Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin expects U.S. betting and gaming companies to spend $7 billion on marketing in 2027, against his estimate of $3 billion last year. Sam McQuillan reports for Legal Sports Report on Rubin’s CNBC interview, where he described sportsbooks and prediction markets competing for the same customers. Both spending figures are Rubin’s estimates, with the larger number a forecast.
Fanatics could increase its own betting and gaming marketing budget from $350 million this year to as much as $1 billion in 2027. Rubin says profits from merchandise and collectibles allow the company to keep investing through an expensive fight for customers. His account makes Kalshi and Polymarket part of the same commercial contest as DraftKings and FanDuel, whatever their different regulatory classifications.
Fanatics also has an existing route to sports fans through its commerce business and 45 million loyalty members. Its FanCash rewards can be redeemed for merchandise, collectibles, tickets and wagers. That creates a bridge between shopping and betting within one rewards system. Rubin expects the company to issue $2 billion in FanCash next year; the article does not separate the share connected to gambling.
The trade publication frames those connections as competitive advantages. For the gambling desk, the concern is how much ordinary sports consumption can become a route into betting. A merchandise purchase and a wager can sit inside the same loyalty relationship, while profits from the former help finance promotion of the latter.
Sports fans bear the additional exposure to marketing, and customers who lose money bear the direct financial cost of wagering. McQuillan’s report supplies evidence of operators’ recruitment plans, not a measurement of addiction or losses caused by those campaigns. It does show why prediction-market competition may mean more gambling promotion across sports commerce rather than a retreat from it.