As the new NFL season approaches fast, the league has signed Fanatics Betting and Gaming as a new non-exclusive sportsbook and casino partner.
Fanatics Sportsbook is now an official sports betting partner and Fanatics Casino is an official online casino partner of the league, as confirmed by information shared with SBC Americas.
Via a new multi-year agreement, Fanatics gets the right to use the NFL’s intellectual property, including league, team, and event trademarks and terms such as the Super Bowl and NFL Draft, and Fanatics Sportsbook access to official data via the league’s exclusive data distributor, Genius Sports.
Neither party disclosed any financial terms of the partnership.
NFL deal elevates Fanatics standing
Fanatics’ legacy apparel and merchandise business is already a partner of the NFL. That collaboration extended earlier this year to include on-site retail operations at the league’s marquee events.
Now, the company’s gambling arm will be closely tied to the lucrative league this season and beyond, giving one of the challenger brands to FanDuel and DraftKings heightened visibility. Fanatics Betting and Gaming has partnered with major league sports teams since first launching real-money gaming, but this deal is by far its biggest sports partnership to date.
As well as the IP and data rights, Fanatics will be able to advertise its products during NFL games, strike media sponsorships with the league’s media partners, and have a presence at in-person hospitality and fan experiences and events.
NFL could draft other gambling partners
The non-exclusive nature of the deal means that the NFL could yet sign other gambling partners. In that vein, it formerly held so-called “tri-exclusive” deals with:
- Caesars
- DraftKings
- FanDuel
Sports Business Journal reported in April that the existing multi-year agreements with those three operators expired without renewals, leaving the league without an official sportsbook sponsor for the first time since it first began striking such partnerships. SBJ claimed that a factor was higher prices for official league data provided by Genius, of which the NFL is the largest single shareholder.
SBJ reported on Tuesday that the league is still in negotiations with DraftKings and FanDuel. Caesars is not expected to pursue a new partnership with the NFL.
Could prediction markets deals be next on NFL agenda?
While the NFL is refreshing its online gambling partnerships, there’s a whole new world out there if the league decides to explore it.
The NHL and MLB partnered with leading prediction market platforms that offer sports and other event contract trading nationwide. The hockey league signed both Kalshi and Polymarket, while Major League Baseball made Polymarket its exclusive prediction market partner. Incidentally, both of those companies are now also official partners of Genius Sports.
In contrast to those leagues, the NFL has maintained a cautious stance on the sidelines, for now.
Last December, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said at a Genius Sports investor day that the league was not willing to rush into working with prediction market platforms while so much regulatory and legal uncertainty enshrouds the vertical, and while litigation continues in numerous federal and state courts across the country.
“We like to be first in the market in a lot of things, but a lot of things we’re willing to say, ‘we’re gonna let things play out, we’re gonna decide if this is something we want to do,” Goodell said at the time. “The risk to the brand is something that we take very seriously, and we won’t risk brand on something until we feel confident that we can do it.”
The NFL publicly commented numerous times on sports prediction markets, mostly focused on integrity concerns. Most recently, the league submitted a comment to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in late July in which it stated that the CFTC’s prediction market rule proposal falls “significantly short” in addressing risks related to market manipulation and consumer protection. The NFL proposed several measures that would alleviate its concerns.
Genius Sports CEO Mark Locke said on an earnings call earlier in August that he would not expect the NFL to partner with a prediction market company for the 2026 season.
