SBC Leaders Magazine: How Fanatics Guarantees Players No Reason to Leave

(AsiaGameHub) –   Issue 40 of SBC Leaders magazine hits stands today, showcasing conversations with top executives from Fanatics, bet365, Hard Rock, FanDuel, DraftKings, Betsson, Apuesta Total, and Allwyn.

Developing a standout product that resonates with sports fans is crucial for building a strong sportsbook brand, according to Selena Kalvaria, Chief Marketing Officer of Fanatics Betting & Gaming, in an interview with the latest issue of SBC Leaders magazine.

In the cover story, Kalvaria explains why she left a successful high fashion career for the sports betting industry and shares what she discovered after making the switch.

Fanatics is a household name among U.S. sports fans, thanks to its extensive replica sportswear and merchandise division—and that unmatched reputation was initially what drew Kalvaria to the role.

Since joining the company, she has learned that the brand’s name would hold little value for bettors if the online gambling team hadn’t followed the clothing division’s lead and adopted a fan-first approach to product development.

Its Fair Play injury refund feature was so popular with customers that rival sportsbooks copied it, while FanCash recreates the engagement of retail loyalty schemes for the betting audience.

“You have to build an incredible product and proposition that people care about and the team that pre-existed me here was exceptional in the pursuit of having the best product in the market,” Kalvaria says.

“With the integration of FanCash and what’s become core to our positioning in Fair Play and the connected ecosystem and loyalty program, we relentlessly enhance the customer and fan experience. That’s what Fanatics exists to do.”

In the same cover feature, Fanatics Chief Trading Officer Mark Hughes notes that in a competitive market with well-established rivals, having the right product can help to “give customers zero reason to leave”. While he acknowledges those competitors have “some really good stuff”, Hughes is confident his team has got their product right.

“We’re at a phase where the product is very high quality, the loyalty scheme runs throughout all channels, we have tenured customers who are really sticky,” says Hughes.

“It’s all come together. We get a lot of feedback from customers now saying, ‘I joined because of FanCash but your product is as good as FanDuel or DraftKings’.”

No One Predicts an Apocalypse for Sportsbooks

A key part of Hughes’s job is to create “reasons for customers to switch and to stay”, and as a U.S. operator, that means working to attract prediction market players.

However, even though Fanatics has launched its own Fanatics Markets offering, Hughes doesn’t expect platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket to compete with licensed sportsbooks long-term.

“The product breadth will be hard to match. If it plays out in a way where there’s a parlay product and margins and generosity can be high, maybe it will compete,” he says.

“But without that, I don’t really see them as the same product, even if they look and feel very similar to a customer. I struggle to see it cannibalising too significantly in states where sports betting is allowed.”

This view is echoed elsewhere in the magazine by James Cooper, Senior Vice President of FanDuel’s Flywheel & New Ventures division—focused on identifying and launching new high-growth products.

One such product is FanDuel Predicts, which has helped expand the operator’s total addressable market into states like California and Texas, where legal sports betting isn’t widely available.

Despite being directly involved in launching one, Cooper doesn’t expect prediction markets to harm the legal sports betting industry significantly.

“We don’t see the sportsbook ecosystem as outdated at all, and it continues to be our north star,” he says.

“Sports betting remains the most direct and established way for fans to engage with sports outcomes, particularly in regulated markets with strong consumer protections and meaningful benefits to states.”

The magazine also features IMGL President Marc Dunbar evaluating the dispute around the legal status of prediction markets.

bet365 Sets Sights on U.S. Top Spot

While prediction markets have dominated headlines, bet365’s growth in the U.S. over the past 12 months has been under-reported.

The UK-based operator initially took a cautious approach to the U.S. but, unlike many European peers that spent heavily during the post-PASPA gold rush, it’s now starting to thrive.

It has become a top-five operator in many of the 17 states it operates in—something Trip Stoddard, Head of Business Development for North America, attributes to its investment in localisation and technology.

Stoddard is happy with recent progress, but no one should expect the company to be content with its current position chasing FanDuel and DraftKings.

“If you look at bet365’s history, you look at everything we’ve done globally, we don’t go to markets where we’re happy with the top five. We don’t go to markets where we’re happy with the top three,” he says.

Stoddard adds: “We’re here to be number one. There’s clearly a top two. We’re watching them, but we’re tailoring our product and our marketing to (a point) where we don’t just think we can compete with them. I’m comfortable saying we think we can beat them.”

A Tour of the Global Betting Landscape

SBC Leaders issue 40 also includes interviews with Steph Sherman, Chief Marketing Officer at DraftKings, about customer acquisition during the World Cup, and Betsson’s Chief Information Security Officer Donald Tabone about cybercriminal threats to operators.

Meanwhile, Hard Rock Digital Chairman Rafi Ashkenazi reflects on his gambling career, Allwyn’s Group CFO Kenneth Morton shares insider insights on the OPAP merger, and Apuesta Total CEO Gonzalo Perez discusses the Peruvian market.

Additionally, there’s a deep dive into Latin America’s emerging market opportunities and an examination of why industry lobbying efforts keep falling flat.

You can pick up a copy of issue 40 of SBC Leaders magazine at SBC Summit Americas in Fort Lauderdale in June, or read the digital edition here.