One of the great sports success stories over the last decade has been Fanatics, and now it looks like they are making the jump into the sports betting industry. After hiring away the CEO of FanDuel, Fanatics hopes to begin accepting bets in at least 15 states by the start of the 2023 NFL season. Over the past few years, Fanatics has acquired Topps and also ventured into the NFT and iGaming spaces.

Fanatics raised $1.5 billion in March of this year to prepare for this launch, which looks like they may aim to do independently. Most experts believed that Fanatics would need to acquire an existing company to enter the field because they are so late to the game because many current sports bettors are already married to their favorite sportsbooks. However, Fanatics seems determined to forge their own path so it will be interesting to see what incentives they use to woo current and future bettors.

Expect more details to be released by the end of the year with full promotions starting by late spring of 2023.