Fanatics New Hampshire: Locked Out by a One-Vendor Law

Fanatics New Hampshire isn't a licensing gap the way it is in some other dark states — New Hampshire has a sports betting law, a regulator, and a single operator the law was built around, and it isn't Fanatics. HB 480 legalized sports wagering in 2019 by handing the New Hampshire Lottery Commission authority to award one exclusive contract, and DraftKings won it. That contract has been extended more than once since, most recently in February 2026. Fanatics has no path in unless that structure changes.

Legal status in New Hampshire

New Hampshire legalized sports betting through House Bill 480, signed in July 2019, which gave the New Hampshire Lottery Commission the power to run the market as a single contracted vendor rather than a multi-license state like New Jersey or Pennsylvania. The Lottery's 2019 request for proposals was won by DraftKings, which has held exclusive rights to both retail and online sports wagering in New Hampshire ever since. SBC Americas and other trade outlets reported the deal extended again in February 2026, with terms reportedly running through June 2028. No statute names or excludes Fanatics — there simply isn't a second contract slot to apply for. Online casino games sit outside HB 480 entirely: the law covers sports wagering only, so New Hampshire has no iGaming license of any kind for DraftKings, Fanatics, or anyone else.

State gambling authority: New Hampshire Lottery Commission — not a licensing body taking applications from multiple operators, but the contracting authority that holds the exclusive sports-wagering agreement with DraftKings and renews or rebids it.

Fanatics New Hampshire doesn’t fail the way it does in most other dark states on this site. There’s no missing tribal partner, no stalled bill, no Class III compact standing in the way. New Hampshire has a working sports betting law, a regulator running it, and exactly one sportsbook the whole system was built around. That sportsbook is DraftKings. Fanatics was never going to be that book, because the law only makes room for one.

Is Fanatics Legal in New Hampshire? The Math Only Has Room for One

House Bill 480, signed into law in July 2019, legalized sports wagering in New Hampshire by routing it through the state Lottery Commission rather than a standard multi-license framework. Instead of opening applications to any qualified operator — the model New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and most other states use — the Lottery ran a request for proposals and signed one company to a long-term exclusive contract covering both retail counters and the statewide mobile app. DraftKings won that 2019 RFP. Nothing in HB 480 blocks Fanatics by name; the statute just never created a second contract for anyone else to win.

One state, one book, one timeline: the original 2019 contract has been renewed and extended more than once. Industry trade press reported another extension in February 2026, with DraftKings’ exclusive rights now reported to run through June 2028. Fanatics’ 23-state map, inherited from the $225 million PointsBet acquisition that closed in April 2024, simply has no New Hampshire slot in it — there was never a license here for PointsBet to hold in the first place.

Why the PointsBet Deal Didn’t Change Anything Here

Fanatics Betting and Gaming built its current footprint largely by taking over PointsBet’s existing US state licenses after the acquisition closed. That approach works market by market, but only where a license exists to transfer. PointsBet never held a New Hampshire sports-wagering contract — the state never gave one to anyone but DraftKings — so there was nothing for Fanatics to pick up when the deal went through. The gap isn’t a regulatory failure on Fanatics’ side; it’s a market New Hampshire structured so only one operator could ever be in it.

Is Fanatics Legit or Safe Here? Both Questions Need a Product First

Legitimacy and safety are both questions about a product a New Hampshire resident could actually open, and there isn’t one. Fanatics runs a real, regulated sportsbook in the 23 states plus Washington D.C. where it actually holds a license, audited the same way any state-licensed operator is. None of that licensing touches New Hampshire, because the state’s contract structure never offered a license to compete for. Anything marketed as a “Fanatics New Hampshire” app or sign-up outside the real app stores is not the company’s product.

The incentive nobody’s pulled yet: Legal Sports Report has reported that DraftKings’ own contract terms would drop its New Hampshire tax rate from around half of gross gaming revenue down to 21% if the state brought in one or two additional operators. That clause gives New Hampshire a built-in reason to open the market — the Lottery Commission simply hasn’t exercised it through the 2026 extension.

No Online Casino Here Either, for Anyone

HB 480 covers sports wagering and nothing else. New Hampshire has never passed an online casino or iGaming statute, so there’s no licensed slots or table-game product in the state at all — not for DraftKings under its exclusive contract, and not for Fanatics’ separate casino arm, which only operates in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. A New Hampshire resident searching for a legal online casino of any brand is searching for something that doesn’t exist under current state law.

Who It Fits

Nobody in New Hampshire today, if the question is whether a Fanatics account is available to open. Bettors 21 or older in the state have exactly one legal option — DraftKings, retail or mobile, under the Lottery Commission’s exclusive contract — and that isn’t changing before the current extension runs its course around 2028, if it changes then at all. Betting is entertainment, never income; if it stops feeling that way, 1-800-GAMBLER.

Fanatics Sportsbook New Hampshire — Frequently Asked Questions

Is Fanatics legal in New Hampshire?

No. New Hampshire sports betting runs through a single exclusive contract between the state Lottery Commission and DraftKings, awarded under HB 480 in 2019 and extended since — most recently reported in February 2026. There is no second license slot, so Fanatics has no legal route to operate a sportsbook in the state, online or in person.

Why can't Fanatics operate in New Hampshire if it's licensed in 23 other states?

Because New Hampshire isn't a multi-operator market the way those 23 states are. Fanatics built its footprint on licenses inherited from the $225 million PointsBet acquisition that closed in April 2024, state by state, wherever a license existed to take over. New Hampshire never issued more than one sports-wagering contract in the first place, and that contract belongs to DraftKings, not PointsBet or Fanatics — so there was nothing to inherit here and nothing new to apply for.

Is Fanatics legit in New Hampshire?

As a company, yes — Fanatics Betting and Gaming runs a real, state-regulated sportsbook everywhere it actually holds a license. New Hampshire just isn't one of those places, and that absence reflects the state's one-vendor system, not anything about whether Fanatics is a trustworthy operator elsewhere.

Does New Hampshire have legal online casino games?

No, for any brand. HB 480 legalized sports wagering only; New Hampshire has never passed an iGaming statute, so there is no licensed online slots or table-game product in the state — not from DraftKings, and not from Fanatics' four-state casino arm (Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia), which has no New Hampshire presence to begin with. Sweepstakes-style casino sites that advertise to New Hampshire residents operate under a different legal theory entirely and aren't part of this framework.

Is it safe to use Fanatics in New Hampshire?

There's no Fanatics product in New Hampshire to evaluate for safety, because none exists under state law. Any site or app offering a "Fanatics New Hampshire" sign-up isn't the real, regulated product — the only legal sports wagering option in the state is DraftKings, under its exclusive Lottery Commission contract.

Could Fanatics ever get into New Hampshire?

Only if the state changes how it runs the market. Legal Sports Report has noted that the Lottery Commission's contract terms would actually cut DraftKings' tax rate from roughly half of revenue down to 21% if the state added one or two more operators — a built-in incentive to open the market that New Hampshire hasn't used. Short of that, or a full rebid when the current extension lapses around 2028, there's no slot for Fanatics to compete for.

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