Fanatics Begins Process to Receive Full Massachusetts Sports Betting License

• The Massachusetts Gaming Commission today held an adjudicatory hearing for Fanatics Betting and Gaming
• The investigations and enforcement bureau recommended Fanatics Betting and Gaming suitable for a full five-year license, subject to conditions
• Fanatics CEO and Founder Michael Rubin was teased during the hearing for his role in a 2017 76ers trade to the Boston Celtics

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Massachusetts gaming regulators today recommended Fanatics Betting and Gaming be suitable for a full five-year license, subject to several conditions, during a nearly two-hour adjudicatory meeting.

Fanatics Betting and Gaming, as well as the other six licensed sportsbook operators in the commonwealth, is currently operating under a temporary category 3 sports betting license. Each operator will have to go through this durable suitability process in order to be awarded a full five-year Massachusetts sports betting license.

“Thank you for the time and energy all of you are putting into this throughout review. We appreciate the partnership, we care about you a lot, and you’re an incredibly important state to us,” Michael Rubin, CEO and Founder of Fanatics, said during the hearing.

Recommended for Approval…With Conditions

The MGC today started the process of publicly evaluating the company’s durable suitability for a permanent five-year sports betting license. DraftKings was the first operator to undergo the process, undergoing a nearly five-hour meeting this past December.

The majority of the hearing took place in executive session outside of the public eye. However, Kathleen Kramer, counsel for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission Investigations and Enforcement Bureau (IEB), said it was the bureau’s ultimate recommendation to award durable suitability to Fanatics Betting and Gaming for a full-license.

“Taking into consideration the entirety of the IEB’s investigation, the IEB has concluded that the applicant and each qualifier has established its qualifications for durable suitability…the IEB recommends the commission find the applicant and all of the qualifiers suitable, subject to conditions,” Kramer said.

The conditions are as follows:

• Provide updated fingerprints for several of its qualifiers
• Provide MGC with updates or improvements to Fanatics Betting and Gaming’s cyber security policy
• Continue to provide updates to IEB on status of gaming compliance committee

Kramer reminded the commission, and Fanatics Betting and Gaming, that suitability is ongoing and the IEB will continue to monitor the situation.

This durable suitability process will likely take place in the same way with the five remaining operators working with temporary licenses in the state. These include:

• Bally Bet
• BetMGM
• Caesars Sportsbook
• ESPN BET
• FanDuel

Rubin Teased for Historic 76ers/Celtics Trade

As this was a meeting being held in Massachusetts, and with Rubin having deep ties to the Philadelphia 76ers as a previous part-owner of the franchise, one commissioner took it upon himself to remind Rubin of a lopsided traded the 76ers made in 2017 that greatly benefited the Boston Celtics.

Commissioner Paul Brodeur teased Rubin for his role in the deal that saw the 76ers trade a bounty of draft picks to the Celtics for the right to pick number one in the 2017 NBA draft, dropping the Celtics down to number three. The 76ers selected Markelle Fultz, who never lived up to expectations as a player, allowing the Celtics to draft franchise centerpiece Jayson Tatum at number three.

Rubin was a part owner of the 76ers from 2011 to 2022 and described the trade as “one of the biggest charitable contributions in sports that anyone has ever known.” He joked that the trade alone should be enough to speed Fanatics Betting and Gaming through the hearing.

Here is the full exchange:

Commission Brodeur: “I think you’re overlooking you were in ownership in 2017. That was the year the Sixers traded the rights to Jayson Tatum and received Markelle Fultz, if memory serves.”

Rubin: “I will say it will go down as one of the biggest charitable contributions in sports that anyone has ever known. With that, it should be the fastest review, you guys should just thank me for everything in the state of Massachusetts. I think it was so bad I had to cease my ownership with the Philadelphia 76ers. Jason Tatum was my guy, so I came to support him last year. After the humiliating, and embarrassing trade up to number one and being fleeced by the fine Boston Celtics, we just had to switch teams and get with the winning team.”