• Fanatics Betting and Gaming announced today is has closed on its first eight states from its deal to acquire PointsBet’s U.S. assets
• Fanatics closed on Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.
• Fanatics Sportsbook will be live in 11 states by the start of football season

Eight PointsBet states have been turned over today to Fanatics Betting and Gaming, the first assets to change hands between the two companies after Fanatics agreed to purchase all PointsBet U.S. assets for $225 million earlier in the summer.

The two companies announced today that Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia had officially been turned over to Fanatics Sportsbook.

According to the acquisition details provided from the Fanatics/PointsBet deal in June, PointsBet was required to begin turning over its U.S. assets to Fanatics by Sept. 1 at a clip of three states per month.

“We are excited about what we are building at Fanatics Betting and Gaming and this acquisition accelerates our plans,” said Matt King, CEO of Fanatics Betting and Gaming, in a press release. “We have a ten-year plan that focuses on the customer and not market share. We are going to acquire customers efficiently, allowing us to return savings to customers by investing in the customer experience at Fanatics Sportsbook and PointsBet, a Fanatics Experience.”

Fanatics Plans to Be Live in 11 States by Football Season

PointsBet will hand over access to three more states on a rolling basis until all U.S. entities are acquired by Fanatics Betting and Gaming by May 2024 at the latest.

As each state closes and officially becomes part of Fanatics Betting and Gaming, the PointsBets apps will be rebranded to “PointsBet, a Fanatics Experience,” with additional states closing to continue through the rest of the year.

PointsBet apps will be rebranded to “PointsBet, a Fanatics Experience” as states are closed by Fanatics Betting and Gaming.

Here’s the new logo. pic.twitter.com/ez2JLzmbXx

— RLinnehanXL (@RLinnehanXl) August 31, 2023

When the NFL season begins next week, Fanatics Sportsbook will be live in 11 states and PointsBet Casino will be live in four states.

PointsBet USA will continue to operate in states such as Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, and Ohio until Fanatics Betting and Gaming is able to close on those select states individually. A decision on New York is expected in September.

At a May meeting of the New York State Gaming Commission, Chairman Brian O’Dwyer revealed that there will be no simple transfer of PointsBet’s New York online sports betting license to Fanatics. Fanatics will have to become the new outright owner of the license, which O’Dwyer said requires complete staff review and commission approval before becoming final.

O’Dwyer revealed at the commission’s August meeting that it will evaluate Fanatics for suitability before making a recommendation on the transfer of the PointsBet license. A final recommendation on the license will likely be made during the commission’s September meeting.

A New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement representative told Sports Betting Dime that both PointsBet and Fanatics are current applicants for Casino Service Industry Enterprise (CSIE) licenses in New Jersey, but have not yet completed the process.

Both are eligible, however, to operate pursuant to a transactional waiver, which permits unlicensed CSIEs to conduct gaming related business in the state.

“PointsBet is currently operating under a transactional waiver, and because of that, there is no license that needs to be transferred. Once Fanatics completes its acquisition of PointsBet, it will need to obtain a new transactional waiver from the Division of Gaming Enforcement to continue operations,” the representative said.

Fanatics Continuing U.S. Expansion

The asset transfer is the first after Fanatics triumphed in its bid to purchase PointsBet’s U.S. assets and their coveted sports betting licenses in 14 states.

PointsBet found itself in a bidding war between Fanatics Betting and Gaming and DraftKings, as it considered several offers from either company before ultimately backing the Fanatics. Fanatics Betting and Gaming increased its overall bid to $225 million, $30 million more than DraftKing’s 11th hour bid of $195 million to purchase the assets.

Fanatics Sportsbook is currently live in Massachusetts, Ohio, Maryland, and Tennessee.

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