Fanatics Sportsbook Launches New York Online Sports Betting

Fanatics Sportsbook launched its sports betting app in New York on Thursday, capping a whirlwind February in which the operator completed four migration platform transitions from PointsBet.

It was the second launch this week for Fanatics Sportsbook, which entered Indiana on Tuesday. Fanatics Sportsbook also made its debut in Iowa on Feb. 6 and Michigan on Feb. 20, with New York the 15th state where it is available for mobile betting.

As part of its entrance into New York and multi-state launch, Fanatics Sportsbook is running a promotion in which new bettors can receive up to $1,000 in bonus bets. Fanatics Sportsbook will match however much bettors place for their first bet of the day up to $100 for 10 consecutive days with no promo code necessary.

Regardless of the outcome of the wager, bettors will still receive the bonus bets. Bettors can also earn up to 5% of the total of their bet in FanCash.

Surveying the Empire State

Unlike its earlier launches this month, Fanatics Sportsbook will be entering New York ahead of ESPN BET, which could be an important factor in building on the foundation PointsBet laid. PENN Entertainment recently agreed to purchase WynnBET’s mobile sports betting licenses from parent Wynn Enterprises for $25 million to give ESPN BET a path into the Empire State, but PENN must still get regulatory approval from the New York State Gaming Commission before accepting bets.

In multiple states where Fanatics Sportsbook was operational prior to ESPN BET’s aggressive national rollout in mid-November, the vast promotional spend by PENN to close 2023 put ESPN BET on a faster trajectory than Fanatics Sportsbook to be on that second tier of mobile sports operators that includes BetMGM and Caesars, both of whom operate in New York as well.

The short-term challenge for Fanatics Sportsbook in New York will be to make up ground on BetRivers, which entrenched itself as the No. 5 mobile operator in 2023 in terms of handle and revenue, while PENN and ESPN BET navigate the regulatory process. There is little to gain in siphoning action from Bally Bet, WynnBET, or Resorts World as the trio combined for 1.25% of the $1.96 billion handle in January.

PointsBet was one of six mobile operators that launched in New York during the first week of wagering in January 2022 and reached a high for mobile market share in April of that year at 3.8%. The last time it had a share above 3% was in January 2023, when it generated an all-time monthly high of $58 million handle. Its market share, however, gradually ebbed to a low point of 1.3% in November and was 1.6% in January.

PointsBet did have a solid start to 2024, posting an 8.3% hold on $31.7 million handle to claim $2.6 million revenue. Its all-time handle of $774 million and $49.1 million sports betting revenue through January ranks sixth in both categories among the nine digital operators.