Key Points
- Fanatics online sportsbook launches
- Available for customers in four states
- Launch comes after extensive beta phase
It’s been a long time coming, but the Fanatics online sports book is finally up and running. After an extensive beta development testing phase, bettors in four states can now access the online sports book.
This means that players in Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio and Tennessee will now be able to sign up to the Fanatics sportsbook app without having to use the code that was previously required.
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Fanatics sports book readies itself for the NFL season
The delayed launch of the Fanatics sports book will give the sports betting platform just three weeks to ready itself before the new NFL season begins on September 7. This has meant that Fanatics has had to push ahead with several intriguing promotions in a bid to attract more customers before the start of one of the biggest events of the sporting calendar.
As a result, customers at the Fanatics sports book can now get up to 5% in a virtual credit called FanCash for every bet they made. From here, the customer can then use this FanCash to spend on new team merchandise or more sports bets.
The 5% rate of cashback will be limited for same game parlays, but there will also be a reduced rate of 3% for parlays and futures, and then 1% for straight sports bets. Interestingly, it looks like the FanCash promo will also be applicable to the brand’s online casino division. This means that players could get 0.5% back on their spend from online slots, while the amount slips down to 0.13% for table gaming.
As well as the reward program, Fanatics will offer customers an enhanced search feature, a Discover page where players can access the latest sports betting picks, as well as a range of trending bets and special offers.
The FanDuel app was initially made available for beta testing in
Tennessee
in March and it is available for Android and iOS mobile platforms. The beta version of the Fanatics sportsbook managed to take in $2.34 million in sports betting in July in Massachusetts, claiming just under 1% of the total market share of the state.
The battle for sports betting market share
What’s important is the fact that this move will give Fanatics a three month lead on ESPN Bet as these new brands aim to enter the already congested sports betting market.
ESPN Bet is expecting to go live sometime in November 2023, and it comes after the parent company – Penn Entertainment – made the move to abandon the Barstool brand.
This meant that, after four years of operating the struggling
Barstool
sports book, Penn Entertainment will sell it back to its founder despite enduring over $800 million in losses.
Plus, Fanatics isn’t going to stop with just the four states that it is currently available in. This is because the online sports book has 12 pending licences in other states that include the likes of Colorado, Iowa, New Jersey and Virginia.
What does this mean for Fanatics’ purchase of PointsBet?
While the focus is on the launch of the Fanatics online sports book, it comes at an interesting time in the brand’s entry into the sports betting industry. This is because Fanatics has been undergoing a lengthy pending acquisition of the US operations of the PointsBet sports betting brand. The $225 million purchase of the US parts of PointsBet is due to close towards the end of August.
It is expected that Fanatics’ recent purchase of the PointsBet US operations as well as that of its Banach Technology could form a key part of its new ambitions. This means that several key components of the PointsBet sports book could now feature in the sports betting facilities of the Fanatics sports betting platform.
As a result, the quantitative driven trading models of Banach Technology could power much of how Fanatics operates in the future. Fanatics representatives were tight-lipped on how the two brands would be integrated, but it’s sure to give the new betting platform extra firepower in its bid to get a toehold in the competitive sports betting domain.
Interestingly, Fanatics will be hoping to transfer PointsBet’s New York online sports betting license to its operations as soon as possible. It has been hinted that Fanatics will begin acquiring PointsBet’s assets for three states this month, although it remains unclear as to which states these are. Fanatics will be expected to have all of PointsBet’s assets by May 2024.
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Conclusion – Big things expected from Fanatics
The introduction of Fanatics into the sports betting realm is sure to shake up the industry. Fanatics has already attracted plenty of attention through its merchandise business and it promises to be no less aggressive with its online sports book. All of this could be good news for sports betting fans in the US.
