Shortly after leaving Nevada because that state wasn’t hospitable to their expansion plans, Fanatics debuted its new prediction exchange, Fanatics Markets, on December 3 across multiple U.S. jurisdictions.
So basically, the company, which is already valued near $25 billion, decided selling gear wasn’t enough; they want to monetize your foresight, too. The platform allows individuals to purchase and sell “event contracts” tied to real-world outcomes in sports, economics, and political spheres.
Let’s just say instead of just arguing at the bar about whether Congress will actually pass the latest budget, you can buy a contract right now that pays off big if the bill gets signed by the end of the month. And you know what this does? It immediately places Fanatics as a major contender against established operators like Kalshi and Polymarket in the event trading business.
Mind you, Fanatic’s launch is coming just a day after Kalashi secured a partnership as CNN’s official prediction market after raising $1 billion.
Fanatics is out here playing the game of “you snooze, you lose,” because they also beat DraftKings to market after the latter announced its intention of launching DraftKings’s Prediction in months to come.
Live in Ten, Coming to More
Fanatics didn’t try to test the waters with its big debut; they just held their breath and jumped straight into a partnership with Crypto.com, which powered the whole thing.
They specifically went for states where their traditional Fanatics Sportsbook isn’t legal, allowing them to reach a whole new audience. The first ten states that went live on December 3 were Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Utah.
But that’s not all to come; in a matter of days we should be expecting rollout in 14 additional states. This time more of the big traffic states like Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington.
Launch Happens in Two Halves
Fanatics Markets plans to have varied options in its prediction market, but it’ll be done in two different stages:
Phase One (Currently Live): Users can trade outcomes in sports, finance, economics, and politics.
Phase Two (Early Next Year): The markets will expand to include event contracts related to crypto assets, stock IPOs, climate events, viral trends, technology/AI developments, motion pictures, and musical releases. Essentially, if it’s a verifiable future event, you can trade on it.
Fanatics kept the app clean and easy to use, and it’s now available on iOS and Android.
What’s the Deal with the Law?
Fanatics’ launch of its prediction-style product in 10 states comes at a moment when the U.S. regulatory environment for these markets is both fragmented and rapidly evolving. Traditional real-money prediction markets have long faced scrutiny from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which generally treats event-based contracts—especially those tied to politics or public policy—as regulated derivatives.
That stance has left very few operators able to offer such markets legally and has pushed innovation toward formats that avoid classification as gambling. Against this backdrop, Fanatics’ entry signals how major industry players are navigating this gray zone by designing products that emphasize entertainment, low stakes, and non-cash outcomes.
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