Fanatics Plans 1 Billion Dollar Push to Dominate Sports Betting

Fanatics Is Preparing a $1 Billion Marketing Bet on Sports Gambling

Fanatics started as a licensed merchandise company and has spent the last few years turning into something much larger. Now its chief executive, Michael Rubin, is signaling that the next phase involves taking on the biggest names in American sports betting with a marketing budget to match. Speaking to Bloomberg, Rubin said Fanatics could spend as much as 1 billion dollars on betting and gaming advertising in 2027 (Deadspin, Yogonet).

A 14 Billion Dollar Business

The ambition rests on real growth. Fanatics expects about 14 billion dollars in revenue in 2026, roughly 40 percent more than a year earlier (GamingToday). Of that total, an estimated 7 billion dollars comes from licensed sports merchandise, 5 billion from collectibles and trading cards, and about 2 billion from gambling (GamingToday).

That mix matters for marketers because each segment feeds the others, giving the company a large and engaged customer base before it spends a dollar on betting ads.

From 350 Million to 1 Billion

The scale of the planned increase is striking. Fanatics expects to spend approximately 350 million dollars on marketing this year, so a figure between 800 million and 1 billion dollars in 2027 would represent a sharp jump (Deadspin, Yogonet).

Rubin says the company has captured about 10 percent of the betting market since entering the sector in 2023, though he acknowledges it remains a distant third behind DraftKings and FanDuel (GamingToday). His stated aim is straightforward: to become number one in everything the company does (GamingToday).

Why the Betting Market Is Getting Harder

Rubin was candid about the obstacles. He told Bloomberg that revenue per state in fully regulated markets like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York has hit a wall, that new states are legalizing more slowly than expected, and that prediction markets arrived unexpectedly (Yogonet). Competitors such as Kalshi and Polymarket have pulled attention and customers toward event contracts, and Fanatics has responded by launching its own prediction platform, Fanatics Markets (Deadspin).

The company believes its ecosystem is its advantage, and several features show how that plays out:

• A rewards currency called FanCash can be redeemed for merchandise and for sports bets, linking shopping and wagering in a single loyalty loop (GamingToday).

• Ticketing, trading cards, and apparel give Fanatics ongoing touchpoints with fans that pure sportsbooks have to buy through advertising.

• Private ownership gives Rubin, who holds a supermajority of voting control, room to spend aggressively without quarterly pressure from public investors (Yogonet).

What This Means for Sports Marketing

If Fanatics follows through, 2027 could bring a notable surge in betting advertising across broadcasts, stadiums, and digital platforms, which will be a significant test of how much saturation fans and regulators will tolerate. It also shows how a merchandise-first company can use its customer relationships to pursue a category dominated by two entrenched competitors.

For brands and leagues that sell sponsorship inventory, a third well-funded bidder in the betting category is likely to keep prices elevated, while the broader question of how much gambling advertising a sports audience will accept remains unresolved.

Sources: Deadspin, Yogonet, GamingToday