The United States sports betting industry is getting a minor shakeup as Fanatics has agreed to purchase the US business of PointsBet Sportsbook. The final acquisition price stands at $150 million and the deal was finally reached after rumors had swirled about this possibility for weeks.
This deal will give Fanatics access to the sports betting and iGaming platforms from PointsBet and will allow the company to get more aggressive throughout the United States. PointsBet intends to keep its businesses in both Australia and Canada, but the company was struggling to find its footing in the United States.
Shareholders of PointsBet will still have to officially approve the sale, but that is expected to happen in June. Stock prices of PointsBet have taken a major hit since the news, but it should eventually allow PointsBet to focus more on the countries in which it performs well.
Fanatics has been looking to launch in more markets throughout the United States, and that includes in New York. Since PointsBet already had market access in a handful of states, Fanatics will be able to step into those opportunities in the future.
PointsBet also just recently renegotiated a deal with NBCUniversal, and that deal will also transfer to Fanatics. NBC was actually given a chance to buy more than 65 million shares in PointsBet, but the company declined due to the sinking stock prices.
Many industry experts believe that Fanatics got a steal in this deal as similar deals have been much more costly. This is the first deal of its kind since Caesars purchased William Hill back in 2021 and took over the US business operations.
Massachusetts Approves Fanatics
Before this deal Fanatics had market access in just four states, but that number has already gone up. On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission awarded Fanatics with its sports betting operator license.
It doesn’t sound like it is going to take Fanatics long to get its sportsbook app up and running as the company plans to go live by the end of May. When Fanatics is going live, it will become the eighth online sports betting option in the state of Massachusetts.
The MGC wasted little time in granting approval to Fanatics, and the company did not even acknowledge the acquisition of PointsBet. Massachusetts has not emerged as one of the biggest sports betting markets in the country, but the launch of Fanatics will help the state grow.
April Numbers Are Out
The MGC has announced the sports betting numbers from the month of April, and the state has been living up to the lofty expectations. The total sports betting handle for the month was $546.2 million, and even though that was down from the total in March, the lack of major sporting events in April hurt the amount of betting action.
DraftKings Sportsbook had more than half of the total handle for the month, and that makes sense as it’s a company based in the state. Sportsbooks in Massachusetts continue to offer big promotions that hurt the tax revenue numbers, but that will continue to decline over time.
