Fanatics readies 15-state US sports betting push
CEO Michael Rubin confirms initiatives to begin in January to drive sportsbook launch by next NFL season
Fanatics is aiming to have its long-awaited US sports betting offering up and running by the start of the next NFL season, CEO Michael Rubin has confirmed.
Speaking at the CAA World Congress of Sports event, Rubin said the global sports merchandiser would look to rollout the BetFanatics brand across a significant number of US states, with efforts beginning in 2023.
“We’re going to start launching in multiple states in January,” Rubin said.
“We’ll be in every major state other than New York, where you can’t make money by next football season and we do like to make money by the way,” he joked.
A January debut would coincide with the NFL playoffs, giving the firm a shot in the arm for a strong start in its new venture.
In a thinly veiled barb at other sportsbook operators, he continued: “It’s a crazy concept in business, in that where we have revenue we try to have profits that follow it.”
Rubin cited the potential to make profit across all of Fanatics operational divisions, which range from sports merchandising to an emerging sports betting division, which has been on an aggressive hiring spree as part of the drive towards a sportsbook future.
The Fanatics CEO suggested the business could make up to $8bn over the next decade.
“We’re really bullish,” he explained. “I think we also have a very long term approach to the business.
“Things don’t happen overnight so I think in five years that’s where we’ll be and we’re going to do so on a very calculated basis.
“We’re not in a rush to do everything at once, because if you do that you’ll screw it up,” he added.
Fanatics’ drive towards sports betting has been long in the making, beginning with an application for a sportsbook licence in New York state in partnership with rapper and Roc-Nation CEO Jay-Z.
Ultimately that push was thwarted due to significant competition and a proscriptive application process, but Fanatics has continued undaunted and has built slowly from the ground up.
Successive US trademark applications as well as significant speculation on the part of the sector has ramped up interest in Fanatics’ move into the vertical, with many suggesting the firm would expand through M&A of an established US operator.
Companies muted as a potential takeover target include PointsBet and Tipico, however these rumors have ultimately fizzled out.