Fanatics Sportsbook Rolls Out Sports Betting App in Ohio and Tennessee

Fanatics Sportsbook has rolled out its online sports betting app. Fanatics released the app to users in Ohio and Tennessee starting on Monday. The Wall Street Journal broke the news first, a few hours before the start of the NFL Draft. It should not be surprising that Fanatics chose those two states. The retail behemoth said last month that it had beta-tested the app in both states. According to a source in the industry, the rollout won’t be a major launch but rather one that is more subtle.

Customers of Fanatics in Tennessee and Ohio will be able to access the Fanatics Sportsbook. The representative stated that users of Fanatics in certain states will receive a code that will provide them access to the Fanatics Sportsbook. Fanatics only offers retail sports betting in one state for now, Maryland. The business inaugurated a physical sportsbook in January at FedEx Field, the NFL stadium for the Washington Commanders.

At the CAA World Congress of Sports in Los Angeles, Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin gave a sneak preview of the app’s release. Rubin told the gathering gathered there that he is convinced the product’s caliber would be competitive with industry giants DraftKings and FanDuel.

Fanatics will attempt to reduce the market share held by the top three businesses in the sector, FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM. That trio controlled a market share of 79 percent in the Buckeye State in February.

Fanatics might introduce a brand-new customer loyalty program called “FanCash” in connection with the launch of the app. According to screenshots, customers who wager on sports may be able to trade FanCash for goods and other Fanatics commodities. In 2018, the NFL and Nike agreed to a ten-year agreement with Fanatics that made the retailer the only distributor of all NFL Nike merchandise.

The online debut of Fanatics Sportsbook coincides with an increase in industry monitoring of conversion rates from other verticals. Fanatics converted between 2% and 2.5 % of their e-commerce consumers during beta testing without running any specials, according to Rubin. Fanatics has the financial resources necessary to compete with the aforementioned business behemoths. Fanatics was valued at $31 billion after a $700 million funding round was completed in December of last year.

Rubin is certain that Fanatics will be able to convert a sizable portion of NFT users and online buyers outside of the two states at a sizable rate. “We have a bullish outlook. In a chat with Sports Business Journal Editor Abe Madkour, Rubin said, “I’ll either be right or I’ll tell you that I was wrong and I screwed up.”

By the end of June, according to Rubin, Fanatics may roll out the app in two more states. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission granted a temporary online sports betting license to Fanatics and a select group of other sportsbook operators in February, so there is a good chance that Massachusetts is one of those states.