Fanatics Betting and Gaming has officially severed its ties with the American Gaming Association (AGA), a move that comes just days after the company unveiled its ambitious new venture, Fanatics Markets.
The operator’s name was quietly removed from the trade group’s membership rolls shortly after the platform’s debut on December 3, marking a significant schism between the sports merchandising giant and the industry’s primary lobbying body.
The decision to leave appears rooted in a fundamental ideological divergence regarding the regulation and definition of prediction markets. Fanatics Markets is designed as a standalone product, distinct from the company’s traditional sportsbook.
It allows users to trade on the outcomes of real-world events ranging from economic indicators and political developments to cultural milestones.
To facilitate this, Fanatics has partnered with Crypto.com and acquired Paragon Global Markets, a firm licensed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), signalling its intent to operate within a federal regulatory framework rather than the state-by-state model typical of sports betting.
This strategic pivot places Fanatics on a similar trajectory to other major industry players. By exiting the AGA, Fanatics joins fellow market leaders DraftKings and FanDuel, both of whom have previously withdrawn from the association.
This exodus leaves bet365 as the sole remaining purely online operator among the AGA’s major membership, highlighting a growing divide between traditional gaming interests and the evolving digital betting landscape.
Fanatics has indicated that the current iteration of its prediction market is merely the first phase. Plans are already in motion to expand the offering early next year to include contracts linked to cryptocurrency performance, IPOs, climate data, and technological breakthroughs.
As sportsbooks and daily fantasy operators like PrizePicks and Underdog continue to blur the lines with event-based contracts, Fanatics’ departure from the AGA underscores the intensifying competition to define and dominate this emerging vertical.
Kevin Hennessy, Vice President of Communications at Fanatics:
“Fanatics Betting and Gaming has elected to withdraw its membership from the American Gaming Association. While we respect the work that the AGA does for the regulated gaming market, we have a difference of opinion on what that means when it comes to prediction markets. This was not a decision that we took lightly.”
