Fanatics Sports & Casino Launches Prediction Markets as Part of Single App

Fanatics Sports & Casino has revealed that it has updated its app, offering a unified sports-betting-gaming-and-prediction-market experience, incorporating event contracts into its app. Fanatics Sports & Casino Introduces Event Contracts as Part of Single App The news follows the acquisition of a regulated exchange from BGC Group and strengthens the company’s position in the emerging vertical at a time when all rivals are looking for a slice of the action. In a statement, the company detailed the move: “Fanatics Sports & Casino brings the full Fanatics gaming and prediction markets experience together in one place. Fans get the Fanatics Sportsbook, the fastest-growing sportsbook in America, in 23 states plus Washington, D.C.; Fanatics Casino in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan & West Virginia; and Fanatics Markets, the company’s federally regulated event contracts platform, in 22 states & four (4) territories across the country.” Fanatics, though, notably complies with sports betting age requirements for event contracts, becoming an outlier and possibly curbing legal action against its platform over targeting young demographics. All of this comes on the tail of recent developments, including a defeat in a court case involving Kalshi in Nevada, along with a New Jersey request for the Supreme Court of the United States to intervene and arrive at a regulation on the status of prediction markets. Furthermore, Fanatics has taken heed of the fact that a CNN analysis established that around $3.9 billion of the trading volume placed on Kalshi was generated on event contracts and by under-18 individuals. Despite the fraught legal context, super apps have become increasingly popular with sports betting and gaming companies that are increasingly expanding their offers to build on stronger gamification models, with a notable example: DraftKings. Leverage Fanatics Ecosystem to Build Experiences Fanatics, though, has a wide ecosystem, and one that involves people who purchase sports apparel, leveraging its pull as an apparel company to further build on loyalty. But Fanatics has used the Fanatics One loyalty play and the FanCash program to create a closed loop in which the unique brand currency is later used to place bets or purchase merchandise, offering customers more choice. Incorporating prediction markets into its own offer, of course, raises certain challenges, as event contracts and sportsbooks can be more or less indistinguishable from one another, especially with the launch of “combo” and “parlay” markets across the segment. Still, Fanatics is taking these new developments from the position of an established gaming company, albeit a fairly new arrival to the market, and is not rushing into the sector headlong but rather securing a purchase in the prediction market and attempting to leverage it through organic growth.