Fanatics, the leading global sports platform, is entering a rapidly growing sector filled with demand — prediction markets.
Fanatics Markets, a simply, user-friendly prediction market platform, was announced on Wednesday. It will allow consumers to trade on moments shaping sports, finance and culture.
While Fanatics is one of the major players in the sports betting space, a prediction market is an entirely different space given the vast sectors people can choose to trade on, including politics, the Oscars, a cultural moment and much more.
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FOX Business was able to speak with Fanatics Betting & Gaming CEO Matt King, who shared key components as to why it makes sense Fanatics is excited to add this prediction market platform under its umbrella.
First, it starts with a trusted name for many on the fence about wanting to participate in prediction markets.
“The number one thing that makes us different is our brand,” King said. “This is something that’s totally new and it involves something that’s a totally new concept, and when you go to sign up, it’s, ‘Hey give us your Social Security number, some private information. And by the way, give us money on deposit.’ Ultimately, we’ve seen this time and time again, having a brand that people know and trust is incredibly valuable to them. Because it’s like, ‘Hey, if I’m going to try something new, I feel better trying with a brand that I already know.’
“This is a place where our brand is going to matter a ton.”
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As King points out, Fanatics has had the ability to expand and transform over the years. While it is a sports platform, Fanatics has kept its finger on the pulse of how sports intersects with music, pop culture and more. Think rapper Travis Scott and NFL legend Tom Brady opening up Topps trading card packs together at Fanatics Fest with thousands of fans on hand for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“The ability to build an ecosystem where the more people deal with us, the more value they see. We think this is just another opportunity to add a product that people can participate with us in and unlock even more benefits across the Fanatics ecosystem,” King added.
Like anything within the business, Fanatics wanted to make sure they were doing this right, especially considering how established the futures industry has been. There are rules and regulations that are different than those of sports gambling.
It’s why Fanatics Markets acquired Paragon Global Markets, LLC (“Paragon”) in July 2025. Paragon is federally registered as an introducing broker with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), while also being a member of the National Futures Association.
Fanatics Markets will also be introducing its customers to markets and pricing offered by Crypto.com | Derivatives North America (CDNA), a CFTC-registered exchange and clearinghouse.
Now, any new venture, even for companies as established as Fanatics, faces challenges when entering a new space. King sees two challenges off the bat for Fanatics Markets from the onset.
“You’re going to have to acknowledge this is going to be an incredibly competitive space,” he said. “Any time you have a new space that’s this big with lots of venture capital floating around, you tend to see people do irrational things from an economics perspective. So, I think it’s find the right balance of still being aggressive, but being disciplined from a business perspective and building for the long term.”
The second challenge for Fanatics Markets is the different competitors the brand isn’t necessarily used to. Of course, King said, “I’d still back us all day long to be successful,” but he tipped his cap to those who have already shown success in the space.
“You have the likes of Robinhood, WeBull and some of the other traditional investment platforms encroaching into clearly the speculation space and getting into more sports-led product,” King stated. “We’re a sports brand going the other way, and so we have to acknowledge this is a different competitor than we’ve historically competed against. I’d still back us all day long to be successful, but it is going to be different and it is going to be crowded.”
But what Fanatics Markets can do is bring a trusted brand name to the prediction markets space, breaking it into the mainstream and doing so in two phases.
The launch on Wednesday markets Phase One, which is event contracts for sports, finance, economics and politics. In Phase Two, which will be launching early next year, Fanatics Markets will expand into event contracts related to crypto, stocks/IPOs, climate, pop culture, tech/AI, movies and music.
Fanatics also recognizes that prediction markets will be different for its usually sports-centric consumers. But there will be familiarity, as FOX Business got to view the app prior to launch, which provides a smooth layout similar to Fanatics Sportsbook.
It’s also worth noting that, while being a separate app, it is one shared wallet and account — a unique feature that also works in the final key component for this new venture by Fanatics.
Consumer protection has always been front and center for Fanatics, and that’s no different here. There will be risk management tools to help consumers manage exposure, while trading responsibly and making informed decisions when doing so. In turn, there are also uniform limits cross-product, meaning deposit limits, session limits, timeouts and self-exclusion that have been set on Fanatics Sportsbook carry over to Fanatics Markets.
“We think it’s incredibly important to put consumer protection front and center and make sure consumers are educated about how to set their own limits. It was an easy decision for us to make sure we took all the best thinking in every one of our other verticals and put it front and center with consumers here,” King said.
The Fanatics Markets app will launch today in the following states: Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Utah. Those states will be followed by Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.
“We couldn’t be more excited. It is something that is oftentimes, and it was true in regulated sports betting and iGaming, we were late to the party. Here’s a place where we can be, certainly not the first mover, but among the first movers in a market that is still incredibly dynamic and has a lot of innovation and growth left to run,” King said. “We’re excited to demonstrate that we can be a top player in this category, partially because we have the chance to be one of the early movers as opposed to be the second mover.”
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