Gambling
Justin Thomas becomes first athlete to sign with Fanatics Sportsbook
Brennan Asplen
This is an enormous week for Justin Thomas—returning to his home state of Kentucky for the PGA Championship, a major he has won twice before. This week turned into a special one for him for another reason with a big-time deal being announced on Tuesday.
Fanatics Sportsbook has signed Thomas as their first athlete partnership ahead of the PGA at Valhalla. The timing for Fanatics is perfect not just because of Thomas’ ties to Kentucky but also with the upstart betting operator debuting some betting enhancements to its product this week. Fanatics Sportsbook is an official betting operator of the PGA Tour.
“I am excited to be the first official partner of the Fanatics Sportsbook,” said Justin Thomas. “Whether it's football, basketball or golf, I'm a big sports fan. So I’m looking forward to getting involved in the world of Fanatics and engaging with their customers.”
Kentucky, though it’s a huge wagering state for horse racing, only became a legal betting state this year—so Fanatics targeting a new market for customer acquisition makes a ton of sense for the company.
“Justin Thomas is one of the biggest names in golf and an amazing ambassador for the game,” said Ari Borod, Chief Business Officer at Fanatics Betting and Gaming. “With him coming home to Kentucky to try to win his third PGA Championship, the Fanatics family couldn't be more excited to partner with him.”
Fanatics says it has enhanced its golf product with better data visualization—with a live event center with shot-by-shot data similar to some other sportsbooks. And an ‘odds factory’ will also allow Fanatics to provide more betting markets with faster cashouts/settlement speeds. Pretty soon, Fanatics will also show a live-stream of par-3 holes to allow for users to watch a feed of the golfers they’re betting on.
The book has a PGA Championship promotion—if you place an outright wager on a golfer, you’ll earn FanCash for every birdie your player makes in Round 1. FanCash is akin to Fanatics currency: You can redeem FanCash across all of Fanatics for bonus bets, team merchandise or collectibles (its dollar for dollar unlike frequent flyer points).
