Fanatics Holdings’ subsidiary Fanatics Betting and Gaming (FBG) has announced the launch of its online sportsbook in West Virginia, with customers in the Mountain State moving from the existing PointsBet platform.

West Virginia consumers can now download the Fanatics Sportsbook app and start placing bets.

Fanatics Betting and Gaming (FBG) will also be testing its new online casino in West Virginia, which will be embedded within the Fanatics Sportsbook app. The product includes a range of slot titles and table games such as roulette and blackjack.

The Fanatics Sportsbook replaces the existing PointsBet brand in the state. Players registered with PointsBet in West Virginia will automatically be migrated to Fanatics Sportsbook.

Existing PointsBet users can log in to Fanatics Sportsbook using their original credentials. The migration includes username, password, account balance, reward points and responsible gaming settings.

Fanatics is moving closer to fully acquiring PointsBet US

This is part of a broader initiative after FBG agreed to acquire Fanatics’ US operations in June. The $225.0 million (£181.2 million/€207.3 million) deal was approved by PointsBet shareholders later that month.

In October, FBG completed the acquisition of its operations in New York and Wyoming. This brought FBG closer to taking full control of PointsBet’s US operations.

PointsBet also received approval in September to acquire PointsBet US in eight additional states, including West Virginia. The other states included New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland and Virginia.

The transfer of additional operations in the US states to FBG will occur as soon as approvals are received in each state. PointsBet previously announced that further completions in other markets are proceeding as planned.

PointsBet will continue to operate in Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan and Ohio until FBG closes select individual states.

Fight the competition to secure the PointsBet deal

The process of acquiring PointsBet US was anything but smooth for FBG.

An agreement was initially reached in May to purchase PointsBet US for $150.0 million. This appeared to be progressing as planned until DraftKings made a higher offer worth $195.0 million in June.

PointsBet said at the time it would talk to DraftKings about what it said was a “superior” proposal. This ultimately forced FBG to take action and the company returned with the improved offer of $225.0 million.

DraftKings ultimately dropped out of the process and FBG agreed to the terms of the improved deal.

Fanatics partners with Paysafe for sports betting payments

In other developments, FBG also agreed a major sports betting partnership with Paysafe this week.

Under the agreement, Paysafe will offer traditional card payments and other alternative payment methods to Fanatic customers in five US states. These include Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio and Tennessee.

Players in every state can deposit and withdraw using debit cards and APMs as well as Paysafecash, the barcode-based online cash solution.