Fanatics Poised To Take Advantage Of New Nfl Season
David Genge Published 08/09/2023
- Fanatics to go live in 11 states
- Timed for start of the new NFL season
- Featured PointsBet betting technology
Fanatics will go live in up to 11 states to coincide with the start of the new NFL season. This means that as of this week, sports fans will be able to check out the new Fanatics betting app everywhere from Massachusetts to Colorado.
Fanatics goes live for the return of football
The new sports betting brand, Fanatics, has readied itself for a massive launch to coincide with the start of the new NFL season on September 7. The online sportsbook will be up and running in 11 states across the nation, and it comes at a time when Fanatics has successfully completed the purchase of the US operations of the PointsBet brand.
While Fanatics had originally planned to be live in anywhere up 20 states by the start of the NFL season, it has had to revise its plans to bring the number down to a more conservative figure.
Just before the new football season kicked off, Fanatics was only live in the four states of Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio and Tennessee. These states saw the newly launched Fanatics app up and running after a significant beta testing period that ran for a number of months.
The merging of Fanatics and PointsBet
What’s interesting is the way in which Fanatics is aiming to take advantage of PointsBet’s pre-existing position in the market. After the acquisition of PointsBet’s US operations for $225 million, Fanatics will aim to integrate several key parts of the Australian brand’s tech platform.
This will feature seven other states seeing a new sports betting platform that will be branded as, ‘PointsBet, a Fanatics experience’. Such a measure is only a temporary stop-gap until Fanatics finally gets full regulatory approval in the states of Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. A representative from Fanatics was keen to note that any pre-existing PointsBet customers will be unaffected by the rebranding.
Following this, the states of Illinois and Indiana are expected to come under the banner of ‘PointsBet, a Fanatics experience’ in the coming months. This week also saw the Wyoming Gaming Commission giving the seal of approval on the transfer of the sports betting licensing from PointsBet to Fanatics within the Equality State.
However, it looks like things could be a little more complicated in New York. While PointsBet was a fully regulated New York online sportsbook, the NYS Gaming Commission has yet to reveal whether it will give the green light to Fanatics in the Empire State. The decision on this is due to be made at some point in September.
What can betting fans expect from Fanatics?
Fanatics is entering the US sports betting market at a pivotal time. While the likes of FanDuel have finally managed to turn a profit after many years of investment, several other key sportsbooks have struggled and fallen by the wayside.
As a result, Fanatics has aimed to create a different experience for betting fans. This is something that can be seen in how Fanatics presents its customers with a personalized betting page to give them a unique way to find the bets that are tailored to their needs.
In addition to this, Fanatics has been keen to highlight its FanCash reward credits program. This is a kind of loyalty scheme where customers can collect these credits through their bets, and the credits can then be used to buy merchandise from the Fanatics store.
It’s too early to see what kind of an impact Fanatics can achieve in the already congested market, but the brand has been keen to state that it will prioritize the customer experience over market share. This means that there won’t be a big initial spend like has been seen with other sportsbooks, but instead, there will be an aim for a more gradual growth by retaining loyal customers.
Such a tactic could do well for Fanatics as other sportsbooks such as Fox Bet, PointsBet and WynnBet have all struggled for market share despite spending a lot of money. Fox Bet was wound down earlier this summer, while Wynnbet made the shock announcement to close down its operations in several US states despite having just revealed a revamped mobile betting app.
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Conclusion - Expect big things from Fanatics
Fanatics has already captured the imagination of many in the sports betting realm. The brand has shown that it can work wonders in the sports merchandise market, and big things are expected of its sportsbook. Interesting, by prioritizing customer experience rather than market share, it could give US sports fans a whole new way to bet on sports. Much will be revealed when the new NFL season kicks off this week.