Fanatics Goes Full House: BGC's Exchange Deal Hands Sports Giant Its Own Prediction-Market Deck 🃏

Fanatics has agreed to acquire BGC Group's federally regulated exchange and clearing arm, a move that gives the American sports merchandiser control of the infrastructure needed to list and settle its own prediction-market contracts. The deal, announced Monday, covers Water Street Labs and CX Clearinghouse, both CFTC-supervised entities. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Through the acquisition, Fanatics will be able to bring new markets online without relying on a third-party venue, shortening the path between product idea and live contract. The companies also said they plan to jointly develop market-data products that blend prediction-market activity with traditional financial datasets.

The transaction lands in one of the fastest-growing corners of finance, where event-based trading has drawn retail and institutional attention. CFTC-regulated exchange Kalshi and blockchain-based platform Polymarket have driven much of that expansion, while crypto-native firms have pushed the category further into the mainstream. Coinbase (COIN) partnered with Kalshi to make prediction markets available to its users in 50 states, and Robinhood (HOOD) has begun offering event contracts through the same exchange.

Fanatics already operates a prediction-markets product under its Markets platform, launched in late 2024 and now available in 23 states and four U.S. territories. Owning a federally regulated exchange and clearinghouse gives the company a vertical stack to compete more directly with Kalshi, Polymarket and the sportsbook operators pursuing the same opportunity. DraftKings announced late last year that it would launch its own prediction-markets platform, underscoring how widely the sector is being pursued.

BGC Group, the parent of Newmark Group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the planned transaction.