Fanatics to spend up to $1 billion on betting marketing
Fanatics plans to put between $800 million and $1 billion into betting and gaming marketing in 2027, against $350 million this year. The increase is nearly threefold. CEO Michael Rubin says the point is to close the gap with FanDuel and DraftKings.
Fanatics expects revenue of about $14 billion in 2026, up 40% year on year, with $2 billion of that from sports betting. Since launching in 2023 the company has taken 10% of the market. Fanatics Sportsbook operates in 23 states and the casino in four. Free cash flow in 2026 should come to about $2 billion, with a $1 billion net cash position and no debt. The marketing budget on its own would take half of that projected cash flow.
Slower state growth, faster prediction markets
Rubin named three problems: revenue growth has slowed in fully regulated states such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, new states are legalising betting more slowly than expected, and prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket arrived sooner than anyone counted on. In December 2025 Fanatics launched Fanatics Markets, a sports contracts service regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission rather than by state gaming regulators. That opened California, Florida, Georgia and Texas, where betting is banned or monopolised.
'A year ago we would have said there was no chance for betting in California, Texas, Florida and Georgia. Now we have one,' Rubin said.
Rubin holds 31% of Fanatics with a super-voting majority. The company raised $4 billion from Clearlake Capital, SoftBank and Silver Lake, and Rubin argues private ownership leaves him more room to move. 'In 2027 the betting market gets more complicated: you add Kalshi, Polymarket and Fanatics spending as much as FanDuel and DraftKings.'
