Fanatics Credit Card Rewards Can Become Bonus Bets on Its Own Sportsbook
By Antonina Tupikova · Founder, iGaming Times2 min read
Fanatics opened a waitlist on Monday for a credit card that pays rewards in FanCash, the currency its sportsbook converts one-for-one into bonus bets. The card cannot earn on bets, but its rewards can help fund them, while states such as Massachusetts and Iowa bar credit cards from sports wagering.
- Fanatics unveiled the Fanatics American Express Card on 9 November, opening a US waitlist with invitations to apply to be sent starting later this year
- The no-annual-fee card is issued by First Electronic Bank under a licence from American Express, is powered by Imprint, and earns FanCash at 2% to 8% or more depending on where it is used
- The card's rewards terms exclude betting transactions from earning, but make card-earned FanCash subject to the sportsbook's own FanCash rules, which convert it 1:1 into bonus bets
- Since 9 November, eligible American Express Membership Rewards members can also transfer points into FanCash at 1,000 points for $10
- The launch follows Fanatics' merger of betting, casino and prediction markets into one app with a single FanCash balance, while states such as Massachusetts and Iowa bar credit cards from sports wagering
A Fan Card With Rewards That Reach the Sportsbook
Fanatics announced the card on 9 November, six months after it and American Express announced the partnership on 20 May. Applicants need a Fanatics ONE account and credit approval. Fanatics says the card has no annual fee and points to the cardholder agreement for APRs.
According to the release, the card earns 5% FanCash at Fanatics merchants such as Fanatics.com, Lids and Topps.com, and 8% or more on purchases in the Fanatics App. It earns 5% on tickets and select streaming services, capped in the rewards terms at $5,000 of spending a year, and 2% elsewhere. New cardholders get $100 in FanCash after spending $1,000 in 90 days. A Championship Challenge will offer cardholders who pick all four MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL champions a chance at up to $100,000 of spending back.
Greg Lisiewski, President of Fanatics Financial Services, called it "not just another credit card". The release says FanCash can be redeemed for apparel, trading cards, collectibles, tickets and events. It does not mention betting.
The Terms Fill In What the Release Leaves Out
The Rewards Program Terms, effective 16 October, say rewards are issued by Fanatics Holdings and are subject to the FanCash Policy, the Fanatics ONE rules and the FBG FanCash Program Terms, the document published by the sportsbook operator FBG Enterprises Opco. Cash advances, lottery tickets, gaming chips "and any other betting transactions" do not earn. FanCash expires a year after the purchase that earned it.
The FBG terms, effective 4 September, let a customer convert FanCash into Bonus Bets at 1:1, to be used within seven days. A winning Bonus Bet pays its winnings as withdrawable cash but not the stake. FanCash converts into Casino Credit at half its value, and where available can be used to place bets directly. People on state self-exclusion or involuntary exclusion lists cannot take part. Neither document says in terms that card-earned FanCash can be wagered, and the FBG terms confine redemption to the earning platform where a customer's email addresses do not match. The card terms still make its rewards subject to the FBG rules.
The Card Keeps Betting Out of the Earn, Not Out of the Spend
Fanatics has drawn a clear line on one side: no FanCash for gambling transactions. A cardholder who spends $1,000 on groceries earns $20 of FanCash, and the sportsbook's terms let that become $20 of Bonus Bets. The sums are modest. What stands out is a bank-issued credit product whose reward currency feeds a licensed sportsbook and casino that, since September, share one FanCash balance.
The State Credit Card Bans Were Written for Deposits
Massachusetts law says an operator "shall not accept" a credit card, and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission's rules require operators to prohibit credit card use "either directly or indirectly". In a July 2025 decision the commission fined DraftKings $450,000 over 1,160 wagers funded by 242 credit card deposits. Iowa Code §99F.9(7) bars licensees from accepting a credit card for sports wagering. Those texts address deposits and account funding. FanCash is a promotional credit funded by Fanatics, and neither text addresses a loyalty currency earned on card spending. But the question the bans answer, whether borrowed money should reach a betting balance, is close to the one this card raises.
The Membership Rewards Transfer Is the Live Piece
Card invitations start only later this year. The Membership Rewards link is live already, so points earned on any eligible American Express-issued card can become FanCash now, and FanCash can become Bonus Bets. That makes American Express's own customers, not future Fanatics cardholders, the more immediate route from card spending to the sportsbook.
Fanatics has built a credit card that pays in a currency its sportsbook accepts, in a way that appears to sit outside the letter of the state credit card bans. Whether state regulators regard that as compliance or as a gap will decide how far the model travels.
