Scottish fantasy sport firm FanDuel plans expansion

FanDuel's new Edinburgh office will have capacity for 500 staff

One of the big hopes for Scotland's digital sector is to expand into an office which could see its workforce multiply up to three-fold.

FanDuel has signed up for new accommodation being built at the Quartermile, on the site of the former Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

It already employs about 150 people in Scotland and as many in the US.

Its new office will have capacity for 500 Edinburgh staff, and it is also opening a Glasgow base.

The company is a leading player in the US fantasy sports business, a sector which has more than 40m followers.

FanDuel has more than a million users, and expects this year to give away prizes totalling more than $2 billion. It has been growing fast, with significant new investment announced earlier this month, as well as the acquisition of an app design studio.

The property deal is being portrayed as a sign of the technology firm's confidence in its future and also in the Quartermile development, where the pre-lease is one of the biggest for ten years.

The Infirmary site re-development is due to complete in 2018, with four, seven-storey office blocks, retail and leisure, and it has already seen occupation of half the thousand homes that are planned.

Another big hope for Scottish digital technology, Skyscanner, is also based in the development.