Fanatics to Nearly Triple US Gambling Marketing Spend to $1bn in 2027

Fanatics will spend as much as $1bn on US gambling marketing in 2027, up from about $350m this year, CEO Michael Rubin told Bloomberg. The increase — Rubin said the figure could land between $800m and $1bn — is intended to accelerate growth after the operator recorded more than 10% market share since launching its sportsbook in 2023 and remains “a distant number three.”

Fanatics gambling marketing spend: $800m–$1bn plan for 2027

Rubin framed the jump as a deliberate push to close the gap on the US market leaders DraftKings and FanDuel. He said current market conditions have made customer acquisition more expensive and competition broader. “We’re going to spend a lot more money in marketing next year than we had thought we were going to spend because we’re saying, ‘how do we close the gap, and how do we really grow our market share?’” he told Bloomberg.

The company’s disclosed baseline for 2026 marketing expenditure is about $350m. The planned outlay for 2027 therefore represents roughly a near-tripling at the top end. Rubin qualified the target by giving a range: $800m to $1bn.

Why Fanatics Betting & Gaming is raising marketing spend

Rubin listed three headwinds shaping the decision. He said revenue per state has plateaued in mature jurisdictions such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. He also pointed to slower-than-expected regulation in newly opened states and the rapid growth of prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket. Those dynamics, he said, have pushed marketing costs higher across the sector.

"Is it much harder today than it was a year ago? Absolutely," Michael Rubin said. "FanDuel and DraftKings competed with themselves two years ago. Now they have Fanatics, Kalshi and Polymarket. All the marketing costs are up."

Fanatics launched its own prediction markets platform, Fanatics Markets, in December. Rubin warned the wider market faces "a very tough road ahead for everybody," including traditional sportsbooks and event contract platforms, and speculated the regulatory environment is “unlikely to be as it is today.”

Fanatics Betting & Gaming’s market position and product strategy

Fanatics Betting & Gaming remains loss-making, Rubin acknowledged, but Fanatics Group uses cash flow from its other divisions to fund growth. The group expects group revenue to rise 40% to around $14bn this year, with about $2bn attributable to betting and gaming, $7bn from licensed merchandise and $5bn from collectibles and trading cards. The company also expects $2bn in free cash flow this year, with approximately $1bn in net cash and no debt.

Rubin highlighted a corporate advantage: Fanatics is private, and that allows profits from merchandise and collectibles to be channelled into the betting unit. He said he owns 31% of Fanatics and ruled out an initial public offering in the near to medium term, arguing the group can fund expansion internally.

FanCash loyalty, cross-selling and customer economics

Rubin credited part of the sportsbook’s growth to the FanCash loyalty scheme. Customers earn FanCash on every bet, win or lose, and can spend it across the Fanatics ecosystem. He said the betting business alone will generate more than $1bn in FanCash this year.

Chief Financial Officer Glenn Schiffman told Bloomberg that about 3% of the group’s 22 to 23 million annual customers currently buy from more than one Fanatics business. Those cross‑customers spend five times as much as a single-business customer and repeat purchases between 1.5 and 3 times as often. Schiffman described these dynamics as early-stage network effects.

Product rollout and distribution footprint

Fanatics has rolled its customer offer into an "all-in-one" app that combines betting, merchandise and collectibles. The group launched Fanatics Sports & Casino to house Fanatics Betting & Gaming’s sportsbook, casino and prediction markets coast to coast, and the company says the app is available in states including California, Florida, New York and Texas.

The integrated approach is central to Fanatics’ argument for funding large marketing spend: loyalty currency and cross-selling can justify bringing higher acquisition costs if those customers migrate across multiple revenue streams.

Competitive context and regulatory notes

Fanatics’ plan to increase marketing comes amid a more crowded US market and changing regulatory timelines. Rubin signalled that newer states are moving more slowly on regulation than industry participants expected, and warned that the entry of prediction markets adds a new competitor set that raises marketing rates sector-wide.

"We don’t think there’s another company thinking about building a digital sports platform for hundreds of millions — or over time billions — of sports fans globally. We’re the only company in the world that’s maniacally focused on it," Rubin said.

The comment underlines Fanatics’ strategic rationale for a large marketing investment: to convert merchandising and collectibles customers into bettors and to accelerate share gains against DraftKings and FanDuel.

What operators and suppliers should watch

Expect higher demand for marketing channels and customer-acquisition services in the US as Fanatics scales spend. Vendors that can measure cross-sell effectiveness, track FanCash redemption economics, or integrate sportsbook and casino product paths will be better positioned when operators allocate larger budgets. The marketing increase should also prompt closer attention from regulators and compliance teams, given the scale of customer incentives and cross-product loyalty mechanics.

Key factual summary: Fanatics aims to boost US gambling marketing to between $800m and $1bn in 2027, up from $350m in 2026; Fanatics Betting & Gaming reports more than 10% market share since launching in 2023; the group expects ~$14bn revenue this year and $2bn of that from betting and gaming. For product availability, Fanatics Sports & Casino combines sportsbook and casino offerings and the group's sportsbook sits alongside rivals in the sports market.