Fanatics launches its sportsbook and online casino products in Michigan

Fanatics Betting and Gaming has launched its Sportsbook & Casino products in Michigan, making it the 13th state for the company’s sportsbook to go live and the 3rd state for its iCasino. Gamblers living in and visiting Michigan will be able to download the Fanatics Sportsbook on both iOS and Android.

In August 2023, Fanatics began acquiring the US businesses of PointsBet and planning the migration of PointsBet customers to the Fanatics Sportsbook app. "Today in Michigan only, each PointsBet customer’s username, password, account balance, rewards points, and responsible gaming settings will be automatically migrated to the Fanatics Sportsbook," the company said.  

Fanatics asserts that its sportsbook offers "fast signup, easy betting, and transparent withdrawals." Some of its major features include:

• The Fanatics Sportsbook app was built natively on iOS and Android. The design, speed, and quality of the navigation experience rival the sports betting apps in the market today that were not built specifically for iOS and Android, says Fanatics.
• FanCash: Fanatics Sportsbook gives customers up to 5% of their wager back in FanCash. Every dollar of FanCash is a dollar to spend on bonus bets or at Fanatics.com.
• Discover: Customers can learn more about marquee games, key stats, and trending bets in one location - the Discover feed.
• Search: The Fanatics sportsbook offers search functionality, including a search bar, recent searches, autocomplete, synonym/alias, and deep linking. Customers can search easily for the bet they want and bet directly right from the search results.

As part of the launch in Michigan, the company will also launch its new online casino, embedded in the Fanatics Sportsbook app. The newly designed Fanatics Casino will feature a range of classic and popular casino favorites like roulette, slots, and blackjack along with offering customers the following new features:

• Play with IGT Play Digital: Players can enjoy a range of IGT PlayDigital games including classic titles such as Cash Eruption, Fortune Coin, and Cleopatra, as well as a suite of MegaJackpots titles, proprietary table games, and video poker content.
• Evolved Live Casino games: Fanatics has partnered with Evolution to provide customers with live casino games including Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Baccarat and Poker variants. In addition, Evolution will provide Fanatics Casino with a lineup of online slots, Lightning Roulette, and more games to come.
• New games: Light & Wonder will provide Fanatics Casino with a wide range of the company’s first-party titles, including 88 FORTUNES, JIN JI BAO ENDLESS TREASURES, DANCING DRUMS EXPLOSION, and ULTIMATE FIRE LINK CHINA STREET. In addition, Light & Wonder will offer Fanatics customers access to third-party aggregated content from studios such as Big Time Gaming, Reel Play, Gaming Realms, and Hacksaw.  
• Rewards: Casino customers can earn FanCash back on bets, spins, and hands and convert FanCash to bonus bets on Fanatics Sportsbook or purchase team merchandise.
• Fanatics Game Studios: Fanatics has produced exclusive content including the new Fanatics Blackjack game developed in partnership with Boom Entertainment. More games are scheduled for later this year.

The launch of the Fanatics brand in Michigan comes as the state this week revealed record monthly online gaming figures for January. Michigan's commercial and tribal operators collectively generated $242.5 million in iGaming gross receipts and sports betting gross receipts in December, representing a 15.9% increase compared to November. This figure brings the total online revenue for 2023 to $2.3 billion.

The December surge was driven by iGaming, which reported record gross receipts totaling $181.4 million, surpassing the previous high of $175.3 million in November 2023, according to the latest report from the Michigan Gaming Control Board. Meanwhile, gross sports betting receipts for December totaled $61.1 million, also the highest to date. The previous high was $54.1 million, achieved in November 2021.

In December, iGaming and internet sports betting in Michigan operators reported combined adjusted gross receipts (AGR) of $198.4 million. iGaming surged by 3.5%, reaching $163.3 million, while sports betting experienced a 34.9 million increase compared to November 2023, amounting to $35.1 million in December. On a year-on-year basis, iGaming AGR rose by 18.8%, and sports betting was up by 14.3%.