Fanatics Confident As It Soft Launches Casino In ‘Very Competitive’ Ontario Market

Since merchandise giant Fanatics spun off into the gambling space with Fanatics Betting and Gaming three years after the Supreme Court overturned PASPA, its focus has never been on being fastest or first. Its focus has been on building its customer base through quality despite joining the race later than some others.

In that spirit, Fanatics Casino arrived in the Canadian province of Ontario this week — in soft-launch mode, without its full portfolio of games or rewards — as the 49th regulated iCasino in a market that opened in April 2022.

“Ontario is a very competitive market, but that’s also part of what makes it attractive,” Fanatics Betting and Gaming Senior Director of Growth Kyle DeLuca told Casino Reports. “We’ve always said we would only expand internationally when we found the right market, and Ontario offers a well-established regulatory environment with a long-term vision for commercial gaming and a shared commitment to growing the industry responsibly.”

In the U.S., Fanatics Casino is live in four states: Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Its sportsbook is operational in all of those states plus 20 other jurisdictions, but in Ontario, for now, it’s casino-only — with the digital sportsbook to follow at some undetermined later date. “We led with casino because it’s fastest to market,” Fanatics President of Gaming Conor Grant told Gaming News Canada this week.

At full launch, a Fanatics representative said, the iCasino “will offer a curated game portfolio of hundreds of games across live dealer slots and table games from world class providers like IGT PlayDigital, Evolution, and Playtech.”

In Ontario, the minimum age to play is 19.

‘Tailored specifically for the Canadian audience’

“We’re confident in the proposition we’ve developed for the Canadian customer and believe we have an experience tailored specifically for the Canadian audience that will really resonate in the market,” DeLuca said. “We’ve successfully acquired and retained customers in highly competitive U.S. markets, and we believe we can do the same in Canada. Over time, we also see a significant opportunity to bring the broader Fanatics ecosystem to life, creating unique connections across gaming, FanCash, collectibles, and merchandise that are difficult for anyone else to replicate.”

Alberta is the only other Canadian province with regulated iGaming, and Grant told Gaming News Canada to expect Fanatics’ apps to launch there sometime in 2027.

Separately, Fanatics this week announced a new app called Fanatics Sports & Casino, a single app where U.S. customers (depending on what’s available in their jurisdiction) can play casino, bet sports, or trade on Fanatics Markets.

“Sports fans have been asking for a better gaming experience, and this is it,” Fanatics Betting and Gaming CEO Matt King said in a release. “Fanatics Sports & Casino gives fans across America one app where the experience travels with them, from betting the game, to trading on its biggest moments, to playing casino games. And because it’s Fanatics, every one of those bets, trades, or plays earns FanCash.”