Fanatics Betting & Gaming continued its aggressive expansion after recently launching in Louisiana, where it will compete with several other sportsbooks in the Pelican State.
Expanding Its Footprint
After purchasing the U.S. assets of Aussie gaming company, PointsBet, for $225 million in June 2023, and completing the deal last April, Fanatics Betting & Gaming has been on a quest to enter as many markets as possible. Gaining a foothold in many of those markets was made possible by the deal with PointsBet, which had already been operating in those states.
Since that purchase, Fanatics has staged a relentless campaign to go live in every state possible, and with the launch in Louisiana as its 22nd market, it now has a presence in 95% of the American sports betting market. Fanatics’ biggest hurdle is being late to the sports betting party and in the case of Louisiana, operators such as bet365, BetMGM, ESPN Bet, BetRivers, Betway, Caesars, ClutchBet, DraftKings, and FanDuel are already entrenched.
Fanatics gained access to Louisiana’s mobile sports betting industry through a partnership with Boomtown Casino & Hotel in Shreveport-Bossier and has high hopes as the market continues to grow. In a statement, the company said, “The Fanatics Sportsbook makes being a fan easy with fast signup, easy betting, transparent withdrawals and is rewarding loyalty 10x more than the leading sportsbooks.”
The Fanatics sports betting app is available for download on iOS and Android devices. Its loyalty rewards program also allows bettors to earn FanCash through wagering which can be converted into bonus bets or sports apparel merchandise.
Louisiana Market Surges
The best time to capture early adopters is when a sports betting market opens for business, as Louisiana did in January 2022. But if a company is going to enter late, as Fanatics has been forced to do, then at least it is a good sign when that market is flourishing and shows signs of growth, as is the case with Louisiana.
A year-over-year report revealed that Louisiana increased its handle by nearly 37% through the first six months of 2024 compared to the first six months of 2023. Louisiana bettors had wagered over $3 billion from January to June 2024 and the market growth shows no signs of cooling down with football looming.
Sports betting handles are down throughout the nation during the summer months with only MLB as the main event and nothing else to tempt bettors except the occasional golf, tennis, and combat sports events. However, Louisiana’s July financial report showed that 172.2 million was bet but the hold, or win rate, was very high at 13.2%, resulting in a $25 million windfall for the sportsbooks. Louisiana levies a 15% tax on revenues which resulted in $3.5 million to the state’s tax coffers for the month.
The state of Louisiana has now received more than $32.9 million from the sportsbooks over the first seven months of 2024 which is $12.6 million ahead of the $24.3 million the state had received from sportsbooks’ revenues over the first seven months of 2023.
