Fanatics Finally Gains Access to New York Sports Betting

It's been a long and somewhat convoluted road for Fanatics Sportsbook and its desire to gain market access into the biggest legal sports betting market with the rest of the best sportsbooks in New York.

Fanatics originally tried to get in on the New York sports betting scene in 2021, but it was unable to get the New York State Gaming Commission to grant one of the nine coveted licenses in the most successful legal sports betting state in America with its best sports betting apps.

The New York State Gaming Commission granted Fanatics the go-ahead on Thursday to launch its legal sports betting platform and become the newest New York sports betting app to go live since internet-based sports wagering was approved in the state in November 2021.

“Today, the New York State Gaming Commission approved Fanatics Betting and Gaming’s acquisition of PointsBet New York LLC,” a Fanatics press statement read. “We would like to thank the commissioners and staff of the New York State Gaming Commission for their time and effort in delivering us some great news today. We look forward to working with the staff of the New York State Gaming Commission to bring the Fanatics Sportsbook to the largest sports wagering state in the U.S.”   

What changed?

Fanatics' acquisition of PointsBet USA's assets allowed it to gain market access to the Empire State. Fanatics outbid DraftKings for PointsBet's U.S. assets in a reported $250-million deal early in 2023.

Fanatics immediately gained market access and sports betting provider licenses into 12 of PointsBet's licensed states, with New York being one. PointsBet, although not an elite name in the U.S. legal sports betting industry, was certainly a trusted provider and one that maintained a decent market share behind FanDuel New York and DraftKings New York, among others.

New York law only allows for nine mobile sports betting licenses. Fanatics simply would not have gained any market access to join the best sportsbooks without its acquisition of the PointsBet brand, and it wouldn't have been able to offer NY sportsbook promos.

New York currently doesn't have a policy of automatically transferring sports betting provider licenses, leaving Fanatics Sportsbook to clear necessary regulatory hurdles and endure the New York State Gaming Commission's vetting process all by itself.

While viewed largely as just a formality, Fanatics to its credit fulfilled all of its obligations and gained access to the most exciting sports betting market in the country. The company’s technology suite, which will mirror that of PointsBet for the time being, is still under a little bit of scrutiny by the commission at this time.

Plenty to go around

Fanatics Sportsbook New York will take the place of PointsBet New York in an Empire State market that's been the top sports wagering state in the country by far.

New York sportsbooks took in a record $16 billion in sports wagers alone in 2022. The market there is strong and only getting better as the industry further mainstreams and becomes more engrained into the Empire State culture.

PointsBet ranked a somewhat disappointing sixth among the nine New York sports betting apps. Fanatics hopes to improve upon that as the company matures and becomes more rooted in the New York scene. The company currently faces FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars, BetMGM, and BetRivers ahead of it in the battle to be the best New York mobile sports betting provider.

Through it all, gaining one of the nine New York sports betting apps licenses has to be seen as a major coup for the aspiring brand.

What about the when?

Although Fanatics has been in a rush to get its name out there in the broad and expanding U.S. legal sports betting market, there was no timeline given about the official handing over of the keys from PointsBet and Fanatics.

Obviously, the sooner the better for Fanatics. We head into Week 5 of the bread-and-butter NFL season, which is the perfect time to not only promote the brand to a broader audience, but to strike while the iron is hot.