top league. 

The Bundesliga was the first major European soccer division to resume after COVID-19-induced suspensions, returning from a two-month absence last weekend. 

DraftKings’ streaming rights were acquired via Sportradar, who it partnered with towards the end of last year. 

Live action from your pocket – coming right up 

The DraftKings live streaming feature will be available on its mobile app. Players in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Hampshire and West Virginia will all be able to take advantage and enjoy the action. 

Customers in Colorado, which opened up its sports betting market at the beginning of this month, will also have access to this service. 

DraftKings will also be launching daily Bundesliga fantasy contests for players worldwide. 

Sportradar, who DraftKings partnership with in November 2019, has a four-season deal with the Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL).

The partnership with the DFL allows Sportradar to sell Bundesliga betting rights internationally. The deal does not include five European countries, all of which list German as at least one of their official languages. Alongside Germany, the other four are Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland. 

Sportradar further-extended its partnership with the DFL in August 2019, through Sportradar Integrity Services. This will help to protect against corruption and match-fixing related to betting. 

The sports data and content company provides DraftKings with a broad range of betting simulation content, in addition to numerous official sports data feeds. 

A busy couple of weeks for DraftKings 

Earlier this month, newly-public DraftKings revealed its Q1 2020 financial results. The Boston-headquartered operator enjoyed 30% year-on-year growth for the first three months of 2020. 

Revenue up to March 31st reached $88.5 million. Despite the annual rise, it fell short of the $98 million that analysts had expected. Much of this was due to the suspension of major sporting events in March, which stemmed from the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

At the time, DraftKings Co-Founder and Chief Executive Jason Robins felt that the current absence of sports means that the lost revenue will just be made up later. He said the following. 

“Assuming there is overlap [in sporting events], usually what we’ve seen is that when there are more popular sports going on, overall activity and overall revenue goes up. 

“That is something we see typically, for example, in Q4 when we have a lot of sporting activity going on. And I would expect we’ll see something similar.”

Billionaire George Soros also recently invested in the company, joining a number of high-profile figures to do so. 

The operator has also delved into the online casino vertical, and test-launched its offerings via Penn National Gaming’s Pennsylvania license at the end of April. 

Bundesliga back with a bang… but without fans 

Germany’s top two soccer leagues both made their comeback behind closed doors, as part of various safety protocols introduced. 

Numerous players and staff were tested in the build-up to games, while wearing masks was also obligatory for some.

Social distancing measures were also outlined. This applied to goal celebrations, as well as substitutes sitting apart from one another.

Both of the top two – leaders Bayern Munich and second-placed Borussia Dortmund – recorded victories on their respective returns.