Fanatics Betting & Gaming CEO Matt King has elaborated on the company's approach to both traditional sports betting and prediction markets, highlighting their distinct characteristics while emphasizing shared consumer protection standards. Fanatics Markets, their prediction market platform, launched in December across 24 states, including those without online sports betting like California, Texas, and Georgia. This platform allows users to bet on outcomes like the Super Bowl winner or MVP, as well as novelty markets such as the length of the national anthem.
King differentiates prediction markets as two-sided marketplaces, unlike traditional sports betting where Fanatics acts as "the house." He maintains that these will remain distinct services, a stance echoed by other platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket, which argue their offerings constitute trading rather than traditional betting. The legal debate often centers on whether these platforms fall under the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) or state-by-state regulation.
Fanatics applies its rigorous integrity and consumer protection measures, developed for sports betting, to its prediction markets, regardless of legal requirements. This includes addressing concerns like insider trading. The company recently rolled out a unified Fanatics Sports & Casino app that integrates its sportsbook, prediction markets, and online casino into a single user experience. This app defaults to the sportsbook in legalized states and to prediction markets in others, allowing users to earn and redeem FanCash across all platforms. While the NFL has expressed reservations about content promoting prediction markets, Fanatics has secured NFL sponsorship rights for its online casino.
King noted that Fanatics will strategically increase marketing spend in non-online sportsbook (OSB) states, though the majority of advertising will still target regulated sportsbook and casino markets. He believes that prediction markets, particularly those with a lower age threshold (18 versus 21 for most sportsbooks), are capturing "mindshare" from potential new sportsbook users. Fanatics and Novig are the only companies setting the prediction market age limit at 21. Fanatics also offers customer-friendly features like "Fair Play" injury protection and "forward progress coverage" for prop bets, which saved bettors nearly $20 million on 160 player exits last season. Additionally, the sportsbook will introduce "Squad bets" for the NFL, allowing up to eight players to contribute to an overall prop total for higher payouts.
