PointsBet- A Fanatics Experience in Illinois: Promo Code & Review
PointsBet, now under the Fanatics brand, is one of just a handful of sportsbooks operating online in Illinois, as licensing fees and requirements have prevented many upstart operators from entering the Land of Lincoln. Going forward, users will see PointsBet marketed as “A Fanatics Experience” following the finalization of the massive deal between Fanatics and PointsBet US.
Their early entrance into the state plus limited competition has allowed PB to scoop up about 8% of market share, though it varies a bit month to month. FanDuel and DraftKings still dominate, but not as much as in some other states.
As we noted, Fanatics Sportsbook recently finalized an acquisition of the American end of PointsBet U.S. As part of the deal, all of the existing states will be rebranded as “PointsBet: A Fanatics experience”.
How Does PointsBet Stack Up in Illinois?
As is the case with other sportsbooks that have sought entry in the Land of Lincoln, PointsBet partnered with a retail location in Illinois to gain entry into the state market. PointsBet partnered with Hawthorne Race Course Incorporated to rename the retail location in Stickney, Ill. to Hawthorne Race Course and PointsBet Sportsbook. It’s only 10 miles from the heart of downtown Chicago.
Part of that deal included four retail sportsbook locations using the PointsBet name, with the fourth opening in Villa Park, Illinois earlier this year.
As of March 2023, the casino project at Hawthorne Race Course and PointsBet Sportsbook is still seeking financing, with a slated 14-month construction process.
PointsBet, in partnership with Hawthorne Race Course, has fared better in Illinois than in many other states.
From January 2022 to February 2023, it’s generated 7.82% of the betting handle in Illinois. That’s still well behind the 31% or more FanDuel and DraftKings have done, but in Ohio for example, PointsBet’s market share was under 1% during the first month of betting.
Notably though, sports wagering in Illinois underwent a massive user uptick in the spring of 2022, largely due to the expiration of a state registration regulation.
Under that law, new users had to go to a retail location to register to play with any sportsbooks, regardless of whether or not they planned to wager online. While that regulation was temporarily put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, it did not officially expire until March 2022. Thus, the legal sports books saw a massive increase in both total handle and wagers accepted after March of last year.
In the first three months of 2022, the PointsBet-affiliated book accepted 1,688,107 professional sports wagers online, with a handle of $147,339,662 during that time. In the subsequent three months after that registration ruling expire, the PointsBet-affiliated book accepted 2,212,076 professional sports wagers online with a handle of $234,902,878.
That massive increase was one of the highest among any licensed books in the Land of Lincoln, with a nearly $100 million handle increase and a 600,000 wager increase.
Illinois promotion for new users
There is no current promotion for PointsBet: a Fanatics Experience customers thus far. We will update this page with more information about the sportsbook, as well as any information about the promotion when possible.
About PointsBet: a Fanatics Experience
PointsBet, founded in Australia in 2015, is a bit different from traditional sportsbooks. While they offer users a wide variety of different betting options ranging from March Madness to Snooker, they also have a unique style of betting that has become increasingly popular among players in recent months called Points Betting.
In this format, users will do better or worse based on how “right” or “wrong” their bet is, rather than the bet settling as a win or loss as is standard.
For example, if a user wagers that there will be more than 230 points scored in an NBA game and the resulting total is 250, that user would get 20x their bet amount because the total went 20 points over. But if the game ends at 210, they’d lose 20x their bet amount.
The Australian company was initially founded in 2015 before launching the innovative feature Points Betting in the home country in 2017.
PointsBet officially launched in the U.S. in 2019 and is operational in a few states.
In 2020, PointsBet and NBC Universal finalized a deal that made PointsBet the official sports wagering partner of NBC Sports in the states. That deal was subsequently extended in early 2023.
Fanatics Sportsbook recently finalized an acquisition of the American end of PointsBet U.S. and, as part of the deal, underwent a series of branding changes. Moving forward, PointsBet will be rebranded as PointsBet: a Fanatics experience.
Promotions for existing users
It’s not clear how exactly the new Fanatics book will work when it gets rolling but we’ve outlined some of the promotions for existing users at the PointsBet books in the subsections below.
These are subject to change but users can review the former PointsBet promotions for existing customers.
Rewards
Users can earn Reward Points on every wager they place and the more they wager the more points they earn. The Reward Points will be added to a user’s balance and the balance can eventually be cashed in for bonus bets.
This promotion includes both traditional parlays and same game parlays with at least three legs each. Users can bolster their payouts on any qualifying wagers and earn more rewards.
Parlay Booster tokens can be used on qualifying wagers but bonus bets are not eligible for qualifying wagers. Users need to place a cash wager to trigger this promotion and any wager placed using bonus bets or other credits will not qualify.
Partial Cash Out
This promotion allows users to settle their wagers and collect some winnings early, as well as keep some of their stake in the event of a losing bet.
All users need to do to claim this promotion is to go to the pending bets screen and select the Cash Out feature. From there, users can select their desired cash out amount using the slider.
Notably, the Partial Cash Out feature is only available on select wagers, does require users to opt-in and, as is the case with any promotion on PointsBet, is limited to customers ages 21 and over.
The cash out feature settles your bet and thus, cannot be reversed.
Live Sports
One of the most innovative features on the PointsBet platform is the live tab that allows users to track games in real time and place live wagers. Users can look through any number of leagues on the PointsBet platform to wager on games as they go on.
March Madness is underway and PointsBet offers users updating odds on every round of games so you can get ahead of every upset.
Additionally, PointsBet has markets on Euroleague basketball, French LFB and more, just for basketball. Users can also wager on any number of soccer or tennis leagues as well as every major golf tournament.
While it’s still a relatively new innovation for sportsbooks, live betting has become increasingly popular and most sportsbooks have adopted some kind of live wagering feature as it allows users to update their bets as the game progresses. Users will get updated odds if one team seems to be running away with it or if the game is closer than anticipated.
FAQ
What is Points Betting?
With the PointsBetting format, winners get their stake multiplied by the amount the wager won by. For example, if you wagered that a game between the Celtics and the Kings will score over 220 points, and the total for that game ends up at 230, your winning stake would be multiplied by 10.
So if you put $5 per point on the over, you’d win $50 on this case.
While the potential payout increases massively, so does the potential downside. If a user is wrong by a big margin on a hefty stake, they could be looking at an outsized loss. If that Kings-Celtics game ended at 205 points, you’d lose 15x your stake. If you put $5 per point on the under, you’d lose $75.
What deposit methods are accepted at PointsBet?
Currently, PointsBet accepts a variety of different deposit methods including Apple Pay, credit or debit cards and POLi. Users can also make a cash deposit at any retail location and Google Pay is slated to be accepted in the near future.
