Fanatics Betting & Gaming announced Monday it has hired former Indiana Gaming Commission Executive Director Sara Tait (pictured above) as senior vice president and head of its legal department. Former head of legal Alex Smith was promoted to chief legal officer.
Tait worked for the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC) for just over 10 years, the last six as the executive director. During her tenure, the IGC launched legal retail and online sports betting in 2019, about 18 months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act and made wagering a states’s rights issue.
Indiana has one of the most mature online sports betting markets in the U.S., and handle grew from $2.25 billion in 2019 to $2.94 billion from 2019-24, per the IGC. Sports betting now accounts for more than 15% of the state’s total gaming revenue.
After leaving the IGC, Tait became a partner at Ice Miller LLP and then Duane Morris, with a specialty in gaming law. At Fanatics, Tait will be tasked with “developing and managing FBG’s relationships with federal and state regulators; contributing to government affairs efforts and strategic industry initiatives; furthering FBG’s consumer protection measures; and maintaining licenses and registrations with federal and state oversight bodies,” the company wrote in a press release.
“Having worked with so many different companies as both a regulator and private counsel, I was able to evaluate this opportunity from a really great vantage point,” Tait told InGame. “The position offers me the ability to use my executive leadership skills, a role I very much enjoy.”
Smith said Tait’s regulatory and private sector experience make her the “ideal choice to lead critical legal and regulatory efforts.” He also called her diverse experience “invaluable.”
Tait is a 2010 graduate of Indiana’s Robert H. McKinney School of Law.
Smith has been at FBG since beginning
Smith joined FBG when it was founded in 2021, and was previously the company’s SVP of legal and regulatory compliance and VP of legal and regulatory compliance. Prior to that, he worked in regulatory roles at FanDuel, and served five years in the U.S. Army.
Smith is a 2008 West Point graduate and a 2016 Vanderbilt University Law School graduate.
“He helped build our legal and regulatory apparatus that has allowed us to launch products rapidly in sports betting, iCasino, and prediction markets,” FBG CEO Matt King said via press release. “As we continue to grow, Alex is the perfect person to lead our regulatory and compliance functions into the future.”
Fanatics Sportsbook is available in 23 states and Washington, D.C. Its online casino product is available in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, while it’s new Fanatics Markets prediction platform is available in 25 U.S. jurisdictions.
