Last week, Fanatics Betting and Gaming launched its mobile sports betting app in New York, the largest market in the United States. This latest launch expands Fanatics’ footprint as a relatively new player in the sports betting industry as it continues to expand its reach.
Fanatics Takes a Bite of the Big Apple
Fanatics is going all-in on sports betting as the young mobile sportsbook continues to launch throughout the nation. Its acquisition of PointsBet’s U.S. assets in the middle of 2023 is now paying dividends as the company has repeatedly gotten the green light from regulatory agencies to migrate those customer accounts into its state-of-the-art platform.
New York is the latest state to welcome Fanatics to its ferociously competitive market that accounts for over 37% of the tax revenue generated from sports betting. This is the 15th market in which Fanatics has launched under its own brand. But prior to that, “PointsBet, A Fanatics Experience” had been operating since October in the Empire State when the company received regulatory approval from the New York State Gaming Commission.
Although FanDuel and DraftKings dominate the New York market, and virtually all markets where sports betting has been legalized for that matter, Fanatics is unafraid of the competition and enjoys a competitive edge using its enormous customer list from its sports merchandising branch.
Shortly before Fanatics Betting & Gaming made its splash onto the sports betting scene, its billionaire CEO, Michael Rubin, was quoted as saying, “I’m going to tell you this right now with no fear of people copying me because they don’t have the businesses. I’m going to create the greatest cross-loyalty program in sports. Do you know how much we can do?”
In under a month, Fanatics has launched in four states including Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, and now New York. But the company’s 16th launch is right around the corner when they go live on March 11th in North Carolina.
See Through Uniforms
Fanatics’ primary goal is converting its sports merch customers to sports betting clients, but the apparel company has been the object of much derision recently with the unveiling of its MLB uniforms. The pants are see-through and the fit of the unis are not exactly ideal.
In an agreement between Fanatics and Nike, the former has begun manufacturing and designing uniforms for the latter. One of the customers happens to be Major League Baseball, and Michael Rubin believes his firm is being unfairly targeted.
“This is a little bit of a difficult position,” Rubin said last week at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. “We’re purely doing exactly as we’ve been told, and we’ve been told we’re doing everything exactly right. And we’re getting the s— kicked out of us. So that’s not fun.”
In the offseason, Nike took suggestions from some MLB players who desired a more breathable and stretchable uniform and handed them to Fanatics to manufacture. Those changes have led to the issues currently vexing the company and players alike.
“Nike designs everything. Hands us a spec and says, ‘Make this,’” Rubin added. “We have made everything exactly to the spec. And Nike and baseball would say, ‘Yes, you’ve done everything we’ve asked you do to.’”
“I know everyone hates them,” Phillies shortstop Trea Turner said. “We all liked what we had. We understand business, but I think everyone wanted to keep it the same way, for the most part, with some tweaks here or there.”
Rubin added, “They got certain players on board, not all players on board. When you change something so old and so nostalgic you need everybody to be on board with it. I believe Nike will be proved right.”
