Digital Wager Wire highlights the most significant events affecting the domestic and international sports betting and gaming industries each week throughout the year.
Fanatics Launches Prediction Market Platform
The sports apparel merchandiser that successfully parlayed its multimillion-person customer list into cross-selling its newly formed mobile sportsbook has become a trailblazer in the prediction futures market.
Fanatics announced it had launched Fanatics Markets last week, becoming the first mobile sports betting company to do so.
Many of its competitors have taken great pains to avoid the industry entirely, while others, like DraftKings and FanDuel, have made it clear they would not operate their prediction market platforms in states that have launched or are prepared to launch mobile sports betting.
State gaming regulators have engaged in a legal battle with prediction platforms that are operating unfettered in their markets and are offering sports even contracts, similar to those betting menus offered by sportsbooks.
Prediction market leaders like Kalshi and Polymarket disregard state regulators, asserting they fall under the federal authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The duo has scored early legal victories, allowing them to operate nationwide. And now Fanatics Markets is live in 10 states with 14 more to follow.
Fanatics Betting and Gaming CEO Matt King said in a statement, “For years, Fanatics has given fans new ways to enhance their fandom through team merchandise, collectibles, tickets, gaming, events, and more. Now, with Fanatics Markets, we’re giving fans a safe and intuitive way to engage with the moments that move sports and culture and to pick a side and profit along the way if their prediction is correct.”
NFL Not Ready to Embrace Prediction Market Just Yet
The NFL has always jealously guarded its image, and it treads cautiously into unsettled areas. This is precisely why it should surprise no one that Commissioner Roger Goodell is taking a wait-and-see approach about getting into a partnership with a prediction market firm.
Firms that traditionally sold gold and silver futures are now trading sports event contracts, and that has rankled the sensibilities of mobile sports betting platforms and state gaming regulators who vet those sportsbooks and ultimately issue licenses.
Ever since 2018, when PASPA was overturned, and states were empowered to choose whether they would legislate a sports betting industry, the NFL has collaborated with sportsbooks instead of excoriating them as a threat to its sacred game. Partnering with mobile sports betting platforms has become a lucrative revenue stream for the league and its franchises, which is the only reason the league has done such an about-face regarding sports betting.
Therefore, the league is treading lightly concerning prediction markets, as they have become the mortal enemy of state gaming authorities and those sportsbooks that are not preparing to enter that market under a subsidiary.
Although the futures trading platforms have won several early legal rounds, the issue is far from finished, and it will likely end up in the hands of the Supreme Court within the next few years, according to insiders.
