New York Fanatics Sportsbook is online and taking bets, Fanatics Betting and Gaming (FBG) officially announced on Feb. 29. With Launch Day on Leap Day 2024, gamblers will have time to prepare their March Madness bets.
The Empire State’s newest mobile sports betting site is an automatic migration for those who were placing sports wagers on PointsBet. That’s because FBG’s parent company, sports merchandise etailer Fanatics, bought the US businesses of Australian online gambling operator PointsBet Holdings Limited (PointsBet Holdings Limited 0,44 +3,79%) in August.
On Feb. 29, Kevin Hennessy — vice president of communications at Fanatics — told Bonus:
Our engineers, data analysts, and product teams have migrated three states in seven days. … Welcome to New York. It was fun launching New York on Leap Day … 29th.
We will be taking a break till North Carolina launches in March.
On Feb. 27, Indiana Fanatics Sportsbook debuted.
On Feb. 22, Michigan saw two new sites — Fanatics Casino and Fanatics Sportsbook. While the online casino will eventually be a standalone app, gamblers now access it through the sportsbook.
As for the “break” Hennessy mentioned, it’s a short one.
Beginning on March 1, the nation’s newest legal online sports betting state will allow sites to accept account pre-registrations, according to Legal Sports Report. Then North Carolina’s Launch Day is on March 11. Bonus will be covering the debut.
Until then, New York will count as the newest Fanatics Sportsbook site. With 15 sports betting states migrated to the new app, three online casinos have also opened.
Fanatics Casino is live in the following states:
- Michigan
- Pennsylvania
- West Virginia
New York Fanatics Sportsbook Is in No. 1 Market
Fanatics Sportsbook is one of nine operators in New York. However, it’s not No. 1. Or at least its predecessor, PointsBet, was trailing six other sites.
However, even if it generated the least revenue in New York, Fanatics Sportsbook would still have the potential to make the plurality of its money there.
The benchmarks are set:
- FanDuel Sportsbook has the top GGR, at $109 million in January, according to PlayNY.
- PointsBet trailed, with $2,633,318 in revenue.
- The app at the bottom of the pack with $358,497 in GGR, WynnBet, sold its New York market access to Penn Entertainment (Penn Entertainment 18,52 +0,33%). Penn announced on Feb. 13 that its site, ESPN Bet, would be replacing WynnBet.
Considering sports fans will be making bets in New York, they’ll be adding dollars to state coffers in the No. 1 revenue-generating online sportsbook market in the US. In January, New York’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) totaled $212 million, according to PlayNY.
That’s even higher than the No. 1 online casino marketplace in the nation — Pennsylvania, with $189.3 million in January 2024, according to PlayUSA.
That iGaming GGR is notable because every state with legal online casino gambling sees revenue two to three times higher than its sports receipts.
However, New York hasn’t yet legalized online casino gambling. Meanwhile, bills are pending in both chambers of the New York State Legislature.
New York Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., D-Woodhaven, has told Bonus the iGaming and iLottery bills will need to be included in the April state budget in order to pass in 2024. Then Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul would need to sign the measure into law. But the bills are facing strong opposition from the retail casino workers’ union, the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council (HTC).
Addabbo said to Bonus that analysts believe online casino and poker gambling could generate $4 billion annually in New York.
Hochul announced on Jan. 12 that during the first two years of legal sports betting, New York’s received $1.75 billion.
She said:
Over the last two years, New York is the clear leader in providing responsible entertainment for millions while bringing in record-shattering revenue for education, youth sports, and problem gambling prevention. I look forward to this third year of our successful gaming policies that deliver top-tier mobile sports wagering experiences. We will continue to generate revenue that will enrich the lives of New Yorkers, all with important safeguards in place to help those who need it.
New York sports betting yields $6 million a year to fund problem gambling efforts, Addabbo told Bonus.
PlayNY, PlayUSA, LSR, and Bonus are Catena Media publications. Additionally, the author of the PlayUSA revenue rundown is Bonus News Managing Editor Alex Weldon.
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