With Fanatics now apparently having chosen its entry route into sports-betting in North America – or at least settled on a name – and with DAZN having announced its plans for the same and rumors swirling about Disney and ESPN, there is set to be a lot more new entrants into the sports-betting space in the next year or more.
The news that Fanatics has settled on the does-what-it-says-on-the-tin name of BetFanatics for its upcoming US OSB operation is a positive sign that change is coming to the market.
It may seem odd to say it, given that the market is barely four years old, but it means that whatever settled state we think the market might have reached to this point is soon to be challenged by a handful of new – and big – names on the scene.
We already know, for instance, that streaming company DAZN is now well advanced with its own plans for DAZNbet. Having embarked upon a hiring spree – mainly, it must be said, from DAZN CEO Shay Segev’s old manor at Entain – the company is apparently contemplating a launch in Ontario as the first step towards a wider launch later this year.
Then there is the potential for Disney/ESPN to enter the fray. Rumors swirled late last year that Disney was considering ‘leasing’ the ESPN brand name to a betting operator for a fee of up to $3bn.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek subsequently suggested on an earnings call that Disney no longer had concerns about any contamination of the family-friendly brand.
Moreover, he added, the “not insignificant revenue implications” of entering the makers made it clear that sports-betting was something that Disney was “keenly interested in and are pursuing aggressively”.
Questions posed by the potential for new high-profile market entrants:
- What does the potential for new names to enter the space say about the future development of the market?
- Have we reached a new stage of market development?
- What do the new entrants mean for those already fighting for room at the table across many states?
With all this activity going on, it is clear the market is destined to see further disruption in the months and years ahead.
“The names mentioned here – Fanatics, DAZN and Disney – are only the three most prominent and most likely names likely to be entering the online sports betting market in the US,” says Gideon Bierer, managing partner at advisory firm Partis Solutions.
“But the wider question is to what extent they will impact each of the markets they enter.”
The difficulty facing existing operators within reasonably established markets is the potential for new entrants to once again raise the stakes when it comes to the marketing and promotional environment.
“Look at Fanatics,” says Bierer. “It has an absolutely enormous existing database, it has a valuable brand name and the issue it will have to solve is to find out how to translate that into the sports betting sphere.
“That will cost money but I certainly wouldn’t bet against Michael Rubin (the Fanatics founder),” he added. “It is a company that has relationships throughout the major leagues and beyond. It could be formidable.”
Then there is the potential for Disney/ESPN to enter the space in some shape or form. “Who knows what happens there,” says Bierer. “Even with just a licensing deal – as has been speculated previously – that could be a very compelling proposition.
New entrants and the marketing environment
As Bierer notes, just the presence of companies such as Fanatics making a splash in a market will make life more expensive for all competitors. Just to hold market share against a promotional onslaught means more expense.
Not coincidentally, this comes at a particularly delicate moment in the wider evolution of the online sports betting and igaming space.
In an ideal world, operators large and small would be hoping to dis-engage from the all-out marketing warfare that we witnessed last football season, particularly when New York opened.
But the steady-state needed to truly take the foot off the gas when it comes to promotions and marketing is likely a long way off, even if the excesses of the New York launch are unlikely to be repeated.
As Bierer points out, even without all of the names mentioned earlier entering the market, there are a number of other potential new entrants that will be looking to establish themselves in various key markets in the year ahead.
“We are in discussions with plenty of clients that are looking at their market entry strategies,” he notes. “None of them – whether that is operators, suppliers or content providers – think this market is done and dusted. Indeed, given the markets’ relative infancy, I really think it is unlikely that we have already reached a settled state.”
“Yes, DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM are in this for the long haul,” he adds. “But there are so many unknowns. We have some potentially very big states to come and who knows how that will affect the standings all the way through the tiers.
Add in the potential for new names, and Bierer suggests you quickly see how what we have now in terms of market shape could change dramatically in the next few years.
“If we look at where we are, I really don’t think anyone knows where this industry will be in five years’ time.”
